bulary to march down to the
coast again as soon as possible and re-embark there, as their presence
was urgently required in the north of the province of Wellington, which
had been left open to the attack of the enemy there by their withdrawal.

Fortunately before they re-embarked Te Kooti showed his hand. He had no
idea of retreating from his position, and the fires were caused by the
clearing off of the scrub which had afforded shelter to Rapata's force.
No sooner did he hear that Colonel Whitmore had marched away than he
sent a party down against one of the outlying settlements, where they
murdered Mr. Ferguson, Mr. Wylie's son, and a friendly native. Colonel
Whitmore, on receiving news of the raid, marched rapidly to cut off the
retreat of the Hau-Haus; but they managed to evade him and to retire to
their main body.

On the 27th of December Colonel Whitmore's force occupied a high ridge a
mile distant from Te Kooti's position. Here the colonel received news
that Rapata had just landed with three hundred and seventy men, and
messenger after messenger was sent down urging him to hurry up. The
chief, who was seriously ill, was much annoyed by these messages,
especially by the last, that if he did not come soon Whitmore would take
the place without him. Rapata replied: "Very well, I have tried and
failed; it is his turn now;" and immediately ordered his men to camp for
the day.

The next morning Colonel Whitmore came down himself, having been advised
that the only way to succeed with Rapata was to treat him in a
conciliatory way. The chief's first words were, "Have you taken the
place?"

"No," Colonel Whitmore replied. "I am waiting for you, Rapata."

"Very good," Rapata said; "I will be with you to-morrow morning." The
Ngatiporou performed a great war-dance, and as no one stumbled or fell,
they considered the omen to be a good one, and marched on and joined
Colonel Whitmore's force that night.

CHAPTER XVII.

BACK AT THE FARM.

The position of the Hau-Haus was naturally a very strong one, being at
the top of a high conical peak rising abruptly from low bush-covered
hills to a height of two thousand feet. On the face, which had been
before attacked, the ground sloped gradually up to the summit, but on
the right and left the slope was very steep, and at one point there had
been a landslip leaving a perpendicular face twenty feet high, and below
that, for fifty feet, it was so steep that it was difficult