here has been a terrible
massacre. I was pressing wool for Dodd and Peppard, whose station, you
know, lies some distance from any other. I rode up there just as day was
breaking and went to the wool shed. Nobody came, and I heard the dog
barking angrily; so I went up to the house to see what was the matter. I
found the back-door open and the two men lying dead inside, evidently
killed by natives. I then galloped off to the Mission Station and warned
them there, and then to the stations of Hawthorne and Strong. I found
they had already been warned, and were just about to start; then I rode
to Matawhero to warn the settlers there. Most of them had already made
off. I passed Bigg's house on the way; there were a number of natives
round it evidently in possession, and as I passed Mann's house I saw
him and his wife and child lying outside dead. How many more have been
murdered I do not know. It is an awful business. Where are your
friends?"

"They are in the scrub there. We are making our way to the Mahia."

"Most of the settlers who have escaped have made for the old redoubt at
Taranganui, and I fancy they will be able to beat off any attack made on
them. I am riding for Wairoa. I cannot think what they can have been
about there to let Te Kooti slip away without sending us a warning. He
must have come by the long road and been six or seven days on the
march."

"Have you seen any natives since you started?" Mr. Atherton asked.

"I saw a party of about twenty of them moving across the country about
two miles back. They were scattered about in the bush, and were, I
expect, in search of fugitives. They were moving across the line I was
going, and were half a mile away; but when they come on this path they
may follow it, knowing that those who made their escape and did not go
to the redoubt would be likely to try to reach the Mahia country."

"Thank you! then we will be moving on without delay," Mr. Atherton said;
and the settler at once rode on with his message to the force at Wairoa.
As soon as Mr. Atherton joined the party and told them what he had heard
they again set out. After walking for four miles they reached the edge
of the plain, and the path here ascended a sharp rise and entered a
narrow defile.

Wilfrid, who was sitting on Mr. Atherton's shoulders, looked back for
the twentieth time as they ascended the rise. "They are following us!"
he exclaimed. "There are a party of fifteen or twenty coming along the
pat