We, however, must push on, and did so, arriving in the vicinity of Ketemarae just before dawn. Here we halted and shivered till the sun rose, when the clouds cleared away with every promise of a fine hot day; then as soon as we had made sure our firelocks would go off we extended and advanced towards the pah. We had not moved more than a hundred yards when two of our scouts joined up, who reported that to the best of their belief the pah was unoccupied, which surmise Kepa very soon found out to be correct. It was a strong place, but we did not remain in it as Te Kepa deemed it better to take up a position in the bush. Here we rested, and I was glad of the spell, as it gave us the chance to dry our sopping clothes and get rid of some of the superfluous mud. Mr Roach, Te Kepa and three or four chiefs now held a runanga (council), and I was much struck, although of course I could not understand a word uttered, by the elegant and forcible manner in which each chief gave his opinion, and how carefully and earnestly every man listened to the arguments of the others, notwithstanding, it was easily to be seen, there was a considerable difference in their ideas. When each man had had his say Te Kepa gave his orders, to which they all acquiesced without demur. As soon as the debate was over, Mr Roach kindly told me the purport of the meeting, which was to try and solve the problem why the pah had been abandoned without a show of resistance, as this was contrary to Maori war etiquette, which required at least one volley to be fired in honour of the pah, although it might not be deemed advisable to hold it to the bitter end. The opinion therefore come to was that the pah was not abandoned, but that the Hau Haus, not expecting such unwonted activity on the General’s part, had temporarily withdrawn for some purpose, probably to hold a tangi (wake) over the warriors killed at Otapawa, and were most likely to return that day to reoccupy the pah. It was also decided that if they did so it would be as well to allow them to enter it, as then, our being on the spot, we could hive them, holding them inside till the arrival of the General, when not a man of them would escape. It was therefore Te Kepa’s determination to lie dog-o and try to entrap the Hau Haus in their own stockade. The position we had taken up not being considered a satisfactory one to carry out this purpose, it was after much deliberation changed, and we made ourselves as comfortable as we could in the thick, damp bush, though as no fires were allowed, and the sun could not penetrate the dense foliage, the amount of comfort, thanks to the incessant drip from the trees, did not amount to a row of pins. Of course we had a patrol of scouts out on all sides of us, and on that day I began to take an interest and acquire a rudimentary knowledge of the fascinating, though highly dangerous, game.