Page:Adventures of Kimble Bent.djvu/182

154 hawk, which I carried stuck in my belt. Round me I had strapped a cartridge-holder. E tama! Now I was ready for my first battle."

Meanwhile, what of the pakeha-Maori in this nest of Hauhaus?

That morning, after he had supplied the men with ammunition, he sat on the marae watching the war-dances. The morning went, but there was no sign from the outlying Hauhau piquets. Most of the women and children had been sent away into the bush at the rear of the pa in charge of the old chief Te Waka-tākere-nui, in anticipation of the predicted attack. The pakeha-Maori was also a non-combatant, but he remained in the pa with Titokowaru until the firing began. There were not more than sixty fighting-men in Te Ngutu-o-te-Manu, but nearly all of these were tried and experienced warriors, and even those who, like young Tutangé, were still to be blooded, were more than a match for the average white soldier in bush-warfare.

It was well on in the afternoon before the first shots were heard. The Maoris had expected attack from the seaward or Waihi side, but to their surprise the sound of the firing came from inland, indicating that the troops had worked round to the rear of "The Beak-of-the-Bird." The Maori advance-guard of Colonel McDonnell's column had encountered the Hauhaus in the bush and fired into them.