p the head of an old warrior, who had been shot through the chest
and who was apparently dying. Three other men--the remainder of the
garrison--having thrown down their weapons, stood ready to deliver
themselves up.

As Jack, followed by Bird, Nolan, and other men, approached the young
girl, she said in broken English, pointing to the old warrior, "He
grandfather! Soon die! No hurt him!"

"That we won't, my pretty maiden. I am sorry that he should have been
wounded. We will see what the doctor can do for him."

The girl shook her head. Jack saw that not only was blood flowing from
the wound in the old man's breast, but that it came gushing out from his
mouth. He despatched one of his men for the surgeon, and had the old
warrior lifted out of the hut, which felt hot and stifling, in the hopes
that the fresh air might revive him. The girl followed and again seated
herself on the ground beside her aged relative.

"Sure! isn't she a beauty!" exclaimed Tim Nolan, who had assisted in
carrying the old man, and now stood regarding the girl with an
expression of admiration in his countenance. "If she'd be after having
me, I'd lave the sarvice and settle down in this beautiful country."

"May be she wouldn't have you, me boy," observed Jerry Bird. "If she is
a chief's daughter she'll be looking after an officer."

Tim gave a hitch to his trousers. "Though I'm not an officer I'm a
British seaman, and a mighty deal better looking than many an officer,
no disrespect to my superiors, and I don't see why a Maori girl should
turn up her nose at me or at any one like me. I'll ask the captain's
lave to splice her off hand."

The surgeon soon arrived and at once pronounced the old chiefs wound
mortal; indeed, before many minutes elapsed he had breathed his last.

The poor girl was inconsolable. Her mother, she said, was dead, and her
father had gone off to defend a pah which it was supposed would be
attacked by the British. Jack promised to protect her to the best of
his power. She seemed inclined to trust him. He was greatly puzzled,
however, how to act, and Tim, who made the offer to "splice her
forthwith," in no way relieved him. While Jack was in this dilemma the
surgeon suggested that a missionary, who had accompanied the forces as
interpreter, would be the best person to whom to consign her. The
excellent man, when appealed to, gladly undertook the task, promising to
send her at once to his station, where s