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With the Lost Legion in New Zealand

Chapter X — How Maoris should be Fought

page 170

Chapter X
How Maoris should be Fought

I mentioned in the last chapter that our paucity of men allowed the Hau Haus the opportunity of making things warm for us, and they lost no time in taking advantage of it; for one day they had the cheek to ambuscade, within half-a-mile of the fort, a dray loaded with rations. Now there was a standing order that a ration dray should be escorted by twelve troopers, but as the unfortunate O.C. of the post from whence the dray started had only twelve men for all duties he could only send three, and the Hau Haus thought this far too good a chance to be lost. The dray was drawn by two horses driven tandem fashion, and when it had reached within half-a-mile of Waihi, and within view of the camp, a party of natives lurking in the scrub fired a volley at the escort and charged with their tomahawks. One trooper, named Haggarty, went down, horse and man, but the driver managed to unhook his lead horse, jumped on its back and with the remaining two troopers won through to the fort, from whence a party of Rangers had already sallied.

These soon reached the spot, where they found the empty dray and the remains of the poor chap chopped to pieces, but the rations and the shaft-horse taken away. Now this vexed the Colonel, and more than irritated the rest of us, as rations page 171were very scarce indeed, and we were quite pleased when the O.C. determined to return them a Roland for their Oliver; so next day another dray, apparently heavily loaded, with an absurdly small escort, was despatched from the fort.

Some hours, however, previous to its departure, a party of Rangers and friendly natives had been despatched to do a bit of ambuscading on our behalf, and proved themselves worthy of the trust placed in them; for when the Hau Haus, having spotted the sham escort, came down from the bush to gobble it up they fell into the trap so skilfully planted by the Rangers, who knocked the immortal stuffin' out of them, sending them back to the bush hungry and howling, having on this occasion received toko instead of tucker.

This lesson, though a severe one, the O.C. did not think quite adequate, so he determined to strike another blow to teach them better manners for the future, and to leave his men's rations alone. He therefore with the greatest secrecy called in men from the other posts, which was a very dangerous thing to do, as it left them for the time quite defenceless, but he had no other course to pursue, and Fortune favours the bold player. Still, after scraping every man together, he could muster only one hundred and thirteen men of all ranks, and it was a very, very risky game he intended to play, and one he would never have attempted had he not had the greatest confidence in his officers and men.

Of course a body of men as large as this one was bound to be spotted leaving camp, so that to mislead the enemy's scouts he first marched to page 172the fort on the Waingangora River and pretended to start work there, but at ten P.M. we silently left there, crossed the river, and made for an old deserted pah where our scouts had come across a well-defined track running inland. This track they had scouted until it had ended in a clearing, but could penetrate no farther as the enemy's scouts were too much on the alert. However, he hoped that he had blinded them by what we had done at Waingangora.

Well, we started, passed the deserted pah, moved carefully on till we came to the clearing, and then, as we were ignorant of the actual position of the Hau Haus, we lay down and waited. Presently we heard, not far off, some cocks crow, which giving us the desired information we moved off in their direction, and had not proceeded a mile when, just as day broke, we came to a long, narrow clearing with a lot of huts scattered all the way up it. As there was no possibility of surrounding the. place our O.C., without a pause, led us right up it, leaving a few men at the door of each hut as we passed, who, with carbines loaded and cocked, stood at them without making a sound. The movement, quickly conceived as it was, was admirably carried out, for although before it was quite completed an alarm was given, yet very few natives escaped, nor was there the least confusion as the men, all of whom were old hands, stood ready without saying a word.

When the arrangements were finished to his satisfaction the Colonel posted himself in front of the largest and most central hut, and delivered his ultimatum, shouting out: "Will ye, O Ngatiruanui, page 173who are now surrounded, surrender yourselves as prisoners of war or be shot?"

The query was a brief one; the answer was still briefer, for it came in the shape of a volley fired from all the huts that dropped a lot of our men, although it would have been better for the inmates had they considered their answer more carefully, as Rangers are not men with whom to bandy words. For in a moment fire was applied to every whare, which, being built of dry raupo as inflammable as petrol, burst into sheets of flame that transformed the quiet village into an animated hell.

