Now my theory _re_ the smoke had been perfectly correct. It had been caused by the Hau Haus burning the scrub so as to destroy cover, and Te Kooti, informed by his scouts of our retreat from Patutahi, seized the opportunity to make one of his lightning raids, in which he murdered several settlers, and did much damage. On the receipt of this news the little Colonel went hopping mad, and without losing a moment we started off to intercept Te Kooti’s retreat, but as it was impossible for the main body to move before morning he despatched Captain Newland and a party of sixteen troopers on ahead. Had he given us fifty troopers, which he very well could have done, we should have hived the artful dodger then and there, as we cut his line of retreat and did all men could do to hold him till the arrival of the Colonel, but eighteen mounted men, no matter how good they are, cannot hold two hundred Maoris, especially in rough country. We however did the best we could, and had the ground been anywhere suitable we should have charged; as it was we had to draw off through the long fern, and it was only the skill of our captain, the cool pluck of our men, and the rotten bad shooting of the Hau Haus that saved us from being cut to pieces. We had, however, been driven off the ground when Colonel Whitmore came up with Te Kooti’s rear-guard and attacked them, but as his men were worn out by their long forced march over very rough country, he failed to make any impression, so Te Kooti succeeded in gaining Ngatapa, having got nine to four the best of us. The advance, however, had begun in earnest, and at the end of the third day, the 27th of December, we took up our position on a high ridge about a mile distant from the Hau Haus’ stronghold. Here the Colonel received news that Rapata, with three hundred and seventy men, had landed, but refused to join up. This was a lie, for the gallant chief was coming on as fast as he could. It was, however, too good a chance for the spiteful little devil to miss of insulting our most faithful ally, and he despatched message after message of such a nature that the high-spirited Maori would not tolerate them, the last one being that if Rapata did not hurry up he would take the place himself. On receipt of this chit Rapata immediately halted his men and returned this reply: “It is well. I have tried to take it once and failed; it is your turn now. I will camp here and await your success.” This brought the Colonel to his bearings, and he saw he had gone too far, especially as some of the senior officers plainly pointed out to him that if he continued to try and bounce Rapata, that chief would return insolence for insolence, and that a quarrel with their great fighting chief would be looked upon by the Ngatiporou as a direct insult to the tribe. Now Whitmore was a splendid soldier and no fool, notwithstanding his nasty manner and want of tact, he therefore, seeing he had gone too far, visited Rapata the next day.