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Chapter X
The Fight at Makaretu

For several more weary days pakehas and friendly Maoris hung on grimly to the position they had won along the fern ridge over-looking the Makaretu.

And then Ropata came.

Captain Barry, apprised by his scouts that the Ngatiporou were approaching, took with him Ron and the Hawke's Bay chiefs, Tareha and Henare Tomoana, and went to meet them.

Ron was disappointed in his first glimpse of the man who afterward came to deserve the title of "the Lion of the Ngatiporou." Like most of his tribe, Ropata Waha Waha was short in stature, but conveyed an impression of wiry strength. His dark visage was framed by a short black beard, while his eyes were keen and penetrating. In the nondescript clothing he wore, he made a figure far from heroic; but Ron was to learn later that, in accord with all his people, Ropata literally stripped for action when there was fighting toward.

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Ropata brought with him a contingent of warriors, who well merited the description Ron had heard given of them—all wire and indiarubber. Of tattooed faces among them there were few, the Ngatiporou being a tribe who set little value upon this form of facial adornment. Most of them were naked to the waist, a short piu-piu ¹ shawl, or piece of blanket extending from waist to knees, comprising their only article of clothing. They had cartridge-belts strapped over their shoulders—some of them, indeed, wore two or three—and some of them carried revolvers in addition to the miscellaneous array of breech-loading rifles, carbines, and double-barrelled shotguns with which Ropata's contingent was armed.

When Captain Barry had greeted the Ngatiporou leader with all ceremony he said: "You bring many warriors with you, O friend."

"Some of them I know for good fighters," replied Ropata. "But many of them will run away."

"Tareha's men will support their brothers of the Ngatiporou," said Tareha courteously.

"It is well," responded Ropata, his expression betokening that he had small faith in the qualities of the Hawke's Bay Maoris as fighters. He turned page 129abruptly to Captain Barry and inquired the dispositions of the units on the ridge.

Captain Barry explained, adding: "Te Kooti has his rifle-pits along the far bank of the river. They run thus and thus," and, taking a stick, he traced on the ground the exact positions of the pits.

"Then first we will seize his rifle-pits," declared the Maori. "I shall march against him on the right, while do you advance as well as you are able along the line of the river. Are you ready, friends?"

Tareha assented. "Ten minutes to get my men ready," said Captain Barry. They shook hands on it, and the three leaders, with Ron, hastened back up to the ridge, leaving Ropata already exhorting his men to valiant effort.

Ron was bidden carry the word to Renata, in order that the old chief's men might take their part in the assault.

"E!" exclaimed Renata. "This is good news, my friend! Vengeance is about to be taken. Pity it is that Karauria, that brave canoe, is on his way to Te Reinga, the place of spirits, and can take no part in it!"

Left with a few moments to himself, Ron sought out Jock. He found that worthy lying flat among page 130the fern that crowned the extreme brow of the bridge, squinting along his rifle.

"Keep down, lad!" he advised. "There's a rascally Hauhau been taking pops at me from over yonder for the last half-hour. I'm minded to pay his cheekiness back, with a little interest added."

Accordingly Ron crawled into the fern and lay down beside his friend. He could see well down the slope, and, gazing across the river, could easily distinguish the parapets of the enemy's pits.

"How soon do we go into it?" asked Jock. "Did you hear any word?"

"As soon as Ropata sends word to Captain Barry that he has come round on the Hauhaus' right," answered Ron. "Hark! He is advancing now!" For a quick burst of rifle-fire announced that Ropata and the Ngatiporou were indeed moving to the assault.

From the excellent view he had of the whole scene Ron could easily comprehend Ropata's tactics. By attacking on Te Kooti's right flank the Ngatiporou chief hoped to turn his rifle-pits, and by thus throwing the enemy into confusion prepare the way for the general attack.

And that is exactly what Ropata accomplished. page 131Ron had scarcely quitted his position beside Jock, and made his way back to Captain Barry, ere the sharp notes of a bugle mingled with the rattle of musketry, and Rangers and friendly natives rose from their concealment and swept down the slope to the river.

The Hauhaus fought tenaciously. There was desperate hand-to-hand fighting along the bank, encounters, man against man in the dim recesses of the bush; but the Ngatiporou war-cry was rising triumphantly from the right, and so, giving ground slowly, the Hauhaus retreated farther into the bush, leaving their pits in the hands of the allies.

