The old chief explained, further, that when Bent did not return to the bush-village the previous night, his fellow-eelers had come to the conclusion that he had given them the slip on the journey home, and had made off to the white men's camp. So at daylight a party set out to scour the forest round the _kainga_, fully intending, if they found the deserter in hiding, to summarily execute him. Old Rupé, too, had taken to the forest with his daughter--before daylight--but for a different reason: he did not believe his _pakeha_ would desert him, and as he concluded Bent had lost himself in the bush, he had kindled a fire on the most prominent hillside in the forest, in the hope that the wanderer would see it and make his way towards it. His bush-craft was successful, and no doubt it saved Bent's life, for had he gone wandering on he would most probably have run into the arms of his hunters. So the three of them--the _rangatira_ and his "tame white man" and the Maori girl--travelled homeward as quickly and as quietly as they could, seldom speaking to one another for fear some prowling Hauhau should hear them. "Even now, if they find you out in the forest," said Rupé, "I may not be able to save you. Be cautious, for this may be your last day!" Late in the afternoon the camp of the fugitive rebels was reached, and Bent was safe. Titokowaru, just back from a scouting expedition to the forest-edge, was in the village. The grim war-chief was genuinely pleased to see the white man back again, and safe. "_E tu!_" said he; "it was fortunate indeed that Rupé met you in the forest. Had any of the others found you--my young men of the _Tekau-ma-rua_--then you had been a dead man!" Now came an illustration of that many-sided law, the _tapu_. Titokowaru took the two eels which Bent had carried home on his back and hung them up as an offering to the _atua_, the heathen gods. They were under the ban because they had been borne on the white man's back, which was temporarily _tapu_; therefore they could not be eaten. The honey, however, was not wasted. Titokowaru, having no doubt a sweet tooth, sagely decided that it would be sufficient to hang up the eels for the gods; he _whakanoa_'d the honey, that is, he repeated _karakia_, or incantations, over it, by which the maleficent powers of the _tapu_ were nullified or averted and the food made fit for consumption. CHAPTER XXIII A BATTLE IN THE FOG The surprise of Otautu--An early morning attack--Kimble Bent's dream--"_Kia tupato!_"--A gallant defence--Brave old Hakopa--Flight of the Hauhaus.