War to the Knife 40
"MY DEAR YOUNG FRIEND (if I may so address you),
"You can hardly imagine the mingled feelings which your presence in
this camp called up. Your county adjoins mine, and I have heard of
your family ever since I can remember. Knowing its position, I can
hardly imagine what could have brought about your departure from the
land we all hold so dear.
"Mine was a call, imperative and irresistible. I could not refuse to
perform my Master's work. I should have, perhaps, been unduly puffed
up by the success of my previous efforts, had not this disastrous
war come to lower my pride. I have been chastened, God only knows
how severely. May it be for my soul's good! You are in the ranks of
those who are fighting--some in defence of a policy of injustice;
others, like yourself, I feel certain, merely as a protest against
the domination of a savage race--in defence of the hearths and homes
which a victorious foe would desecrate. Of the inception of the war
you and your friend, Mr. Slyde, I know, are innocent.
"Among our native allies, the Ngapuhi and the Rarawa tribes have ever
been true and faithful. The chiefs Waka Nene and Patuone, in their
steadfast adherence to the Christian faith and unswerving loyalty
to our Queen, may well serve as examples to men in high position.
Farewell! and may He who is able to save both body and soul, preserve
you through all dangers, now and evermore.
"Believe me to be
"Most truly yours,
"G. A. NEW ZEALAND."
"We shall meet again," thought the recipient of the apostolic
epistle--"we _must_ do so, with leisure to hear his opinion on this
most vexed question of the war. I wish with all my heart that it _was_
over. But a peace would be worse than nothing unless we fully proved
our superiority. These Waikatos and Ngatihaua must not be suffered
to think that they have repulsed the whole British army. The country
would be impossible to _live_ in. And we can't afford to lose such a
brace of islands as these, the nearest approach, in climate, soil, and
adaptation to the British race, of any land yet occupied. Not to be
thought of."
And here he began to hum a song in which the glories of Britain on
land and sea were set forth, and for the moment forgot his virtuous
indignation against the occupation of Taharaimaka and the injustice of
the Waitara business.
And so the war progressed, sometimes with passages of toilsome
marching, daring attack of pah or redoubt, hairbreadth escapes,
wounds, and inevitable incidents of warfare. Ever and anon a brilliant
surprise, a masterly manɶuvre on the part of the troops or allies,
followed by an ambuscade planned by the natives with consummate skill,
or a desperate stand in their entrenchments, where the loss of officers
was unduly great, and the rank and file suffered severely. When it was
considered that nearly three years had elapsed in a campaign where ten
thousand British regulars, and nearly as many volunteers and native
allies, were arrayed against the Maoris, who at no time could have had
five thousand men in the field, it seemed amazing that no decisive
victory should have been obtained.
"Talk of its being 'one of Britain's little wars,' as the newspapers
call it!" grumbled Mr. Slyde. "My belief is that it is going to last as
long as that confounded Carthaginian business. How they used to bore us
with it at school! Beginning bad enough--end probably worse. Fellows
die of old age, unless we hurry up."
"It does drag fearfully; it's only bearable when we're in action. This
lagging guerilla business, with such a commissariat--all the privations
of war, and none of the excitement--is simply unendurable. However,
when Warwick comes in from his scouting prowl we may hear something."
"Wonder he doesn't get 'chopped' some of these fine days. Certainly
manages to pick up information in a wonderful way. Von Tempsky says
he's thrown away upon us two. Wants to get him for scout business pure
and simple."
"For some inscrutable reason he has attached himself to me," said
Massinger. "I suggested that he might do good service by acting in that
capacity--alone. He didn't take kindly to it at all--seemed hurt; so I
let him alone."
"Best thing you could do. Not a bad thing to have a _fidus Achates_
born a Trojan. Put you up to their wiles. Shouldn't wonder if he'd
given you a hand as it is?"
"Now I come to think of it, he _did_ once. We were having some brisk
work that day at Katikara, where we couldn't dislodge the natives
from the redoubt. The firing was sharp, when he motioned me to change
position. The next minute a bullet struck the tree just where I had
been standing, and a fellow put his head over the parapet to see if he
had bagged me. Warwick was waiting for him, and as he fired I saw my
friend fling up his arms and fall backward."
