Our men were loaded with loot, they could please themselves whether they carried it or not, but they must do their duty, and it was well such was the case, for presently, when we were in thick bush, one of our rear scouts (yes, my would-be military reader, it is just as requisite in irregular warfare to scout to your rear as well as to your front, and don’t you forget it) ran in with the information that the Hau Haus, furious and indignant with the treatment we had served out to them, were in full pursuit, determined to exact utu (payment or revenge) for our manifold misdeeds. On hearing this news Te Kepa caused us to rapidly push on till we came to a long clearing in the bush, at the camp side of which he ordered two hundred of us to lie down and take cover, thus forming an ambuscade. The remaining men, after they had thrown down their plunder, he led back towards the advancing Hau Haus. These he quickly encountered and engaged, but after an exchange of shots he and his men, all at once simulating panic, turned tail and bolted, closely pursued by the now exulting enemy. Away our men rushed in headlong flight, crossing the clearing and breaking through our hidden line like frightened deer, and after them rushed the triumphant Hau Haus, every man of whom was hungry for slaughter, and faith they got it, but not in the way they wished; for as they put on a spurt to cross the clearing they were met half way by a smashing volley, behind which came our charging line, which so astonished them that they turned about and sprinted all they knew to safer localities. Te Kepa would not allow us to pursue, no doubt having good and sufficient reasons for not doing so. We therefore again humped each man his plunder--mine was a well-grown, succulent young pig--and continued our journey back to camp, where, loaded with good things, we white men rejoined our own company, who received us with open arms, while the Kupapas spent the evening in feasting, singing songs of triumph and dancing war-dances in honour of their own merit. True, they had done well, for they had taken and burnt five pahs, killed a lot of the enemy, looted and destroyed large quantities of food, and done all this without having one single man wounded. Individually, I was very satisfied. I was gathering lots of valuable information, could now hump my swag with but little discomfort, and had thoroughly satisfied myself that, no matter how rough and hard the life and work were going to be, I had go enough in me to tackle anything I might be called on to perform. So that I ate my dinner with gusto, sang a song when called upon to do so at the camp fire, and slept as soundly on my fern bed as an innocent child in its cradle. CHAPTER VII BUSH-WHACKING