Page:Reminiscences of Earliest Canterbury 1915.pdf/28

 Had the French man-of-war been at Akaroa that place would not have been molested, as the Maoris were much afraid of her. She was in some other port.

My father’s armament was as follows:—Two rifles, two double-barrelled guns, and three pistols, with plenty of ammunition to last for a fortnight. He loaded all the weapons himself. He gave directions for a sharp look-out to be kept for smoke (the signal agreed on), and issued orders that no one should stray from the house.

Curiously enough those three pistols which my father loaded in 1843 were not discharged until after my father’s death, in 1864, when my mother requested us to do something with them. We adopted the plan of screwing them in the vyce in the smithy, leading a string attached to the trigger through a hole which we bored in the slabs. Everyone of them, even the flint-lock pistol, went off with the first pull.

Subsequent to the failure of the plot, the Maoris were morose and dissatisfied for several months. They demanded rent from my father for the land he occupied. He refused, whereupon Bukanui threatened to burn down the house. For answer my