Among others who were not above replenishing their exchequers in this way were my two foreign scallywags, Pierre and George, both of whom regarded the looting of a defunct Hau Hau as a meritorious act. Now George, although a Greek, feared nothing, yet had a slight nervousness about being shot by a dead Hau Hau, so that he used to take considerable precautions, as when he approached a recumbent body he would do so crawling, and on arriving alongside the stiff ’un would gently insert between the ribs of the prostrate Hau Hau a huge knife, then, turning to his marauding comrade, would put his finger to the side of his nose, and with a Satanic grin murmur: “Dat makes all tings safe.” These two beauties, being scouts, and having comparatively a free hand, had great advantages over the other men, as they would often be rabbitting among the slain before the action was over. On the occasion of the catastrophe both Pierre and George dropped out of the firing line the moment the pursuit began, and started in to look after their own interests. They were both hard at work, and George, having just made “all tings safe” with one dead Maori, was in the act of going through his pockets when another seemingly defunct Hau Hau jumped up and blew a hole through him. Pierre, who was close by, shot the shamming Hau Hau, and then, being a thorough good business man, notwithstanding his intense sorrow at the loss of his mate, promptly went through his pockets as well as those of the two now very dead Hau Haus. I was deeply sorry for poor George’s untimely end, as although he was not quite the sort of man I should have cared to have introduced into society, and I was well aware he owed his neck over and over again to the hangman of various countries, still he had been a staunch comrade to me, and on scores of occasions had not only prevented me going hungry, but, by his marvellous instinct as a scout, had frequently saved me from losing the number of my mess, therefore both Tim and myself sorrowed exceedingly. Te Kooti now left the Taupo country and made for Rotorua, where he attempted to persuade the natives to allow him to enter their pah, which, had they done so, Te Kooti would have murdered every soul it contained. The inhabitants, however, were saved from this act of folly by the arrival of Captain Mair, who immediately attacked him, and who, but for the bad conduct of his men (Arawas), who, although fighting in their own country and for the safety of their own families, acted in their usual cowardly manner, would have undoubtedly captured him.