THE' LOST LEGION.

Auckland Star, Volume XLV, Issue 15, 17 January 1914, Page 13

THE' LOST LEGION.

(BY OXE OF IT.)

The recent passing of the great divide by a friend who won that token of his Queen's esteem, known to its not too vast honour as the Maori War medal, warns us few survivors to be ready for the last reville; and that these who, ih<ngj. we went in and through the thick of it, but are for reasons to he stated, and no demerit of our Qwn, officially Jcbarrcd from claiming that rHW'rfi'.!, to concisely specify, with iaci-. dents, why we are thus cetracicied. The times 1 write of, ISO 7-0, were the last links of violated promises and fraud by ■which we alienated the affections of the Maori, so liberally accorded us upon our entry here, resulting in a series of efforts to check an advance he clearly saw meant his gradual dispossession and extinction as premier owner of a patrimony he had parted with, as he now saw, on terms ridiculously inadequate; and had he our arms and resources, and a Te Rauparaha to leadi him. the conjecture is not strained that he had reasserted his position, if not rid him of the incubus. For it was the heydays of Gabriel's Gully, and only such as could not raise the price of an outfit and passage south that could be tempted to the seat of war. Much done was flagrantly unofficial: Commanding officers urged by departmental harass and public clamour to haste, took liberties authorities today would not one instant tolerate. Petty officers' commissions, written in the wilds, were more often than not in pencil, on a notebook leaf, and torn out with a "Here you are. Report yourself at . About face, march!" Services were engaged and men enlisted, items jotted down to be copied later, and items lists and listers captured by a Maori bullet, and the confiscated notebook made into cartridge cases and shot back at us! But let mc tell you, deeds were done, and privations endured by these so pencilcommissioned Britons, set against a brave, elusive enemy, fighting on his hearthstone so to speak, that stand coeval with the 'best traditions of the race. Yet who, when now the sere of age or keen misfortune's hap has "forced to plead for some addition to their crust are rewarded with an application form to fill in, and references to officers and comrades long dead to make; and, maybe, sent to some clerkling to look for records that lay pulped on some forgotten battlefield, and dismissed with a cold, probably you lie, official stare! Let mc tell you further that there are some wearing the insignia who have no more claim to it than my fox terrier. And, finally, that those who take umbrage at this charge will be the ones on whom my tower of Siloam should fall.

Of all commanders in the service Major yon Tempsky held the men's esteem. Curt of word 6, but those words just and kindly; attentive to their comfort; a sharp eye for the skulker; never entrusting a man's errand to a boy; a cultured, brave cosmopolite. Whose fault the debacle at Te Ngutu-o-te-manu was, will, despite this and that halftale, never be known. Some years later Titoko-waru, the rebel commander, gave mc the Maori version; and now, after four decades and a half, better let it rest.

At that time a fairly large native population lived.on the southern shore of Porirua 'Bay, and in the general 'unrest, wherever natives congregated, a 6_Tewd surveillance was directed on their come and go, especially strangers. Drill, volunteer and militia, was, when possible, so arranged as to be in native view. One exercise field lay on the flat behind the hotel. 'One day Colonel 'Reader and the Major came on an inspection, hour. After parade and djeaaeß, the ___jor. tooik mc

to the Colonel. "Tni_ is' the-lad. we want; 'he epeaka the language like themselves."' And to mc: "Colonel Reader will, explain that rwe want to collect all the native- a , rms;'^.->; , -"'vow,'<-I personally knew most of it'hem, andTprincipally Hera Waetaoro, a prominen-t ohieftainees, and that they were loyal, and strongly urged the impolicy of insulting them _y a distrust of their loyalty. "What, .then, do you advise?" "I advise that >we Tide over as if our visit 'were casual, and'iu a friendly manner explain that this is a time-of war; tha elsewhere natives must deliver up their .'trans, 'but that you trust them ito rbe loyal to our -Queen. -And I am much mistaken if they d-o not voluntarily produce their .armoury,, at eig-ht of. which you can judge .what- further steps to take." This, the Majtor seconding, was .tihe course agreed upon. And' as 1 said, co it "befell, 'for to my chief's hilarity these were laid out for their inspection, ancient flint and percussion fire, locks laehed to the stock -with sinnet; in- short, a collection illt only for museum curios, which the Colonel bade them return to their -resting-place. .-■•.'.'

The tact and prudence with wbich a problem presenting delicate asperities was solved delighted l them with a pleasure itbey took no pains to conceal, and before they rode back to Wellington Colonel Reader laid his hand on my shoulder: "Oome with rme, my lad; I'll make you -my rider and interpreter. ■Bh, what?" Upon .which the Major cried: "No, you don't,' Colonel. If he goes with anyone he comes iwith; rme." And I deciding for our family friend the Major, he .whipped out his pooket-tbook, wrote in it, tore out tbe leaf, and said: "On the third day from this, Colonel Mc_)c_n_ will pass here in Cobb's coach. Give the driver this, and meet mc at Foster's Hotel at Waiigaroui." On the day appointed, as the coach dTew up a mongrel dog rushed at the borses; the houses swerved and, tbe near hind axle snapping, shot contents and passengers into the road. This forms no part of my history, and is only told because it precluded a succession of disasters of which the end is yet to come, and the intercalary ignored.

