CHAPTER IX
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CHAPTER IX.
THE rush on Lake Brunner being now at an end, I set off for Hokitika, selling my bag of flour on the way at half its value. In Hokitika I got work directly from the same gentleman who had asked me to join his party over the ranges in the winter. He had the contract to make a clear track through the bush, half-a-chain wide, on the Kanieri River, which runs into the Hokitika a few miles up. Though 12s. a-day was not much then, and particularly for ten hours' work, it was better than nothing, so I shouldered an axe, and taking as mate a young fellow whom I had known in Canterbury, I turned to. The work was light enough, though the ganger was a nigger-driver of the worst type, who fancied that no man who spoke the Queen's English could do a day's work (a very common idea in the colonies, and, I am sorry to say, in many instances only too true). He was consequently discontented with the work I did. This did not fret me much, as I knew what I was worth; but what did fret me and my companion were the mosquitoes. The track went along the banks of the Kanieri River, and these, being overflowed in every fresh with the muddy waters from marsh lands above, were coated with a layer of white slime, which, when the river went down, dried to a fine dust. This bred and harboured clouds of mosquitoes, and not only all night were we tortured by millions of them in the tent, but all day, from dawn to
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sunset, every shrub we removed, and every fern and sapling we cleared away, sent out a fresh army to harass us. In vain we surrounded our heads with fern-branches and grass, or tied handkerchiefs round our chins; nose, eyes, ears, and mouth were at the same moment invaded, while every few seconds the bare hands and arms had to be rubbed clear of the bloodthirsty little demons. It sometimes became almost too much to endure, and more than once or twice I have hurled my tools into the bush and swore that I would give it up. I do not think that I slept more than one hour every night during those five weeks on the Kanieri. Half-a-dozen times during the night would we rise and sit at the fire, smoking and talking. We tried every device in turn, from burning cow and horse dung, brought from the township, to rubbing ourselves with oil. Nothing kept them off; the oil repelled them whilst it was wet, but as soon as it became dry it was useless. That short quarter of an hour during which the wretches could do nothing was a season of heavenly rest.
Six weeks or so finished the clearing as far as Mr. Griffiths had contracted for, and once more I turned my steps towards the Grey River. On the way I stopped a night at the Teremakau, and, hearing that hands were wanted for canoeing up the river, I enlisted at once. After a trip or two I managed well enough, and found my old Buller experience of great use to me in handling the pole or the paddle. We had to load the canoe with cases of spirits, tubs of butter, chests of tea,
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and bags of flour, besides boxes of candles and packages of salt, sugar, tobacco, &c. From 15 cwt. to a ton was our usual loading, and when we came to rapids or falls we had to wade up them against a tremendous current, tugging at the end of a long trail-rope, till we literally pulled the canoe with its freight up the fall, and into deep water again. We did ten miles up the river every day, starting at nine o'clock, and getting up to the creek, where we delivered the goods about two. Here, after a sufficient rest, we jumped in again, and singing and shouting to the echoing woods on every side of us, we flew down the river at a glorious pace, with appetites like horses, and ready fully to enjoy the warm fire and good feed that awaited us.
For this work I got £1 5s. for each trip, and as I returned to the comforts of the township every night it was a great improvement on the Kanieri road and its mosquitoes, its ten hours' work, and half the pay. As this, however, like many other things in this world was too good to last, I returned to Hokitika, and from there, accompanied by a friend named Jackson (ex-lieutenant of 2nd Rifles), made some miles on my way to Christchurch. Here, at a shanty at the foot of the Arahura, Jackson and I, over a parting glass, pledged each other in the most virtuous resolutions, to "eschew sack," and begin to live soberly. I never saw him after that night; but a jolly little saddler, who came home in the same ship with me in June, 1868, told me that Jackson had, most unfortunately for himself, had some money left him, and that he was, when last heard of,
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flying round (as Jemmy expressed it) like a paper man in a gale of wind.
