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Chapter XVI
The Storming of Ngatapa

Next day the assault upon Ngatapa was commenced. Armed Constabulary, Rangers, and friendly Maoris moved up to the base of the forbidding mountain, upon whose peak Te Kooti had built his remarkable pa.

Ropata was still far from well. Captain Barry begged him not to go into action, pointing out to him that such a proceeding would be madness for one in his condition.

The doughty chief's reply was brief. "My tribe would be of little value without its chief!" he said; and forthwith placed himself at the head of his men.

Ron and Jock went forward with the Rangers. Their work was to be some of the most difficult and dangerous of the day. Captain Barry had orders to move up to the far side of the mountain, and to establish his men, if possible, on the precipitous cliffs near to the apex of the peak. It had been decided that, in case Te Kooti should be compelled to evacuate the pa, his only possible page 210way of escape would lie in this direction; and this the Rangers were determined, at any cost, to prevent.

By three o'clock Ropata and his men were established on the edge of the plateau in front of the pa, and were already exchanging shots with the enemy. Their work was more difficult now than had been the case before, for the Hauhaus had burned a great deal of the scrub that had formerly afforded the attacking party its shelter.

Nevertheless, rifle-pits were soon contrived, and the Ngatiporou and Arawa settled down to a monotonous trench warfare, with little advantage on either side.

Meanwhile Captain Barry and the Rangers had managed to take up their perilous position on the cliffs.

"It's a case of hanging on by the eyebrows," Jock chuckled, as he straddled a narrow crag, and glanced down into the gully far below him. "Heaven grant that Te Kooti doesn't guess how few we are! A sortie from the pa would just about hurl us over the cliff!"

From his position beside Captain Barry Ron let his gaze wander over the mighty panorama of hill and valley and forest that lay before him. He was accustomed to wild and bush-clad country, page 211but the rugged magnificence of the scene he now looked upon was such as to completely awe him. Stretching away to the north-east was range upon range of forest-clad mountains, the wild lands of the Urewera. The valleys were tangles of bush, so thick that it was nigh impenetrable. Small wonder, he thought, that there were parts of the Urewera country into which no white man had ever been able to make his way! It was forbidding land of crag and torrent, of pathless wilderness and secret valley. What wonders might it not reveal to the man who was adventurous enough to brave its dangers?

"Some day," thought Ron, "I'll go into the Urewera country and find out for myself what lies behind those terrible mountains."

Late in the afternoon Jock and Evans were instructed to make their way up toward the pa, and to take up their position as advance scouts. In order to do this it would be necessary for them to crawl on their hands and knees along the top of a jagged ridge of rock, since only on the extreme top of the wall was there any cover to be obtained.

Before Jock departed he and Ron exchanged a few words.

"Will you be wanting me to-night?" the bushman asked.

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"I don't know," replied Ron. "I can't tell what will happen until I see Hori."

"Well, so long, lad. Keep up your courage!"

"So long, Jock. I'll be bound to see you before I go. I think, if Captain Barry can spare you, you had better come along with me. Even if we can get Isbel out of the pa it's going to be a difficult business to get her down that cliff."

Jock nodded, and, calling to Evans that he was ready, commenced leading the way across the narrow ridge toward the pa.

Ron rejoined Captain Barry, whom he found writing a despatch.

"I want you to get this to Colonel Whitmore as soon as possible," remarked the soldier. "If you start at once you should be able to put it into his hands before dusk. Then, on your way back, you will be able to meet your Maori friend. Let me know what he proposes to do before you engage on any desperate venture, and I will tell off Abler, and perhaps Evans, to assist if he thinks there is need for them. Now, be off with you, and I pray that you may get good news."

Ron took the despatch, and, saluting his officer, began a careful descent of the cliff.

He followed the rocky bed of the creek that ran along at the base of the mountain. He could page 213hear the bursts of rifle-fire from the plateau in front of the pa, the sounds awakening dozens of echoes among the hills. Now and then he heard the well-remembered war-cry of the Ngatiporou, followed by a chorus of defiant yells from the Hauhaus.

He gave the despatch to Colonel Whitmore, who expressed satisfaction at Captain Barry's news.

"This is splendid, Falkinor," he remarked, turning to an officer who stood beside him. "Captain Barry reports that his men are well astride the ridge beyond the pa and——"

But he did not finish his sentence. From the plateau above came an indescribable tumult. Shouts, yells, and screams rang out, mingled with the rattle of musketry, while above all rose the voice of Ropata, shouting his commands to his men. Colonel Whitmore and the officer rushed toward the cliff.

But Ron was already ahead of them, climbing upward with the agility of a monkey, intent on discovering for himself what was happening on the plateau.