According to arrangement, we found tihe 'Major waiting, and at once established a light outpost scouting camp at Kai-iwi, wibere events trod on each 1 other's heels so fast that after 40 years one only retains the salient and intimate —dates, names of mien, and places one sees as through weather oxydised glace. Notes? lYVbat goes a youth of 19 with notes, except those .be as dispatch rider and interpreter is obliged to make? The Major knew that tbe war .was an evil begotten of like parentage; that it was the white man's creep, as creep the cotrchgraes' roots and obliterate the indigene; that for tbe white man's prestige the strife onust terminate in bis predominance.

, "I a.m a free lance, as my fathers (were: rfrei ritter; it is my bread and bed." He had a wide faith in modem ihumanism, but a loathing hatred of j orced banalities. It was bis pleasure on our rounds to visit the "friend'lies," to pacify the wavering and comfort the •heartsoTe of those who were related to the "'rebels." Thougrh. "why they should be called rebels when they were -gating for their fatherland is only another token of man's inhumanity to'rman. And is tbe more pitiful that one marauds beneath the cloak of creedß and liturgies. He was a man of measured speech, but every tone went borne.

After a week of planning his campaign I saw bim, repeatedly fix his glass on a clump of bush, about two miles from our camp, past which lay the road to the interior, and much scout traffic must pass. "That," he said the last dayj "is where I should plant an ambush, if I were the enemy. Let us beat it up." And call—ig a squad of tejL r mexL.}uuiex

Laace-Corporal Snath/ -we set 'out, S A] track on which- two could ride abreast, deeply cross-rutted by.'ridges; the horses' feet drag -up in. soft clay, densely lined with, breast-high manuka to the top, led over to the rise, about two hundred yards from the bush clump. He and I rode side by side in front, the Test in that order followed, each with open holsters and carbine shifted to the each to scan his side of the roxa. mc clay was of that viscid, clinging temper but of which the foot pulls with a "clot." On the rise the scrub, though still as dense, was only belt-high and in thin rods. Suddenly ou my side, but ahead—was it a dust-mote in the eye, or. false sight from over-strain, that black blob that rose from the manuka and swiftly disappeared? The Major and I were clear of the heavy clay, though behind us the soilen cloks confused the car, else V surely heard a murmur of "Kia mohio" (be watchful).

We were abreast of the spot. Is that it again? I had barely cried "Halt" than a brown mass, naked to the waist, rose up beside mc, and bending back to get a full sweep above the scrub, scribed a bright arc of bill-hook blade, fixed to a four-foot helve, above mc, and would have cleft mc- to the chin, but that my horse, frighted at the sudden spectorama of brown nakedness and yell, side-banked on the Major! The bill-hook fell short, yet not so short but that it sished across my wrist, down" through my legging, sliced.a. shaving off my shin, and came to rest upon a half-cleft foot!

All this happened in less time than you can read it, but not too quickly for the Major to see and order- theTe! open right and left! Charge!" And while one arm held mc close to him, the other emptied his revolver across my chest. The troopers smashed through- the manuka, firing right and left into the brown shapes that sprang up hacking, but hampered with the scrub, so that some fell short. Evidently they depended on a closing rush with slash and billhooks, for after tbe rout of the survivors the guns were found. The thing was over in five minutes. Oblong spaces here and there where bodies lay. Some scrambled among the scrub as oiir men straggled out into the road leading a prisoner;, and my first and last campaign against the Maori was ended. Our prisoner was my assailant, whose cheek the Major's first shot had ripped across, and the second winged, his arm, which dangled from the shoulder .like the beetle of a flail. And what of myself? Blood everywhere —from wrist, from leg, from foot! Oh, it was a pretty shambles—myself, and- the things that lay squirming, as might be seen by the rustle of the scrub! '-'-.-

As I write I still see the war-sheen in 'the Major's eyes, always so broodingly considerate, but now scintillating like a jewel in an angry woman's coif!. I still feel-the arm-clasp press me-close, as a mother.soothes a -fretful child! The strong," flexible fingers, like a, woman's, seeking where her., child .is hurt! I still hear the fierce, peremptory: "Bandages here!" The distressed man-wail: "My son, what have I led you .to?" The terrible order to a trooper to bring up stretchers and supports, and go like . . . '." (excuse the cryptogram). His generous attention to" a wounded foe: ""Gently -with .him, boys!" "Here," throwing over my split legging: "Splint his arm with, that!" ■'".,.:

"I" suppose it was because youth's ten.? t der juices had not yet hardened into wood that the impress of .war's horrors filled a memorial cell and sealed them there, and after 40 years, above all" else, remembers them: The gurgling groan of death, strangling in the throat I The. convulsive kicks against the/ scrubstems in the tetanus of life and body parting chums! And why should I not make ithis record?— Are not such- the" sacrifices Moloch asks for, to-compensat'e man's greed, caring no jot for who that feels the gripe of hurt so that the end be gained? When memory's plant grows limp and dulled, my wrist and foot water the pining leaves, and- keep them green, that posterity may cull the seed. What more is there to.tell,'than that I was carried down to Taupo Quay and put aboard the Stormbird, and so home; to lie three months an inert clod, unpaid and- unremembered, and read how that one week after my departure, my friends, and the camp friends one makes —and. unmakes —Te Ngutu-o-te-Manu, "The Bird's Beak" of death, opened -its mandibles and swallowed them! ''".■'■