A few days' hard walking saw me in Christchurch, and from thence, determining to give the diggings, at least for a time, the cut direct, I took my passage in the "Wellington," New Zealand Navigation Co.'s steamer, for Wellington, where I arrived safe, and, putting up at the best hotel, began to look about me.
Lieutenant-colonel McDonnell was staying there at this time, and with him, after a few days in Wellington, I went down to Wanganui. The name of this gallant officer has been so repeatedly before the public that it is scarcely necessary to add my mite of praise to the deserved kudos (KUDOS) which he has gained for himself, but if the opinion of one who served (however unworthily) under his command, and has been close to him in moments of danger and difficulty, is of the smallest value, I may here assert my conviction that not only has the colonial army never had a braver or more energetic and determined officer, but that, with the single exception of the brave and lamented Von Tempsky, no individual man has done more to bring the Maori war to a decisive issue. If he had not been restrained and hampered by the "penny wise and pound foolish" system which some miserable carpet-knights have fostered and encouraged, the news of the fatal affair at Te-nhatu-te-mana, when poor Von Tempsky met his premature end, would never have been told.
In the steamer "Wanganui" we embarked for the port of that name on the West Coast, and, after a few
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weeks spent there at the only really comfortable hotel in the place, called the "Wanganui," and kept by a fine old soldier, I began to think of a move. I had enjoyed my "spell" very much, and had been delighted at meeting an old chum in the 14th, one of the jolliest, best-hearted fellows I ever knew. Between his mess-room and the acquaintance of one or two Christchurch friends, I managed to while away a month very pleasantly, but saw no more hope of employment than I had done in Wellington. McDonnell, however, had not forgotten me, and I determined to go up and work on the survey till there was a vacancy in the Wanganui Yeomanry Cavalry, which I wished to enter. Accordingly, I left town on the same day that the Maori contingent or friendly natives (who had taken service under the command of Colonel McDonnell's brother) started on their way to the front. Captain Newland, of the Patea Rangers, very kindly asked me to share the tent in which Captain McDonnell (the officer in command), with himself and one or two others, located themselves while on the march. The arrangements were quite different to anything in the service, but both Captain McDonnell and Lieutenant Gudgeon were extremely kind and hospitable.
Arrived at Patea, the head quarters, I lunched with a Mr. B---------, who afterwards had the command of the Wanganui Yeomanry Cavalry, and walked over the same afternoon to Kakaramea, where a body of militia were stationed, and also some surveyors. Here I applied to Mr. P. Smith, at his tent, as I had heard that
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he required hands, and I had brought a letter of introduction which Mr. Carrington, chief surveyor, had been kind enough to write for me. Mr. Smith at once asked me to put up with him until he had a vacancy, which would be in a day or two. I accepted this offer, and, one of the party leaving shortly after for Taranaki, I took his place in the men's tents and turned to with a will. This sort of work is pretty rough sometimes, though comparatively nothing to one who had scrambled with a heavy swag through the wilds of the West Coast. The line of survey has to be taken across a certain country and through it; though it should be full of precipices, torrents, or thick tangled and heavy bush and undergrowth, the party with their bill-hooks and fern slashers must cut their way, The wear and tear of clothes is ruinous; the strongest leather would hardly stand the thick, rough fern, the perpetual friction of the barks of fallen trees, and the constant contact with scrub and briar of every description; and, being a kind of work that goes on in nearly all weathers, it happens that sometimes, for days together, unless he carry with him a wardrobe more extensive than mine ever was, a man is liable to be wet through from morning till night. I was beginning to get into the ways of the party (for no two employers that I ever worked under in the bush conducted their operations exactly alike), when, just as we had moved farther up towards the front, the farrier of the troop in which I was awaiting the first vacancy took his discharge, and I stepped into his place. I was sworn in
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as trooper to serve for the remainder of the three years (some eighteen months of which had already elapsed), for which period the Wanganui Yeomanry Cavalry were engaged.
