VI.

But when Te Whetu's men beheld
Their Angry Star, their hero, slain;
And Tangi up again, unquelled,
With such triumphant fierce disdain
Looking where next to dash among
The thickest of the wavering throng;—
Beheld that Stranger's bearing bold,
And-in his firm determined hold
His life-devouring weapon raised;
A terror seized the nearest band—
Who since the duel first began
Had breathless stood on either hand,
Inactive; wondering, half-amazed
What would the conflict's issue be
'Twixt 'Angry Star' and 'Wailing Sea '—
Through all the host the panic ran:
Down from the platform headlong leapt
The foremost fighting-men, and swept
Along with them the slingers too
And all the pebble-carrying crew!
Then Tangi, for he saw the rout
page 395 Was real this time, began to shout
To all his clansmen to come out,
Pursue and press the flying foe,
And smite and spare not high or low—
No glut of dear revenge forego!
But short his course—his triumph short;
For as he turned him—and addrest
To those behind a brief behest
That some should stay to guard the fort,
A bullet pierced his rugged breast,
Out of a near plantation fired
By some obscure assailant, hid
Behind a fence—ensconced amid
The rattling stems of withered maize—
A parting gift ere he retired;
'Twas Marupo, so named to mark
His ways—the 'Striker in the Dark.'—
Down sinks the Chieftain—to the ground
Bowed down by that slight-seeming wound;
Yet makes fierce efforts still to raise
The fainting form one elbow stays:
Still keeps erect that dizzying head,
And lifts the arm that weighs like lead,
And feebly cries a battle-cry
Of Vengeance and of Victory:
Still cheers with broken words and brief
His men, with horror struck and grief
To see, thus fall'n, their honoured Chief;
But most exhausts his gasping breath
In bidding them avenge his death
By such a havoc of his foes
As shall illume where'er it goes
The tale of his inglorious close.
page 396 His life-blood ebbing, thus he steeled
His old brave heart, nor yet would yield
To be transported from the field;
Less heeding death than this disgrace
To fall by hand obscure or base;
Cursing the coward tools that gave
Such easy power to every slave
To slay the foe he durst not face!—
But while the most his hest obeyed,
With Ranolf some about him stayed;
And with their sturdy tender aid,
The Chief whom nothing could persuade,
But senseless could resist no more,
Into the nearest house he bore.