Captain Barry had bidden Ron keep close beside him; and Ron was delighted to obey his officer, since, when the fighting was at its fiercest, Captain Barry sought to be everywhere at once. At last it seemed clearly established that the Hauhaus had fled, and the Hawke's Bay natives began to tally their losses and to search among the Hauhau casualties for any known faces.

The Chief Renata came up to Captain Barry. "I have seen the faces of Kenu and Henara Parata among Te Kooti's dead," he declared. "And Nama, one of the most trusted leaders of the Hauhaus, is wounded and a prisoner. What next, my friend?"

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"Enough for one day, Chief," said Captain Barry, smiling at the old man's eagerness. "I have now to communicate with Ropata. I desire to know if Te Kooti be among his prisoners."

By this time Tareha had joined the group. On hearing the soldier's remark he and Renata looked at each other significantly.

"Ropata Waha Waha will take no prisoners," said Tareha. "The Ngatiporou fight as did their ancestors. To-day they may have taken wounded men and captives, but ere the sun goes down they will have dead only, and no wounded and no captives!"

"But that will not do at all!" exclaimed Captain Barry. "Here, Ron, take this message to Ropata—no, I had better go myself," he added. "You may accompany me if you wish, and you Chiefs, perhaps you will go too, and help me persuade the Ngatiporou that they must not massacre their prisoners."

The two chiefs agreed, and the party made its way with all possible speed along the river-bed to meet Ropata.

They found the Ngatiporou chief urging on his warriors to a further search of the bush, in case any fugitives might be lurking in hiding. Ropata's eyes were alight with the flame of battle. He page 133had discarded most of his clothing, and presented as wild a picture of a bush-fighter as could be imagined. Heavy revolver in one hand, and bloodstained tomahawk in the other, he was the very incarnation of savagery, and Ron could well understand why it was that Jock had said he pitied Te Kooti if the Ngatiporou set out to fight him.

Ropata was polite, very polite to Captain Barry. He did not think he had taken any prisoners, he said; but if any should come in he would certainly see that they should not live to murder any more pakehas.

"But that is not the British way, Ropata," urged Captain Barry. "A prisoner is a sacred thing, whose punishment should be fixed, not in the heat of battle, but when those who sentence him are cool and full of thought."

"Ropata Waha Waha does not understand pakeha fighting,'' answered the chief sturdily. ''Let the pakeha be responsible for any captives he takes. I will attend to mine own." The note of ferocity in his voice sent a thrill of horror down Ron's spine.

"Stay," said Renata, "we fight in the pakeha's cause, and for the good Queen Victoria. Let us then fight in the pakeha way, friend Ropata!"

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"Chief of Hawke's Bay," said Ropata sternly, "I fight in the pakeha's cause, it is true; but I fight also to avenge those of my own race who perished on that dark night when Te Kooti came suddenly over the Patutahi ford, for no other reason than that they were friendly with the pakeha. Once has Te Kooti been a prisoner of the pakeha. The pakeha allowed him to escape, and that error caused the death of many pakehas and many of our own race. So! Should I have the fortune to take Te Kooti I will make no such mistake. Do you not know," he added, addressing Captain Barry, "that yonder, at this moment, escaping through the bush, goes Kereopa the Eye-eater, he who swallowed the eyes of a missionary at Opotiki not many moons ago? What would you do with him if you were to catch him?"

"Hang him!" said Captain Barry promptly.

"Perhaps," said Ropata calmly. "And perhaps you would send him to the Chatham Islands, so that some day he could come back to this land and kill some more missionaries. And suppose you were indeed to hang him—you would take him and shut him away for perhaps one week, perhaps two, more likely three, a wretched man counting the days until his doom. Now, were I to take Kereopa, I would shoot him as I would shoot page 135a pig, but his end would be swift. If my way seem wrong to you, all I can say is that it is sometimes more merciful than yours."

Captain Barry remonstrated no further. A wise man, he knew the value of Ropata's services, knew, too, that if there were any people that the Hauhaus held in fear, it was the men of the Ngatiporou. Pending the arrival of the military forces that were certain to be sent in pursuit of Te Kooti, he could not afford to quarrel with this doughty little chieftain whose very name had served to hearten the not over-eager Hawke's Bay natives.