In the same tent with me was more than one whom I had known before: Tom Holland, who had once owned a large station in Canterbury, and whom I had known when flashing about in Auckland; and poor Pat Hanley, an old chum in the Auckland force, afterwards shot at my side in a night attack on the village of Kitionetea. They were a jolly crowd, that rowdy, reckless, generous, hardy, headlong old troop, and I often feel thankful for the year I spent with them; for the experience gained by association with men of every stamp brought into hourly collision, and shewing, as they must do in like positions, every strong point of character, has made me think better of human nature. Two days after I joined I was out with some dozen or so as an escort to Colonel McDonnell, who wished to reconnoitre the neighbourhood of the Ketemerai bush, which both then and afterwards was a nest of Hauhaus. We were riding along in threes, about two hundred yards from the bush, when we heard a couple of shots, evidently signals. The word was given immediately, "Trot," and we removed to a respectable distance, where we should at least not be such easy pots for the concealed niggers. From the place where we halted, about 600 yards' distance from the bush, we saw the niggers come outside, and some mounted men riding to and fro.
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Presently a body advanced with a white flag, upon which Colonel McDonnell and his orderly, with one or two others, galloped towards them. They had a corero or parley for some time, while we tightened our girths and looked to our carbines in case of a row. Presently Tom Holland, who was the colonel's orderly, came back, singing out for a box of matches for the Maories. I was foolish enough to give a box I had brought in my pocket, not knowing the use to which we afterwards found they turned them, and he rode back with them to Colonel McDonnell, who was still talking to the Maories. Suddenly there seemed to be a movement among them, and back came Colonel McDonnell and his little party, while the white flag retreated rapidly to the bush again. Not a second after the Colonel and party had pulled up in front of us came a volley right over our heads. We immediately advanced nearer, and a few shots were fired; but the natives had entered the bush, where it was useless to follow them, and we contented ourselves with driving home a small mob of cattle which had been surrounded by one or two under the direction of our farrier-major, Duff, the most energetic and plucky little fellow in the whole force.
Hostilities having been thus declared, the order came out the same day that an expedition would start on a certain evening, and that every man was to carry two days' provisions in his haversack. We were to take and destroy the village of Pokaikai at dawn the next morning, a time when Maories were more particularly in-
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clined to sleep. Those of the Wanganui troop who chose to do so were permitted to volunteer on foot, a certain number only being sent mounted, to remain at the approaches to the village, and in readiness for action at a moment's notice. I had not had a horse "told off" to me at this time, consequently I volunteered on foot for the expedition. We halted several times during the night, and those who could snatched a short sleep in the high fern. Before daylight in the morning we were close to the village of Pokaikai. Here the word was passed for dead silence, and we approached with cautious steps, listening to the occasional crowing of cocks, or a dog's bark, in the bush close ahead of us. When within a hundred yards we lay down for the last time before the final rush in the fern, beside the narrow foot-track by which we had come, awaiting the word to advance. All the rest of the affair was a sudden up-rising of ghostly figures, a stealthy creeping along the narrow track; then the word "Charge!" and a mad, shouting, leaping host of dark forms bounding down the side of a gully, across a creek, and up the other side, where a scene followed much like fireworks on the fifth of November, except that the explosions were from deadly barrels instead of the harmless squibs and crackers of our childish recollections. The village was sacked, and the "wharries" one after another set fire to and burnt, and then "Home" was the word. Once out of the bush, we were allowed to make the best of our way back, which we did in groups of two or three at a time, nor were
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any of us sorry to reach camp and have a feed and a roll in the blankets. A few days subsequently the Hau-haus made a raid on our troop-horses, and drove them off in the night into the bush. This was only to be expected from the careless provision made for their safety by Mr. B---------, who commanded us. After evening stables they were turned out into a flat below the hill where we were encamped, and allowed to remain there till morning, with no guard over them and no fence to prevent them from wandering. The most natural consequence of such carelessness was what actually occurred. We made another expedition to a village called Mere-mere, where we discovered most of the horses amongst the clearings. My poor brute had fallen down a potato pit when we found him, and was dead. Poor 95! (our horses were all branded with a number) I fear I rejoiced at thy sad misfortune, as thy bones were over old for service, and I soon after obtained a better animal than thee.
