Well, we sat down and looked at one another; and as each man thought over the forced labour of the past few days, of the long, dreary night marches, of the short rations, of the blistered hands and the torn feet which he had suffered and which, through that morning’s miserable misunderstanding, he would have to suffer again, he forbore to swear, being unable to find in his repertoire any cuss words suitable to express his sentiments. Notwithstanding his escape Titokowaru was beaten; he had lost his mana (luck); all the allies who had flocked to him in his prosperity deserted him like rats running from an unseaworthy ship, and after the retirement of the field force he was for a time hunted by small parties of local levies, together with a few of the Armed Constabulary belonging to the district, until he disappeared into the interior, where the Government let him rip. The subjugation and disarmament of the tribes who had joined him being left to junior officers, Colonel Whitmore immediately started again for the east coast, taking all the available men of the West Coast Field Force with him. We were therefore shipped on the steamers _Sturt_ and _St Kilda_, on the 10th of April, reaching Onehunga on the eve of the following day. It was dark when we landed and got our baggage ashore, and we then started to march across the isthmus to Auckland, where fresh shipping awaited to take us down the east coast to Tauranga. Auckland at that time was in its heyday of prosperity. The great Thames gold-digging was in full swing, and as our column of war-worn, bush-stained men marched through the brilliantly lighted and bustling Queen’s Street the temptation for a spree was too much for some of our boys, many of whom had not been into a town or seen a white woman for three years, so they began to break ranks and slip away, determined to have one night’s fling, no matter what it cost them. Consequently when we reached the wharf only about half of our men were present. There confusion became confounded, diggers, sailors, civilians and women of a certain class crowding in upon us, tendering the men bottles of liquor or tempting them from their duty. Waggons and drays loaded with camp equipage, ammunition, baggage and stores arrived, which all had to be transferred to the ship, and this was done chiefly by the officers, who then, as the ship was to sail at daylight, had to form themselves into a picket to collect their scattered and more than half-drunk men. After a night of ceaseless work we managed to get all but sixty on board, the Colonel remaining behind to gather together the stragglers; nor did he let slip the opportunity of venting his unjust spleen, as he reported to the Government that his men were all mutinous and his officers discontented.