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Henry Ancrum: A Tale of the Last War in New Zealand, Volume 2

Chapter III

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Chapter III.

A Month passed away, the General was waiting for the steamer which was so long in coming. The Maories thought that no steamer could come up their river at all. They imagined the General would get tired and go away, as a Maori force would probably have done under the same circumstances; but still, every morning there were the long rows of white tents to be seen at daylight; and still, every evening, the bugle sounds of the retreat and tattoo came wafted on the breeze.

One evening Henry Ancrum and Ihaka page 31had gone to bathe, as was often their custom, in the Waikato river; there was a point at Mere-Mere, close to the end of the first line of rifle-pits, where the river made a turn to its right, creating a backwater below the point, and also a deep pool, and it was delightful in the hot summer evenings to take a header into the deliciously cool water, then swim slowly up stream, aided by the backwater; and when you reached its extremity, turn into the rapid river, and allow yourself to be hurried tumultuously down stream for a short distance, and then with a few rapid strokes cross over into the backwater again.

After bathing they ascended the bank for a little distance, and then turned to the left and ascended the first hill, which is a sort of spur from the conical hill on which the pah was situated.

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Henry paused here to look at the view, which was indeed lovely: the sun was just setting behind the high western hills, which closed the prospect on that side, but his rays still illumined the forest of splendid trees which clothed the opposite bank of the river, and threw their gigantic shadows quite across its stream; while lower down, where the banks were open, they fell on the rapid river itself, giving its waters the appearance of molten silver. Immediately in front was the swamp so often mentioned, the vivid green of the rank vegetation covering some of its deceitful pools contrasting with the darker tints of the large forest trees growing on little islands in its midst, and also with the gnarled and weird appearance of decayed old trees, so frequent a feature in New Zealand woods. Beyond, on the cliff of Whangamarino, appeared the snow-white tents of the British camp, shim-page 33mering in the sun's last rays, and behind all, forming a magnificent background, rose, pile on pile, the high mountain range of Razorback, clothed with dense forests to its very summit. Henry gazed on the scene till the lights changed, flickered, faded away, and at last the sun set, and shadow melted into general shade; and that chill cold feeling set in so peculiar to New Zealand, where as long as the sun is above the horizon you may feel comfortable and warm; but the moment he is gone, down comes a cold chill sensation, probably caused by emanations from the numerous swamps, and warns you to seek shelter indoors.

Henry Ancrum and Ihaka proceeded slowly on their way, and it was nearly dark when they approached the pah. At this moment, to their surprise, they saw a bright light spring up in a whare near the page 34main entrance, and almost immediately it was wrapped in flames. This is the great danger in the New Zealand wharies. The raupo and rushes are by nature inflammable; but when baked for months, or perhaps years, by the hot sun, they become so much so that a single spark may destroy a whari in a few moments. Ihaka immediately on perceiving the flames rushed towards the main entrance where the burning whari was; but Henry Ancrum, seeing that the wind was blowing exactly in the direction of Celia's whari, and remembering that there was a small entrance into the pah close to her dwelling, ran at his highest speed in that direction. He was not a moment too soon. Directly he reached the door in the palisading of the pah, he rushed through it to the entrance to Celia's whare Alas! the fire had reached that end of it. It was already in flames. He did not page 35hesitate an instant. Drawing the clasp knife he always carried from his pocket, he ran to the other end of the whari. With a few quick strokes he cut the flax ropes which fastened several bundles of raupo to the framework of the whari. With frantic haste he tore down these bundles, and rushed inside.

Celia was close to him, lying apparently in a swoon. The fact was, the poor girl had been awakened by the crackling of the fire, but too late to save herself; she had rushed towards the door, but it was in flames. She had then tried to force her way through the raupo wall; but she could not find any implement to cut the flax ropes with. The whari was full of dense smoke, there was no air to breathe, and at last she sank down in a faint. Henry took her in his arms, he rushed through the opening he had made, and carried her at once outside page 36the pah. It was well he acted so promptly. Hardly had he laid his burthen on the ground, when he saw that the whole whari they had just left was in flames.

The cold night air soon revived Celia. She opened her eyes, and gazed round her in a sort of stupified manner for a few moments, then she perceived Henry, and the whole truth seemed to burst upon her.

