A well-defined dray road led straight into the forest, along which we marched in close order, and before we had proceeded two hundred yards we came to a clearing. This clearing was only a narrow one, perhaps sixty yards across, but what made it look ominous was that all the tree stumps had been extracted, leaving no cover for a rabbit, while the undergrowth on the far side seemed unnaturally dense. However Major Hunter, who led in person, gave the order to double and we dashed across it. The morning was a damp and slightly foggy one in early summer, a light mist rising from the ground in spiral wreaths and curling away among the trees looked very beautiful in the rising sun. We could see nothing of a stockade, in fact I do not think Major Hunter realised we had reached the pah, and it was afterwards ascertained that on this side of the pah there was no palisading at all, but that the Hau Haus had made a breastwork by rolling the logs of huge trees into a line, over which they fired, while in front they had made with the branches interwoven with undergrowth and ground vines an impenetrable abatis. They had also masked the work most cleverly, and as a dead silence brooded over their position there was nothing to show that the scrub was occupied. At a steady double we crossed the clearing, reaching within fifteen yards of the far side, when a single shot rang out, followed quickly by two more. “Charge,” shouted Hunter, but before we could quicken our pace up went a terrific war yell, a sheet of flame and smoke met us full in the face, a sheet of lead tore through our ranks and the roar of over two hundred rifles and guns went echoing among the trees. Down in a heap fell a third of our number, but the groans and cries of the wounded were smothered by the frantic cheer of us men left on our feet as we made a wild rush at the undergrowth, so as to get to hand-grip with our enemies. It was in vain, the network of well-woven vines and creepers was impervious, while their elasticity simply bounced us back, when in desperation we hurled our bodies against them. “Out tomahawk,” I howled. “Here, Tim, you and half-a-dozen men cover us,” and my sub-division sprang at the entanglement, trying to chop our way through the tough lianas so as to open a path for the rest. The distance between ourselves and the yelling Hau Haus was not great, not more than twelve feet, but we could not win through, for resting their gun barrels on the boles of the fallen trees they discharged them right in our faces, mine being severely scorched by the flash from one of them. In a moment the four men who had followed me with their tomahawks were shot dead, and Major Hunter ordered me back, directing me to retire my men a few yards, lie down and open fire.