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Chapter XII
What Befell at Ngatapa

On the following morning Ropata, Captain Barry, Tareha, and Renata went out to reconnoitre; and from the top of one of the highest hills thereabout they descried Te Kooti's eyrie—the steep, forest-girt mountain of Ngatapa.

Greatly to his delight, Ron had been permitted to accompany the party, and so had his first glimpse of a Maori pa under conditions of war. Formidable as it appeared from the distance from which the allies regarded it, they were yet to learn that upon a close survey Ngatapa was all but impregnable. Indeed, with proper armaments and an adequate water-supply, this forest stronghold might have kept a large force at bay for many months.

"It is a well-built pa," said Ropata, regarding the peak critically. "But I think that brave men might capture it if they supported one another." He glanced defiantly at Tareha as he spoke, and the proud Hawke's Bay chief, quick to sense an insult, replied to his look with one of equal defiance and scorn.

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"I do not doubt that Tareha's taua ¹ will bear itself bravely in the assault!" he maintained stoutly.

"Perhaps the kinsman of the dead Karauria will also be of Tareha's taua!" sneered the Ngatiporou chief. "He that the men of Hawke's Bay freed last night!"

Tareha drew himself up haughtily. "No man of Tareha's taua even so much as approached your captive, Ropata Waha Waha!" he answered scornfully. "But if Hori te Whiti has escaped, I for one am glad of it, because the Ngatiporou had no right to keep one who was related to Karauria and Renata."

"I did not say it was one of Tareha's men," Ropata said darkly. "Doubtless Tareha's taua was sleeping, and doubtless, too, Tareha would be asleep with the rest. But it seems to me that already this morning have I seen a piu-piu, whose strings are similar to these!" and he brought from his cartridge-belt several pieces of curiously dyed flax, and held them forth accusingly.

The old chief met Ropata's indignant eyes indifferently. "You had no right to detain my kinsman, Ropata Waha Waha!" he said, making no attempt to disclaim the tell-tale strings.

The little Ngatiporou chieftain spluttered with wrath. Tareha, who knew that Renata had not stirred from his fire throughout the evening, rolled his eyes in astonishment; while Captain Barry, unwilling to interfere, stood by in silence.

"Renata is just the finest old sport I've ever met!" thought Ron. "What a marvellous character he has!" He looked admiringly at the old chief, who stood leaning on his rifle, gazing meditatively toward the peak of Ngatapa, and apparently entirely indifferent as to what Ropata thought or said.

But Tareha, impatient of Ropata's arrogance, took up the cudgels on his friend's account, and a bitter quarrel raged between the two chiefs, there in sight of the rebel pa, to storm which they had come as allies.

"It is enough!" said Ropata at last hotly. "I thought in the beginning that I could count on little support from the Hawke's Bay men. The page 158Ngatiporou will go forward alone against Te Kooti."

"That is not true!" retorted Tareha angrily. "I was here before the Ngatiporou! This very day will my taua move to the assault!"

"And the Forest Rangers will assist you too, Ropata and Tareha!" put in Captain Barry tactfully.

Ropata's expression became somewhat milder. "We will first see what Hotene says," he remarked. In the opinions of his friend Hotene, half-priest, half-warrior, Ropata had enormous faith.

So they betook them back to the Ngatiporou lines; and there Hotene made some incantations, and consulted the omens, to all of which business Ropata attended with the utmost respect. The pakehas too were profoundly interested, but Tareha looked on somewhat contemptuously. He remarked audibly to Ron, who stood by revelling in the savage mummery, that he was acquainted with many better tohungas ¹ among his own people, and that he considered Hotene did not know much about the omens.

This did not please Tareha. "I do not believe in Hotene's reading of the omens," he scoffed. "Tareha's men will move to the assault to-day!"

Ropata turned on him savagely. "Then Tareha's taua will move alone!" he shouted. "And when their bodies are strewn before Ngatapa, then will the Ngatiporou go up and do all the better without them!"

"I am insulted!" cried Tareha. "I will put up with no more of Ropata Waha Waha's insolence! Now indeed are the omens unfavourable! So! I will take my men home again, and Ropata may do as he may without them!"

