Two miles had been covered when we came to the flooded Waingangora River, whose icy waters rose breast-high as we forded it linked arm in arm so as to prevent being swept away. Oh, scissors! it was cold, my shawl and jumper being frozen as stiff as boards five minutes after I had crossed! We, however, pushed on, and when daylight came we were deep into the bush on the western slopes of Mount Egmont. Now we had no idea where the Hau Haus really were, as all the information the Colonel had received since Katene’s desertion had been conflicting, some reports stating that Titokowaru had fallen back to an inland pah called Ruaruru, the position of which was quite unknown, and as the so-called peace had given him plenty of time to build a dozen new pahs, provided he had a mind to do so, he might be anywhere within fifty miles of us. We had therefore to follow the old bush-whackers’ plan--viz. enter the bush and cross it in a straight line, and if you cut a well-defined track follow it in the most likely direction to the bitter end. This we did until one-thirty P.M. on the 7th, when we cut a well-worn path which ran nearly north and south. This was a streak of luck, and at a short council of war it was decided we should follow the track in a southerly direction towards the sea. After a short halt and a bite of cold, sodden food, for of course no fires could be lighted and our rations had been soaked in the waters of the Waingangora, we moved on for nearly an hour, when another halt was called and Te Kepa ordered one of his men to climb a gigantic rata-tree so as to obtain an outlook and try if he could spot any smoke rising or see any indications of a clearing in the adjacent bush. The fellow ran up one of the huge pendent vines like a monkey, being soon lost to sight among the lichens, orchids and parasites that draped the branches. He had not been gone over a few minutes when down he slid, reporting he could see plenty of smoke not more than half-a-mile down the track, and could plainly hear the sound of a haka (indecent dances accompanied by unprintable libretto). This was a real slice of luck, as if the Hau Haus were hakaing they could not be aware of our vicinity, and we might catch them on the hop. Another council of war was held, when Te Kepa gave the soundest advice, which I am certain would have been followed by the O.C. had he been in his normal state, although there is no doubt that the reasons he assigned for the action he took were very weighty.