Away we went and tackled the job, having to put in two hours’ hard chopping before we could get a crossing place, and then, when we had succeeded in crossing, we had to cut our way down the bank till at last we came close to the ford, when a toot on our bugle let the Colonel know we were on the enemy’s flank, there or thereabouts. Out rang his bugle, and with a cheer we tore and struggled through the remaining undergrowth, while a storm of whizzing bullets, which fortunately did us but little harm, tore the foliage to pieces over our heads. At the same time we charged we could hear close to us the shouts of the Colonel’s party as they dashed through the water, the sharp file-firing of his coverers and the volleys of the defending Hau Haus. Bristling with wrath, we cut and forced our way through the last intervening scrub, fondly hoping that a good hand-to-hand scrap would recompense us for our past labour, but as both of our parties simultaneously broke through the curtains of greenery we found not one single Maori there to receive us. Their lines of rifle pits had been beautifully constructed, and were admirably placed so as to both rake and enfilade the ford, so there could be no shadow of a doubt that had the Colonel decided upon making only a frontal attack our butcher’s bill must have been a very heavy one, or we might have been beaten back; as it was we had forced the ford with only the loss of Lieutenant White and some half-a-dozen men wounded. A party of us at once rushed on up the ridge, exchanging a few shots with the enemy, who by some hidden path had gained a similar ridge some three hundred yards off, which they dared us to attack. The Colonel, however, was convinced that we were on the right footpath--else why had they taken the trouble to build such elaborate rifle pits to defend it?--and he was far too old a bird to be drawn away on a wild-goose chase. His plan was to push on to the famous Ruatahuna, of course attacking any pahs he came across, and not to lose time in running after Maoris, who, if he did so, would only retire in front of him. As soon as poor White was buried, which was done as rapidly as possible, the only ceremonies being the volleys the Hau Haus fired at the burial-party, the whole force moved forward to attack the enemy, who had occupied another very strong position on the top of the ridge, from which they poured in a continuous fire at our party that was slowly mounting the steep and narrow track that ran up from the river. This track wound about so that both of our flanks were as often exposed as our front, so it soon became quite evident it would cause an awful loss of life to try and take their position with a frontal rush.