Captain Barry strove to conciliate the angry chief, but Tareha strode off. After a whimsical look at Captain Barry and Ron Renata turned and followed his co-chief.

An hour later the Hawke's Bay men set off homeward. Tareha was somewhat mollified by Captain Barry's expressions of regret, but he could not be shifted in his purpose. It is recorded that he and his men later did splendid service in the pursuit of Te Kooti. Henare Tomoana also left a name that lives in the history of the times, while page 160Renata's valour was such that the passing years have but added lustre to it.

The pa in which Te Kooti had established himself was one of those natural strongholds, the fortification of which marked the Maori race as among the most ingenious of military peoples. About two thousand feet above the level of the plains, it was perched on a plateau shaped like an isosceles triangle. The only approach to the apex was a narrow ridge with a bush-clad precipice on either side. No troops in the world could have attacked the pa from that angle. Similarly, along either side of the triangle were almost unscalable cliff-faces, likewise covered with bush. Thus Te Kooti's only vulnerable front was along the base of the triangle, and this was protected with triple lines of stony earthworks and deep trenches extending across the small plateau with both ends resting on a cliff.

The outer parapet was seven feet high, and each end of its flanks was bent back to prevent the attackers from turning the line. The inner parapet, twelve feet in height, was provided with sandbagged loopholes, while covered communication-ditches protected movement from line to line.

Ngatapa was a natural stronghold converted page 161into a fortress. The only weakness was the absence of a water-supply; and Te Kooti was finally to discover, as all military commanders before and after him have done, that the supplying of troops with the simple necessities of food and water is the greatest military problem of all.

Outside the pa the remainder of the plateau, which was covered with branches and stumps of cleared bush, was never, at the extreme point, more than four hundred feet deep. It was evident, therefore, that only by first obtaining a foothold on the narrow platform, and then by increasing this foothold, could a successful attack on the pa be made.

On the morning of December 5, undaunted by the difficulties that the position presented, the Lion of the Ngatiporou moved up to Ngatapa. His supporters were few enough—his own men, the small band of the Rangers, the gallant Captain Preece, who in the meantime had brought up the Wairoa natives, and the Wairoa chief, Ihaka Whanga.

They crept through the bush to the foot of the cliff below the plateau; and, Ropata and Hotene leading the way, the ascent of the forest precipice was commenced.

Then, like a bolt from the blue, occurred an page 162unforeseen piece of ill-luck. A gun went off accidentally. The answer was no less sudden; for from the pa above came a sharp volley, which, in spite of the wild remonstrances of Ropata, Ihaka, and the pakeha officers, created an immediate panic among the natives. Pell-mell they fled, throwing down guns and tomahawks as they sought to escape from the ferocious Hauhau devils whom they imagined to be upon them.

Ropata stormed in vain; but no words could stay that wild panic. He was left with the pakehas and but sixteen of his own followers who had stood their ground. Maori and pakeha leaders looked at each other.

"It is well," said Ropata briefly. "A handful of brave men is better than an army of cowards. We will go forward with what few men we have!" He continued his ascent of the cliff as calmly as though he had thousands behind him.

It was a difficult climb; but at last they reached the crest, where, taking such meagre cover as they could find, they began exchanging shots with the enemy. The chief Ihaka muttered something to which Ropata assented, and slid over the edge of the cliff.

"He has gone to stir up his men," explained Ropata. "He is bitterly ashamed of them!"

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But neither Ihaka nor any of his men appeared. After an hour's desultory shooting Ropata asked: "Who will go back and bring up more men?"

Ron, who was lying close to the doughty little chief, immediately volunteered for the work. Having obtained the approval of both Ropata and Captain Barry, he started out on his errand. So while the brave little band hung on to the edge of the cliff they had won he made his way back toward Makaretu, in which direction he found most of the fugitives had fled.

He came upon them, engaged in wordy conference, many of those who were of the advance guard explaining at length to their fellows how valiantly they had fought when the Hauhaus had come upon them. But they fell silent at the boy's approach, and listened in shamed silence as he began to speak. For Ron spoke very much to the point, and he told them they had been cowards to desert their gallant leader.

In eloquent Maori, he urged their duty upon the sulky natives. "Come to the help of your chieftain, men of the Ngatiporou!" he cried finally. "Ropata has won a splendid hold near the pa. It is for you to assist him to capture the pa itself."