He heard the Ngatiporou war-cry rising triumphantly as he reached the top. He shouted to a man of the Constabulary, who was about to page 214descend, the blood pouring from a wound in his arm, to know what had occurred.

"The Ngatiporou made a surprise attack on the Hauhaus' left!" the man yelled back. "They are establishing themselves in the outer trench!"

"Hurrah!" shouted Ron, literally dancing with excitement on the edge of the cliff.

A bullet winged past him, not a yard away. Ron judged it prudent to seek cover before giving way to any further expressions of joy. He threw himself into a rifle-pit near at hand, and peered over the edge. But to his disappointment the outer palisade of the pa prevented his seeing anything of what was going on in the trench.

The noise was now dying down. Evidently Ropata's assault had been successful. Cautiously Ron raised himself, and began worming his way along the ground in the direction of the palisade. When he was about a dozen yards from it he picked himself up and ran toward the palisade. He found a break in it, and squeezed himself through it.

The fighting was over for the moment. It must have been a desperate struggle, Ron thought, from the number of dead and wounded who lay on the ground. He dropped into the trench, stepping, to his horror, upon the body of a Hauhau.

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The conquering Ngatiporou took small heed of him. Urged thereto by their valiant chief, they were already beginning to sap in the direction of the second palisade. Ropata stood, directing his men with a coolness made the more remarkable for the fact that bullets were literally flying around him. Evidently a strong reinforcement of Hauhaus had been sent to the second palisade, and they were spending ammunition ruthlessly in a fruitless attempt to drive the Ngatiporou from the trench they had won.

Meanwhile more men were pouring in to the support of Ropata. Others came to the succour of the wounded, who were removed as tenderly as was possible in that rough place. A horrible thought struck Ron. Quickly he seized hold of a Ngatiporou warrior by his bare arm.

"O my brother," he said, "I desire greatly to know if Te Kapu be among the Hauhaus' slain!" If Te Kapu had indeed fallen, what would be his sister's fate?

The warrior replied that he had not seen the face of Te Kapu anywhere in the fighting. But Ron was still uneasy. It was not until he had questioned several men that he felt satisfied that Te Kapu still lived.

"It's a ghastly thought that Isbel's safety page 216should depend on the life or death of a scoundrelly Hauhau!" he thought bitterly. "Oh, I hope Hori has thought of some way in which we can rescue her to-night!"

There were two long hours to pass before he could see Hori. Having first satisfied himself that Colonel Whitmore had no message for Captain Barry, Ron helped as much as he could in making the wounded comfortable.

At dusk he made a hasty meal with some men of the Constabulary. Then, bidding them goodbye, he set out for the tunnel.

His impatience brought him to the meeting-place some time before he could expect Hori. The minutes seemed like hours, dragging by on leaden feet. But at last there came the weka's call, soft but distinct, and an instant later Hori appeared. Ron noticed that his friend carried a bundle.

"I have seen the sister of my friend!" were Hori's first words.

"Thank Heaven!" The words forced themselves out.

"I will tell you all I know," said the Maori. "Last night, as I warned you, I had no chance to speak with her. All day I waited about, hoping that she would see me, and that I could give her page 217a signal; but there are many men in the pa and she did not look my way. At sunset the women who keep her went about their cooking—though they have little to cook now, so short is their food. Then I went over to where she was sitting. Having first warned her to behave as though she were shrinking from me, I told her how we were planning her escape. While I stood before her, as if taunting her, we made the plan. E! The sister of my friend is wonderful, Roni! She kept crying out for me to go away, behaving as though she were terrified; and at last she cried so hard that one of the women, who is more tender-hearted than some of them, came up and bade me begone!"

"Good old Miss Muffet!" cried Ron. "I'm glad she hasn't lost her courage!"

"The fire of that courage will never burn down!" Hori spoke softly, reverently.

"And what is the plan, Hori?"

"This," said the Maori. "She will lie awake to-night, watching and waiting until the pa is still. Then, when all within are sleeping, she will endeavour to steal toward the cliff-top. I will be somewhere near to guide her."

"But how are we to get her down the cliff?" Ron asked.

"I have thought of that," Hori said. "It will page 218take three of us to manage the escape, Roni. You will have to come up into the pa, for if her absence is detected before she is safely at the bottom of the cliff it will need all of my wits to draw off the pursuit. You then will lower her by the rope. Your friend, the big man Abler, must stand on the ledge and catch her as she comes down."

"That's a good idea," Ron declared. "I will have to go and get Jock. He is with the Rangers up on the cliffs behind the pa."