Out from the flaming whares rushed men, half mad, with scorched hides and blazing hair, only to be blown off their feet by shots fired from a few yards distant, while the flames, smoke, explosions of powder, yells, cheers and shots, together with the roar and crackling of the burning huts, made a service that sunny Sabbath morning that must have delighted Old Nick himself.

This part of the day's performance did not last long, as in less than ten minutes every hut but one was consumed, and every Maori dead with the exception of that one's occupants. Unfortunately the hut remaining was a big whare puni made of thick slabs of wood covered with earth, at the door of which lay the dead body of one of our men, and as no fire would touch this little fortress there was nothing to be done but dig out the garrison. We at once set to work at this job, and had nearly unearthed them when we were attacked from three sides by an overwhelming party of Hau Haus.

It was evidently high time to clear out of that, but our Colonel was not the man to be balked of his page 174prey. There was no time for more digging, so he again called on those inside to surrender, promising to spare their lives if they did so at once.

To this they consented, and one of them came out, but he had no sooner shown himself than a number of friendly natives standing close by recognised the unfortunate Johnny as one of their bitterest tribal enemies, so let drive a volley at him, nearly blowing the poor wretch to smithereens. This low-down conduct drove the Colonel hopping mad, and he cussed the delinquents with so much unction that the tone of his cuss words reassured the Hau Haus to that extent they at once came out and surrendered.

It was now high time for us to skip, and we promptly made ready to do so, as we had already lost three men killed and seven men badly wounded; this for a small force like ours was bad enough, but casualties in savage warfare mean a much greater loss than the actual number of men hit.

You see it is this way: A man gets wounded in civilised warfare; well, his side only loses the use of one player for that match. As for the wounded Johnny, he just makes himself as comfortable as circumstances permit and quietly awaits the arrival of the first ambulance, be it friend or foe, when he is picked up and taken care of.

This, however, was not a rule of the game as played in New Zealand. If a man got wounded there his own friends must get him away smart, for if the Hau Haus got him, so far from making his wound whole they would make him into a whole wound by torturing him in a way not fit to write about, and as it took at least four men to carry the page 175poor chap along the rough bush paths we lost the use of five men's rifles instead of losing only one.

Then again it was considered very bad form to leave a dead man behind, for doing so not only supplied the enemy with a quantity of fresh meat rations, but the capture of one was considered to be a great triumph to them and an equal disgrace to ourselves. It therefore amounted to this, that as we had ten men hors de combat it left us with only sixty-three rifles to withstand the onslaught of the infuriated Hau Haus, besides which we had nine prisoners to shepherd.

Nevertheless we must skip, so were just moving off when Pierre rushed up and reported the enemy had seized and were holding the only path we knew leading out of the confounded clearing.

Even this Job's comforter did not daunt our gallant O.C., who at once summoned the prisoners and demanded if there was any other path leading out of the place we could make use of, at the same time politely informing them that if there was not, much as he regretted the necessity, he would be forced to order their immediate execution.

This reasoning they saw was sound, and they at once promptly replied that there was another road, and that rather than linger any longer on that insalubrious spot they would guide us out by it.

Now this was real kind of them, so we carried the wounded off, leaving a rear-guard of only thirty-five men to cover our retreat, and it was fortunate, not only for themselves, but for the whole of us, that they were a splendid lot of well-trained old hands who were conversant with every wrinkle in bush fighting, and moreover had as page 176commander one of the bravest and most experienced officers in the country.

Nor were we going to have a very rosy time of it, as carrying a heavy man in a blanket along a narrow, crooked path running through dense bush and over a terribly rough and broken country is no child's play. Remember that on a bush footpath stretchers are of no use, the unfortunate wounded must therefore be lugged along either in men's arms or doubled up in a blanket; that we had none of those drugs nor appliances that now rob the battlefield and hospital of half their terrors and that even on reaching camp a fern bed with a rolled-up blanket for a pillow was the only accommodation a wounded man could hope for.

