n his
tribesmen to follow him, and, leaping up, they dashed at one of the
outposts and carried it. A man took the news down the hill, and a chief
and thirty more men came up and joined in the fight.

At dusk Rapata requested Mr. Preece to return to camp and try to get the
main body back with ammunition, as their own was almost exhausted. Mr.
Preece could not induce the natives to start, but they said they would
go in the morning. All night the fight went on, but before dawn Rapata,
having expended his last round of ammunition, retired, having lost six
men killed and four wounded. As he and his men came down they strode
through the camp in single file, not deigning to take the slightest
notice of the fugitives, and passing on, camped apart half a mile
further on. The main body, ashamed of their cowardly conduct, were
afraid to go near the chief. As it was necessary to ascertain what he
meant to do, one of the white officers went to see him.

For some time the chief would make no reply. At last he said, "My men
have betrayed me, and I will have nothing further to do with them. I
intend to return home and get other men, and when I get back I will
attack the Napier tribe who deserted me." The same day he marched for
the coast, followed at a distance by the abashed fugitives. On the way
down they met Colonel Whitmore, who with three hundred constabulary had
just arrived by ship from the scene of operations on the other side of
the island.

The colonel begged Rapata to return with him, but the chief said, "I
never break my word. I have said I will go home, and I will; but I will
return with other men and attack the Napier tribes." After much
persuasion Colonel Whitmore got him to promise that he would not
interfere with the Napier men; but nothing could persuade him to fight
again with those men of his own tribe who had deserted him. Such being
the case, a steamer was placed at his disposal in order that he might
make the voyage and return as soon as possible.

After Rapata had left Colonel Whitmore sent out a skirmishing party to
ascertain whether the enemy retained their position. The scouts returned
with the news that there were great fires on the crest of the hill, and
they believed that the Hau-Haus were burning their huts preparatory to
returning into the interior. Colonel Whitmore believed the report, and
considering that the Hau-Haus would leave the neighbourhood of the
settlement altogether, he ordered the consta