Completely surprised as the Uriwera were, still they made a stout resistance, but they could not stand for long against our impetuous charge, for we swept through the village like a flooded reservoir bursting its dam, so that the surviving men, and there were not many of them, turned their backs and bolted for the bush. A number of men, however, unable to escape, took refuge in their huts, from which they still continued to fire. These were ordered to come out, and so as to expedite their movements their huts were set on fire. It was however only granting the inmates a polite choice of deaths, as those who came out were immediately shot, and those who remained in were quickly burned to death. Our losses on that day were trivial, only amounting to one man killed and four wounded, while we captured fifteen women, a great many pigs and large stores of potatoes. The women, after being well questioned, we let go; the pigs were killed, and when each man had taken as much meat as he could eat and carry, the remainder, with the surplus potatoes, were destroyed. Truly it was a shocking waste of food, but absolutely necessary in savage warfare. That night we fared sumptuously, those men not being on duty sleeping the sleep of the just, and next morning, as soon as it was light enough to see, we completed the destruction of the kainga, ate a big breakfast, and again made our way to the river above the gorge to proceed on our weary way. It was now a case of looking out for squalls, as the news of our being in the country would have by this time been spread from one end to the other. The country itself was splendidly adapted for ambuscades. The Uriwera were past masters in the art of laying them, and now, being enraged by their late losses, would be burning to avenge them, therefore it behoved us to keep all our senses on deck. On reaching the bed of the river the Colonel took every precaution, one of which being, instead of sending forward three or four scouts, who might be captured, he ordered a party of twelve men to precede the main body. These men were only to carry their own personal swags, so that they might be ready at a moment’s notice to put up a fight. The loads the men of the main body had to carry on this day were very heavy. In the first place we had three wounded men, who, being unable to walk, had therefore to be borne on stretchers, and then every man had brought along with him as much pork and potatoes as he could stagger under. The bed of the river was also if possible worse than it had been before, as it was full of big slippery boulders over which the heavily laden men staggered and tripped as if drunk, many of them having very nasty falls indeed. [Illustration: ADVANCE GUARD AMBUSCADED: DEATH OF LIEUT. WHITE.]