Very slowly, one by one, nine men detached themselves from the crowd.

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"And no more?" asked Ron, in bitter disappointment. "Then is Ropata Waha Waha indeed shamed by his warriors!"

He paused for a reply, but none came. The nine warriors who had joined him looked fairly undecided themselves, Ron thought; so he judged it prudent to hold no further parley, but to take them instantly to Ropata's aid.

Ropata was furious at the small response to his appeal. "I shall go back myself!" he announced, with flashing eyes. "And if no more will come, I shall beat them as I would beat disobedient dogs!" He set out forthwith.

The fire from the Hauhau parapet was hourly increasing in volume. It was clear that Te Kooti had brought or had sent more and more men into the trenches.

"If they were to rush us now they'd sweep us clean over the cliff!" Jock Abler muttered to Ron. "Fire rapidly, lad, lest they guess how few of us there are!"

They fired volley after volley, until their ammunition was nearly exhausted.

"We can't hang on much longer, that is certain," Captain Barry decided at last. "Unless Ropata appears quickly we must get ready to retire."

But a moment afterward Ropata did appear, page 165bringing with him thirty unwilling recruits, and a good supply of ammunition.

Then they set to in real earnest. Holes to serve as rifle-pits were scooped on the edge of the cliff with knives, a billhook, hands—anything that would serve. Having thus obtained some scanty cover, Ropata and his Maoris, at three o'clock stormed an outwork; and Ron was despatched back to report the success to Ihaka Whanga. The result was what the astute Ngatiporou chief had foreseen. Thirty more men came up, bringing more ammunition. By dusk they had won yet a little more of the plateau, and then their ammunition fell short again.

This time Captain Preece went back; and in Ropata Waha Warm's name he harangued the sulky main body, and entreated it to advance. But all in vain. The utmost he could do was to obtain ammunition for that gallant little band back on the plateau.

"Then we can do no more," said Ropata wearily, when he heard that his men still refused to come to his assistance. "We shall stay here, friends, until we have fired our last shot, and then we must give back to Te Kooti what we have won from him. E, my friends, it is hard! This is a bitter hour for Ropata Waha Waha!"

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It was nearing dawn when their last round of ammunition was exhausted, and then in utter silence they regretfully abandoned their position, and cautiously commenced the descent of the cliff.

Now, what followed is a matter of history, wherefore as plain history let it be told.

When Ropata had fired his last shot he withdrew before dawn, and strode through the camp of the fugitives who had deserted him. Ropata's men looked not upon the deserters, but camped apart in silence. The shamed offenders feared to approach the chief. A British officer who was with them was deputed to intercede. Ropata gave him no heed for some time. At last he said: "My people have betrayed me. I will have nought to do with them. I will go back to Waiapu for others: and when I come back, if I find those cowards here, I will attack them for deserting me."

He marched toward Turanganui, and met Colonel Whitmore, who had just arrived by sea from Wanganui with Armed Constabulary, and was proceeding to Ngatapa. Whitmore begged him to return.

Ropata answered: "I never break my word. I have said I will go to Waiapu and I will go. I will come back with other men, and attack the people who abandoned me."

It was long before he consented not to attack page 167the deserters; but he yielded at last, and as his journey to Waiapu could not be stayed Colonel Whitmore facilitated it by placing a steamer at his disposal.

Meantime, back in front of Ngatapa, nothing was doing. It was known that Colonel Whitmore and the Constabulary were advancing; so the Rangers, eager as they were to get to grips with Te Kooti, had perforce to contain themselves in patience.

But one morning, as they looked out upon Ngatapa, they beheld an astonishing sight. The pa was burning!

"That means that Te Kooti is retreating into the Urewera country," exclaimed Captain Barry. "Well, this part of the country is clear of him at least—but it means that our work for the present is finished. We can't venture into the Urewera lands without a guide, and the further pursuit of the Hauhaus will have to be properly organized into maybe a dozen separate parties."

Colonel Whitmore was of the same opinion. Accordingly Armed Constabulary and Rangers marched away from Ngatapa, while dense clouds of smoke darkened the hills about the rebel pa, which, at the right moment and with the proper support, might have been captured.