Shortly after, we moved up to a further position than we had yet occupied, called, in consequence of a small patch of low timber, "The Round Bush." Here we formed regular "lines" for our horses with a stout rope stretched along posts firmly sunk in the ground, and the horses, after being "tailed," or shepherded, all day by one of us "told off" for that purpose, were tied in rows on each side of the rope for the night, and were bedded down with. fern. Here I was on escort duty for some time, accompanying a dray with provisions to a position still further in advance, where Colonel McDonnell
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was now building a strong redoubt called Ketemerai. As an escort we were worse than useless, for we were never more than three men with a corporal or sergeant in charge, and this number, without being enough to repel any attack, was sufficient to tempt the Maories to attack us and plunder the dray, which indeed soon afterwards happened.
One morning, after having been with two others on this duty for nearly a fortnight, I was sent on fatigue duty instead, and a man named Haggerty, formerly a soldier in the 40th, took my place on the escort. It was noticed that, though, like all old soldiers, a particularly tidy man in his dress at all times, his turn-out that morning was unusually correct. His boots shone like glass, his breeches were new and fitted like a glove, and his saddlery and accoutrements were faultlessly clean. An ambush was laid by the Maories behind some flax bushes, a little distance from the track by which the escort had to pass, and when only a few hundred yards from the bush, some forty Maories fired a volley at them, and poor Haggerty fell. The rest behaved very well, retiring in the most orderly manner, and guarding the driver of the dray and a militia man who accompanied it until relief came from the redoubt, which was only about half a mile distant, and from which the whole affair had been seen distinctly. Meantime, some of the cowardly wretches surrounded poor Haggerty, whose horse had been shot, and who had fallen with his leg beneath it in such a position that he was unable to draw his revolver, and finished
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him with their tomahawks. When the relief from the redoubt came up to him, they found him with his sheath-knife drawn in his hand, and his face hacked in the most horrible manner by the Maories' tomahawks.
There was a strong feeling on the part of every man in the troop that poor Haggerty should not be unavenged, and more than one tattooed villain paid the penalty for the dastardly murder of our poor comrade. If it had not been for the miserable inefficiency of the old shopkeeper who held the command of our gallant little body (the members of which had won fame under their formerly deservedly popular officer, Captain Percy, and who still boasted of as brave a little cornet as ever wore a silver-laced forage cap), the strong esprit de corps that existed amongst us would have rendered all our desagremens trifling. Mr. B---------, having been a drill sergeant at a cavalry depot at home some quarter of a century before, was supposed to be just the man for the command of a rough and ready troop, composed of every class of adventurer, and fighting against a savage race like the Maories in the wilds of New Zealand. He was extremely unpopular, from the utter unsuitableness of his age and habits, and, more especially, from his absurd pedantry in matters of drill, dress, etc. Strictness in these matters may be necessary enough in a showy body of men, such as mounted police or a crack regiment in Her Majesty's service, but is not to be compared in point of real use to the active, hardy habits of a New Zealand
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bushman, and the rough and ready energy and endurance that will go through any hardships, and stand against any odds. When to these disadvantages there was added a personal vulgarity of manner and offensiveness of address that were both disgusting and exasperating, it will not be a matter of surprise that men who had been accustomed to be commanded by gentlemen, and themselves to be treated as such, should at length, on his attempting a gross injustice to their whole body, rebel against him and refuse to fight any longer under so unworthy a leader. But I anticipate.