At the front there was no chloroform, medical comforts nor nurses, so that the lot of a wounded man was by no means a happy one. Well, we were nearly clear of the bush when the Colonel called me and pointing out a low rough hill said: "Burke, you see that hill, the path runs half way round its base and we shall be in open ground when we get past it, but if the enemy gain possession of it we shall lose heavily. Now, I want you to take ten men, make for the top of it as fast as ever you can, and hold it till Northcroft and the rear-guard win past."

Hastily summoning the first available ten men, among whom were old Jack, Pierre, George, Buck and Tim, the rest of them being friendly Maoris, we pushed for the hill as fast as we could get over the ground, reaching the top of it just in the nick of time, for as we surmounted its crest we ran page 177bang into a dozen Hau Haus who were struggling up the other side.

There was no time for speech-making nor tactics, so we just jumped at one another, and I had no sooner fired my carbine than I saw a big native with his tongue protruding and the whites of his eyes turned up spring at me through the smoke, twirling a long-handled tomahawk around his head, as if it had been a shillelagh in the hands of one of my own countrymen at home, and moreover had barely time to throw up my carbine, so as to guard a swashing cut he was good enough to deliver at the left side of my head. Troth and it was no fool of a cut either, for it drove my carbine in until the muzzle of it came against my left shoulder, which fortunately prevented my guard from being quite broken, though the razor-edged blade at the business end of the six-foot flexible manuka handle, whipping over my carbine barrel, cut my left ear in two, scarred my cheek, and gashed my eyebrow so deeply that the flap of the wound fell over, which besides deluging me with blood quite obstructed the sight of my left eye, so much so that I thought I was blinded.

This thought transmogrified me into a raging fiend, so I let go my carbine, and, without even pausing to say damn your soul, flew at his throat like a wild cat, which I was fortunate enough to get a firm hold of with my right hand.

Well was it for me at that moment that I had devoted so many hours of my young life to the gymnasium and salle d'armes, and that my great natural strength had been increased by culture to an almost phenomenal extent, for now it was to be page 178tried to its very utmost, and my wiry, well-trained thews and sinews tested to their breaking point. Well was it, also, for me, that by the quick fury of my wild-cat attack I had at once made good my hold on his bull throat, a hold I swore to maintain till death parted us. Gad, I was very angry, for the thought of having lost my eye was more than I could tolerate, and I saw scarlet.

My opponent was a big, powerful fellow, standing fully six feet and well proportioned, who, although inclined to run to flesh, was still very active, and a most formidable antagonist for a young man who measured only five feet seven inches and weighed under eleven stone. He was, moreover, a noted warrior and a past master in the use of native hand-to-hand weapons. Therefore, failing firearms, it was the very best thing I could have done to grapple with him, and it was to my immense advantage having caught the first hold.

The moment I had closed with him he dropped his long-handled weapon and strove with all his might to tear away my grip on his throat with his left hand, while with his right he attempted to seize mine, but I successfully guarded it and, although he repeatedly struck me with his right hand, we were too closely locked for him to do me much harm, while I was surely if slowly choking him.

The struggle seemed to last for hours, in reality it did not last for five minutes, but it was a hot five minutes, and one to be remembered a lifetime. For a few seconds we tugged and heaved at one another, and twice he swung me off my legs into the air, but I hung on and landed on my feet. In vain page 179he tried to sink his nails into my right forearm, but the muscles, hardened by years of fencing, cricket and gymnastics, were as rigid as iron, for although he scratched and scored the skin yet he could make no impression on the arm itself, the nervous fingers of which were nearly buried round his windpipe.

I now began to feel I was getting the best of it, besides which, although still animated by the determination to kill, I was becoming cooler and cooler, and watched for any opportunity so that I could profit by it.

Again and again he made desperate efforts to throw me off, and after one prolonged, furious struggle, in which I thought my sinews must give way, his feet got caught by a vine and we fell heavily sideways to the ground; when with one tremendous heave I gained the upper hand and drove my right knee into the lower part of his breast-bone. Oh, but it was a glorious feeling of exultation that rushed through my brain as I tightened, if possible, my clutch on his windpipe and, using the leverage of my knee, tugged and tugged again.