"Go, then, at once, my brother," advised Hori. "But first take this bundle. It contains a piu-piu, which I want you to wear. Also within it you will find a bottle which contains a dye. Smear that well over your face and your body, and make yourself look as much like one of my race as you are able. It is a precaution only, in case you are seen.''

"What is the stain, Hori?" asked Ron curiously.

"It is made from the bark of a tree which my people used to prize greatly in dyeing their flax and feather mats. It will make you a rich brown colour, Roni—and it won't come off quickly. You will be a brown-face for many days!" Hori smiled.

"I don't mind that," declared Ron. "It will be rather a lark, going into Te Kooti's pa in disguise." He took the bundle.

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"Now go," said Hori, "and return with your friend later. Do not come up the cliff until you have a signal from me. Be wary, for there will be more than one water-party coming down to the creek to-night!"

He turned away, and Ron, almost hugging his precious bundle, made his way to the Rangers' position.

The Rangers had bivouacked for the night in a gully below the ridge. They had a fire going, and those not on sentry or on scout duty were lying before it smoking and talking. Evidently, thought Ron, no danger from Te Kooti was apprehended in this quarter as yet.

Ron was made to recount all that he had seen of the fight on the plateau, and a cheer went round when he described how Ropata with the Ngatiporou and Arawa men had stormed the first palisade.

"It must have been a great fight!" remarked Evans.

"And you say Ropata stood up and urged the warriors on with the bullets flying round him?"

"I saw him myself," replied Ron. "He didn't carry a gun, either. He just had a stick in his hand, and he was flourishing it about as if he'd use it on any man who didn't hurry along with making the sap!"

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"And he probably would have, too," declared Evans. There was a general laugh.

Captain Barry had been up on the ridge when Ron arrived. He appeared presently with Jock at his heels, and Ron repeated his story of the encounter on the plateau. He also informed the two of the result of his meeting with Hori.

Then the business of disguising Ron was begun. The staining of his skin was done by the light of the camp-fire. The men knew not on what desperate work he was engaged, but they guessed that it had something to do with the rescue of his sister. Several of them insisted on adding their touches, and one of them seized a charred stick and scrolled upon his chin some highly artistic representations of tattooing. When all was finished, and Ron stood before them, clothed only in his piu-piu, a cartridge-belt strapped round his shoulders and another round his waist, they agreed that in a dim light he would easily pass as a Hauhau. Ron obligingly rolled his eyes for his comrades, and even went so far as to attempt a haka ¹ for their amusement.

Just before midnight he and Jock set out on their errand. They had to wait long and with what patience they could muster until they got page 221Hori's signal. It came from close beside them, so close that Ron, keyed up as he was for the dangerous adventure, almost jumped. Hori gave an amused grunt at the sight of Ron. Then he turned toward the tunnel-mouth, Ron and Jock following him.

Emerging from the tunnel, they left Jock on the ledge. Then Hori went up by the rope, and Ron followed him with a beating heart. It seemed an age before he drew himself over the edge and rejoined his friend.

They made their way toward the pa, treading noiselessly. Presently Hori stopped.

"You wait here," he whispered. "I will go in and get the sister of my friend. Keep good watch and note carefully if anyone goes toward the rope."

He stole away, and Ron lay down in the low scrub, with his eyes fastened on the cliff-top.

Within the pa all seemed still. Now and then a shot sounded from the plateau, proof that Ropata's men were on the alert, anticipating any surprise attack that Te Kooti might make. Once a Hauhau approached the cliff-top and bent down.

"He's probably examining the rope," thought the waiting lad, remembering that Hori had once told him that a sentry looked at it every now and then.

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The man passed him returning to the pa, entirely oblivions to the fact that one of the hated pakehas lay so near to him. "What an easy target he would make!" thought Ron regretfully.

Almost as soon as the Hauhau had disappeared Hori was back. And beside him was Isbel's sturdy figure, and Isbel's honest face, wreathed in smiles.

"Oh, Ron!" she whispered. "Ron!"

"Isbel, dear!" returned Ron with feeling, and brother and sister flew into each other's arms.

"We must be quick," interrupted Hori. "What of the rope, Roni?"

"A Hauhau went over to it for a moment," answered Ron. "I saw him bend down, but he went away again almost at once."

"Ah!" said Hori softly, and there was a note in his voice that made Ron glance at him quickly.

"What's wrong, Hori?" he demanded.

"We can but see," returned the Maori. "Quick to the rope!"

They hastened over to the top of the cliff. Hori bent down and groped about on the ground.

"It is as I feared," he muttered. "We are too late!"

"What do you mean, Hori?" asked Ron horrified.

"The rope is gone!"