III. A CONVERSION THAT FAILED 257 IV. JACK ASHORE IN 1871 265 V. THE CONVERSION OF MIKE O'LEARY 275 VI. BUSHED 283 VII. THE NON-COM.'S REVENGE 293 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS T. F. KYNNERSLEY OF LEIGHTON SALOP, CAPT. AND S.O. OF L.H., 1879 _Frontispiece_ REWI FIGHTING CHIEF OF THE WAIKATOS _to face page_ 20 GATEWAY TO MAORI KIANGA " 56 A MAORI GIRL " 80 YARN SPINNING IN SOUTH AFRICA " 214 TE TARATA, THE WHITE TERRACE, ROTOMAHANA " 192 THE CONVERSION OF MIKE O'LEARY " 280 THE NEGLECTED SOLDIER Fame is but a fleeting shadow, Glory but an empty name; Spite of all that I have gone through, 'Tis, I find, a losing game: Without interest, without money, Nothing can a soldier gain; Though he be the sole survivor Of a host of comrades slain: What avail these glitt'ring honours, Which a queen laid on my breast; Though I've sought them from my childhood, Would I'd fallen with the rest: Then my heart had not been broken Life had fled without a sigh; Hunger presses--I am fainting-- Ought a soldier thus to die? THE OLD SHEKARRY. CAMP-FIRE YARNS OF THE LOST LEGION PART I CHAPTER I THE MAORI AS I KNEW HIM Camped in a London flat, sick of the turmoil, rows and worries of the big city, with its pushing, hurrying and ill-mannered crowds, can it be wondered at that I let my thoughts often wander far away to the days of my early manhood, when I passed over ten years in the dense and silent, though beautiful, bush of New Zealand, or rode across the wild, open and breezy plains of its inland plateaus? During this time I had ample opportunities for observing and studying the natives, both in war and peace: in the former especially, as I not only fought against them, but I also fought side by side with the brothers, cousins and quondam friends of the very men we were engaged against. Queer, very queer, people they were, and, to describe them in a few words, I should pronounce them to be bundles of contradictions, whose faults made them hateful, but whose many good qualities rendered them one of the most charming race of people it has ever been my lot to meet. They have been described by numerous writers far more capable than myself, and whose pens are far more graphic than my own, but yet perhaps a few traits in their many-sided characters, that I have experienced myself, may interest you.