One more despairing effort made and thwarted convinced me he was beaten as he perceptibly grew weaker and weaker, and although I never relaxed my attention to my own particular quarry I glanced round to see, if possible, how the game was progressing with my comrades, as with the exception of one or two pistol shots everyone had fought mute, and the grim match had been played with tomahawk, knife and hand.

The first I spotted was Tim, on his feet, wrestling page 180furiously with a big Maori, and at the same glance saw George glide up and bury his huge knife in the native's back, who at once relaxed his hold, when Tim, throwing the dead body clear, yelled out: "Mr Dick, where are ye, sor? Oh, holy Jesus, where's the master?" Jack I could also see kneeling in the stunted fern evidently top dog, for I caught the flash of his swinging tomahawk and heard the crushing thud as the blow descended. I could also hear the grunts and deep sobbing gasps and see the fern trembling where men still fought in their death struggles, but I had now no anxiety for the future as we had at least three hale men on their feet and temporarily out of employment, so I started in to finish off my man.

My man was by now almost passive, so much so indeed that I could have easily drawn my knife with my left hand, but somehow the thought of sticking a man like a pig revolted me. No; it had been up to now a fair fought fight, hand against hand, so let the hand finish it; nor did he require much more attention, as after one or two convulsive heaves he lay quite quiet and I knew I had finished him.

I was just on the point of rising when up rushed Tim swinging a tomahawk over his head, who with his eyes blazing yelled out: "Hould on, Mr Dick, hould on, sor," and before I could say a word sank his weapon into the dead man's head, sending the contents of it spurting all over me.

"Faugh, Tim," I said, starting to my feet. "It's a dirty fighter you are; give me something to wipe my face with."

"Och, be the howly Saint Bridget, it's kilt ye are, page 181Mr Dick; oh, wura, wura, where's the doctor, bad luck to him," whined Tim.

"Killed be d——d," said I. "But he has blinded my left eye." And seeing the row was over I quickly gave the order: "Load all the carbines, boys, and take cover."

No sooner was this done than Tim was alongside me with a couple of bandages and a pannikin of water, when, tenderly raising the flap of flesh that hung over my eye, in a moment I knew that the sight of it was all right and the relief of mind was immense.

It did not take my kind-hearted comrade more than a minute to replace the flap and twist a bandage round my head, when I was quite fit to attend to my duty.

First of all I looked out for any enemy; there was none in sight though the noise of the rearguard action was drawing much closer, and I was delighted to see the Colonel's party already past the danger point as I was now able to judge how lucky we had been in capturing the hill, for our loss must have been very heavy had the enemy succeeded in gaining it, because the hill completely commanded the only footpath.

I next turned my attention to our own casualties; one friendly native was dead, poor Buck, wounded desperately, was lying on his back with his head on a blanket, and as I knelt down beside him, taking his hand, he opened his eyes and murmured: "Good-bye, Master Burke, struck bed-rock, panned out, shift my pegs," and with a sigh or two the gallant English yeoman drew his pegs and started for another gold rush. page 182The remainder of us, although more or less chipped, were all fit for another scrap if called upon to face one, while nine dead Hau Haus cumbered the ground.

Setting Jack to sew up our poor comrade in his blanket, while Tim and one of the Maoris dug his last claim, with the rest of the men I was keeping a bright lookout, when the Colonel with thirty men joined me.

"Well done, Burke," said he, "by gad, you fellows have done well. Not much hurt I trust? Well, my boy, you wanted to gain bush-fighting experience, gad, you are getting it. I'll leave you six more men and take the others on to the rearguard. In case you are attacked hold this place to the last, but retreat when the rear-guard get round that corner, we shall be able then to cover you. So-long," and he was off.

I, however, was not called on to hold the hill, as Lieutenant Northcroft made such a masterly retreat, and his men fought so well, that the enemy, seeing we had possession of the position and rightly judging that their own party, sent to grab it, had been cut to pieces, after harmlessly burning an immense quantity of ammunition at long range, drew off, allowing our men to disentangle themselves from the bush, and to retire back to camp in peace.