"Oh!" she cried, jumping to her feet, "you have saved me!—oh, my darling!— oh, my beloved! I loved yon from the first moment I saw you, but now I will be your slave; I will follow you all over the world; I will watch over you while you sleep; I will see that no evil comes near you; I will die for you if necessary!" And she threw her arms around his neck, and kissed him in a manner of which Miss Edith Mandeville would have by no means approved had page 37she been made aware of the circumstance.

Henry Ancrum was sorely perplexed. He was by no means prepared for this outburst of affection. He had liked Celia as an acquaintance, he had liked to go and see her, to have long conversations with her, because she amused him, and because his doing so helped to pass some of the weary hours of his captivity; but he had never thought of loving her; he had never thought of being unfaithful to Edith Mandeville. He was not one of those who can love one woman one day, and, sbould he leave the place where she resides, can love or pretend to love another a month or two afterwards. No; he was too true, too faithful for that; but he felt that it would be unmanly to repulse the woman, whose life he had just saved; he had not the heart to say anything cruel to her at such a page 38moment. He had never suspected that she loved him—never dreamt of such a thing—but now that her secret had escaped her, he thought the best plan to restore her to herself was to awaken anxiety for her uncle.

"Celia," he said, "I hope your uncle is safe."

"Oh," said Celia, startled, "I hope he is! He was in the wharie when last I saw him; but I think he must have gone out."

"Let us go and look for him," said Henry. And both at once proceeded to the front gate of the pah, which was now quite safe, as all the wharies near it had been burnt down. Here, to their great joy, they found Ihaka and his brother, and ascertained that the latter had left the pah half an hour before the fire took place, and only returned on seeing the conflagration.

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The fire had now nearly burnt itself out. A few wharies, which were to windward of the one which had first taken fire, had escaped; but all those to leeward of it were burnt, with the exception of one which was in the corner of the pah, and to the left of the rest. Its safety was evidently owing to its having been detached from the other wharies, and its being out of the line in which the wind was blowing; but the Maories would not have it so. Oh no, that would be much too commonplace a view of the affair for them.

The fact was, that the owner of that wharie was a good man, a very good man, and it was owing to his righteousness that his whari was spared. The following was the most popularly received version of the way in which the wharies in the pah had been burnt:—

The Angel Gabriel—and here it must be page 40remarked that the Angel Gabriel is a very favourite personage amongst those Maories who call themselves Christians, and that according to their ideas, he even at the present day employs himself very actively in the affairs of this best of all possible worlds. Well, the Angel Gabriel was hovering over the pah with outstretched wings, and lo, he beheld that the inhabitants thereof were wicked, yea, that they were miserable sinners, who deserved punishment, so he shook some drops from the flaming sword which he always carries, on to the wharies, and they were all consumed. But he remembered that Zacha-riah was a just man, and he waved his sword thrice, and the flames leapt aside, and spared his whari, and consumed it not.

When the fire was quite out, Ihaka and his brother, Celia and Henry Ancrum, all page 41proceeded to the whari of the former. On entering it, to their surprise, they saw two young puppies playing on the centre of the floor.

"Why," said Ihaka to his brother, "these are two out of the five puppies which that large bitch of yours brought forth the other day. How can they have got here?"

"I am sure I do not know," said his brother; "the five puppies were in a riflepit, some distance from the whari, and under the palisades of the pah. I do not think they were in any danger from the fire; but I suppose the bitch thought so, and brought them here."

As he spoke, the bitch walked solemnly in with a third pup in her mouth, and deposited it on the floor with the other two.

Henry Ancrum stooped down to pat her, page 42but she immediately jumped aside, and with a frisk and wag of her tail, as much as to say, "Thank you, but I have no time to waste now," she darted through the open door and ran off in the direction of the pah at full speed. It was not very long before she returned with a fourth pup, and again departed; but this time she was a long while absent, and when she did return, her appearance was quite different from what it had been before: her hair was burnt in several places, she had patches of earth on her body, and she appeared very much exhausted. She had a pup in her mouth, but the little creature was just dead; probably it had died whilst she was carrying it down. She placed it on the ground and fondled it, and turned it over with her nose, as if she thought it was yet alive. At last the truth seemed to force itself upon her, for she lifted up her head page 43and gave a long low howl, then, like a prudent matron, she left the dead, and went to take care of the four living puppies that yet remained to her.

"I think," said Ihaka's brother, "that the palisades must have caught fire, and fallen inwards, carrying the earth with them, and in this way buried the pup, and that the bitch dug him out, but too late to save his life."