"'Close call!' as the backwoodsmen say; but that sort of thing's all
luck. Look at Ropata! You'd think he stood up on purpose to be shot
at--shilling a shot kind of business. Never been touched yet. No wonder
they call him 'Waha Waha.' 'The devil or some untoward saint' has an
eye to him, the Tohungas say."
"He's a grand soldier. It's lucky for us that he's on our side.
Reckless and ruthless, a true Ngatiporou.--Hallo! what tribe do you
belong to?" continued he, as he pointed to a tall Maori standing within
a few paces of them. "Why, it's Warwick! How in the world did you get
so close to us without our hearing you?"
"Only in the way some Waikato will sneak _you_, lieutenant, if you are
not more careful--when you'll be shot before you have time to lift your
hand. My native relatives taught me that and other things when I was
young."
"And what news have you? Anything important?"
"That's as it may be. Large bodies of the Ngaiterangi have commenced
to move forward towards the Orakau. We shall have a big affair soon.
I fell in with a scout of the Arawa named Taranui, and he was of the
same way of thinking. Said the Ngaiterangi were closing up. But I must
deliver my report at headquarters first."
Whereupon Warwick departed. He had divested himself of his European
garments, and was attired chiefly in a flax mat (_pureke_), a _tapona_
(war-cloak), and other strictly Maori habiliments, with a _heitiki_
suspended from his neck; his muscular arms and lower leg were bare.
He looked so like a native that only by close inspection could he be
detected.
"The gods be praised!" said Mr. Slyde, fervently. "Men getting mouldy
here. Another month or two like this would demoralize them. Out of hand
a trifle already. Look at Warwick! Doesn't he glide along, at that half
run, half walk of the natives? At this distance no one would take him
for a white man. Have all the news when he comes to supper."
With this hope before them, the friends addressed themselves to such
occupations as were available, and awaited the evening meal, when
Warwick would have an opportunity of unloading his budget. When the
bugle-call sounded the welcome invitation, they descried him lounging
down from the other end of the camp in undress uniform, having taken
the opportunity to remove every trace of his recent experiences.
"And now for your adventures, Warwick," said Massinger, as, having
settled to the after-supper pipe, the little party seated themselves
on a rude bench constructed of fern stems some ten feet in length, and
supported on blocks of the pahautea. "It doesn't happen to rain now,
wonderful to relate, and the moon, taking heart and encouragement,
'diffuses her mild rays,' as the poets say, through this ancient and
darksome woodland. Did you see any of the Ngaiterangi?"
"I did indeed, nearer than I liked," answered Warwick; "and but for a
lucky chance they would have seen me, in which case _you_ would never
have seen me again--alive that is."
"Thrilling in the extreme," assented Mr. Slyde. "What was it--a _taua_?"
"More than that; a whole _hapu_--a strong one too, women and all. They
were travelling fast, and heading straight for Kihikihi."
"How far off were you?"
"Barely sixty yards. What saved me was that I was in the bed of a
creek, among the ferns on the edge of the water. I had just been going
to climb to the top, when I heard a girl laugh. I could scarcely
believe my ears. However, I crawled up and peeped through the manuka.
Sure enough, there they were, three hundred strong, besides women and
children--marching in close order, too. If they had straggled at all I
was a gone man."
"So they didn't see you?"
"No. What saved me was a bend in the creek, which they had crossed
higher up; so they steered for the other point which they could
see--there are some rocks on the bank--and left me in the loop of the
circle. If they had struck the creek nearer to me, I must have been
seen. But they had camped at the other point, and having had their
_kai_, were marching to recover the time. I was very glad when I saw
their backs."
"How long would they be in reaching Kihi-kihi?"
"Not before tomorrow night. Their intention is, of course, to get into
Orakau and strengthen the defences. There's only a sufficient number
there now to hold the earthworks against a moderate force."
"What do you think the general will do?"
"Move to intercept them before they can get into the pah."
"And is there time for the march?"
"Barely. Don't be surprised if we have the order to start at daylight.
I went back on their trail for the rest of that day, and found
댓글 없음:
댓글 쓰기