Ron too saw the force of Ropata's words. The Maori viewpoint was one that interested him keenly, and, in spite of the fact that the killing of a prisoner seemed to him an atrocious thing, he could not but concede the justice of Ropata's remark that it would be more merciful to kill outright such a one as Kereopa, than to put him through the workings of a code of laws that he could not understand.

The Ngatiporou warriors were beginning to straggle back to the river-bed. Captain Barry saluted Ropata, and with a word or two of farewell was about to turn away back to ascertain how the men of the Rangers had fared, when there was a page 136sudden shout from behind them, and two of Ropata's men appeared marching along a youth who stared disdainfully about him.

"Hori!" The name sprang to Ron's lips, and he was about to spring toward his friend, when Hori's mouth tightened and he threw a warning glance at Ron.

Ron checked himself and waited.

"It is Hori te Whiti!" exclaimed Tareha. "Oh, miserable youth, what are you doing with Te Kooti's outlaws?"

"So Te Whiti is of Te Kooti's band," said Ropata. "Well, better the father than the son, but as we have not the father the son will die in his place!" He gripped his tomahawk meaningly.

"But," intercepted Captain Barry, "this is only a lad, Ropata."

"Young as he is, he is yet a spy," declared one of the warriors. "We fell over him, lying in the fern and overlooking our position. Who but a spy would be so employed when the others of his people are in flight?"

Ron had edged up to Ropata. He could contain himself no longer. Better break his promise to Hori than see his friend slain by the Ngatiporou.

"Ropata Waha Waha," he said desperately, page 137"I know this youth. He is no spy, but a friend of mine. I ask his life of you on that count!"

But before Ropata could reply, Hori himself answered. "Who," he asked fiercely, "is this strange pakeha boy who would beg the life of Hori te Whiti? I do not know him. Hori has no friends among the pakehas. Bid him stand back!"

Ropata looked questioningly at Ron. "He who was a friend of the pakehas before Te Kooti crossed over the ford has love for them no longer," he suggested meaningly. "It is so with many. A moon ago they walked in peace with the pakehas and with my people. To-day they seek to destroy them!"

"But … but——" stammered Ron, and then he cried suddenly: "He could tell you himself that no one has done more for the pakehas than he!"

"I do not know what the pakeha boy means," said Hori calmly. "Go on with your work, men of the Ngatiporou. Hori te Whiti defies you!"

"Captain Barry!" cried Ron. "Don't let them kill him! Remember … remember——" He stopped suddenly, moved by the appeal in Hori's eyes.

"The pakeha boy is mad!" taunted Hori. "The smell of blood has made him as a woman."

"Hold, Ropata!" exclaimed Captain Barry. page 138"I have reason to think that you will be committing a great error in harming this Maori youth. I beg of you, stay your hand yet a little longer,"

"I have wasted too much time over him already," replied the chief. "Stand him against yonder tree, men of the Ngatiporou!"

Suddenly an idea came to Ron.

"Renata!" he cried despairingly, turning to the old Hawke's Bay chief who had been viewing the scene with considerable astonishment. "We both loved Karauria. This youth was related to Karauria. Shall Karauria's near kinsman be slain by the Ngatiporou when Karauria's soul is yet on its way to Te Reinga?"

It was a desperate ruse, but it was successful. Tareha opened his mouth to deny that any known relationship existed between the dead chief and this rebel youth, but Captain Barry, quick to grasp Ron's point, checked him.

"E! Were they related?" asked Renata, bending a pitying glance on Hori. "Then this youth is not only the dead Karauria's kinsman, but he is mine also. You shall not kill my kinsman, Ropata Waha Waha!"

Ropata looked from one to the other of them, a trifle scornfully. "It is only a youth," he said contemptuously. "A thing too slight for all this page 139talk. Is it your will that I do not kill him?" he added, addressing Captain Barry.

"That is my earnest desire, Ropata," said the soldier gravely.

"Then I will spare his life for the present," declared Ropata. "No, I will not give him into your keeping, for it is my belief that he is a sly and treacherous foe whose friendship for the pakehas is assumed. The Ngatiporou will keep him, and if he tries to escape there will be quick death for him at the hands of Ropata Waha Waha!"

He turned and gave his men some hasty directions for the safe custody of Hori, who as he was dragged away threw Ron another warning glance.