This was not true, and caused intense bitterness right through the field force, as the men were not mutinous, but only fancied they were entitled to a short spree after their past hardships; and as for the officers, they had slaved all night without a pause for food or rest until the ship sailed, which she did at the time ordered. CHAPTER V THE URIWERA CAMPAIGN It was now high time to call on the Uriwera so as to punish them for past offences and teach them that, because they inhabited the very wildest and most rugged country in New Zealand, they could not with impunity murder white people and friendly natives. The Uriwera are a queer tribe almost distinct from other Maoris, for although they belong to the same race, yet they have held but little intercourse with the other tribes, who look upon them as being somewhat uncanny, and perhaps stand slightly in awe of them. Their country at that time was absolutely unknown, no white man having ever entered it, and no Maori war party had ever possessed the temerity to attack them, so they lived among their inaccessible mountains and deep valleys, a people quite apart from any others. This strange people were, however, extremely warlike and ferocious, continually making raids on their neighbours. They had never had any cause to quarrel with the white settlers, yet they were one of the first tribes to join the king movement, and had fought desperately against Sir Duncan Cameron in the Waikato campaign; then they had joined the Hau Haus, and had committed many murders. On Te Kooti’s landing, without receiving any provocation whatsoever, they had joined him, and accompanied him in his raids on Poverty Bay, revelling in the brutal massacres that had taken place there, while, to make their cup of iniquity overflow, they had invited the arch-devil himself to come to their country, after we had routed him out of Ngatapa. Well, if they had invited Te Kooti, the little Colonel invited himself, and he determined to twist their tails so as to teach them decorum. As it was well known this was going to be a most arduous campaign, all hands, officers and men, had to undergo a rigorous medical examination, and even then only those were selected who were well known to possess determination and ability to put up with hardships without grousing, and of course every man was a past master in the art of bush fighting.