By An Old Settler.

Press, Volume XLVIL, Issue 7738, 18 December 1890, Page 2

By An Old Settler.

L RBINFORCKMKNT3. It was soon after daybreak on December 21st, 186—. The sun was just beginning to gild the high wooded lands with rosy light, and tint the blue mountain ranges with many a shifting shade and lovely colouring. Upon the low bluff headland, on which the Hagstatt stood, there were assembled a group of men. The old cox-* swain was there with his glass under his arm. for he acted now as pilot. In hie old age, as he sat and smoked his short clay pipe, he recalled many a stirring 6cene of times gone by, when his hand" now old and shaking, had poised and flashed the bright harpoon. Days when "To strike the whale with harpoon trad We've Barrett ana hie hardy crew," As Mr John Hurathouee's well-known song used to tell us. v The signal station stood on the south bank of the well-known river Walrawa, on the West Coa9fc of the North Island of New Zealand, about three hundred yards from the narrow entrance through which the river reached the great heaving Pacific Ocean. At about the same distance in* land, still upon the left or southern bank of the stream, were to be seen two or three small wharfs, and the township ot the little settlement. This town was generally spoken of by its inhabitants, and those of the surrounding country, as " The Settlement*," as though it were the only inhabited spot In the colony, if no* the " hub of the world." As thijis name satisfied them, it may answer our purpose here. "It will be a beautiful day, said a young officer of the colonial forces, as he joined the little group on the hill. . "Yes, sure, ,, replied the old salt. "Look at those men hauling in the net," added he, pointing to a party of fishermen who •were drawing the sandy bend under the spit, which forced the river to the north. " What a haul they've made, kawai, herring, and flounder. There are always Slenty of fish abont on these mornings, at igh tide, and the gulls kuow it too; look, how they Scream and wheel overhead." Now a steam whistle sounded at the township wharf, and the Oundagai, & Government boat, came steaming down the stream. She had been sent up from Wellington with Government stores, tents, ammunition, &c She came slipping along.down stream, dose below the flagstaff, her paddle-wheels turning slowly,.but still with sufficient force to ' stir and churn up the waters of the still little estuary. . , ' The young officer waved bis bat to the captain on the steamer's bridge. f ' Good morning," came back the answer, floating up thefhill, as the captain raised his round, jovial, kindly, brave face, witfit a smile. 44 Don't you use signals to help him out and ov.er the barT asked the- young man, turning to the pilot. " What rhe replied, " help out old Happy Maries. That's a good un;. why there ain't a blooming river, nor harbour, nor boat channel in the blooming colony, that Happy Marks don't know." The word " blooming" was not then invented*, in the Senas here used, but it baa since then taken place of & stronger more sailor like adjective, and being more »nit« able to the tastes of the present day it ia used here. " Ay," continued the old sailor, *' and his blooming boat seems to know , oar rivers pretty near as well as her skipper. He took her up the Wanganui to Plpirikl in a freahet and down again, seventyfive miles, without touching, and a> heavy cargo aboard. She was the first boat to ran up the Murray 1000 miles, and got < £1000 for doing it; she knocked her blooming funnel otf that trip, rooting and mozziing about under the gum trees. Captain Cadell commanded her then; it was in 1855."* And so the old fellow talked on, telling old yarns and strange facts. I will here mention while he talks, that Captain Hannibal Marks,well known in the colony, began hie colonial career as head coxswain to the N.Z. Company's surf boats at New Plymouth, where he was known ac Peter Marks. The name of " Happy w vr»w be-1 stowed upon him by general consent of all his brother skippers on the coast, and a more appropriate name it would have, been hard to find. He died, as brave and , true as he lived. A boat capsised in Auck-1 land harbour as he was taking a sail with i some friend?. Being a strong swimmer, \ he might have reached the shore with ease, but he preferred to stick to a lady i friend, or relative, whom he bad persuaded to go out with, him, and died at her side in a noble but vain effort to save her. feace to the brave. Tim if» only a slight sketch, but it would ill become mc to tell more or less than the truth about such a man, if his name is mentioned. The steamer had meanwhile got to ihd bar, about ba.lt a mile oat from the Elver's mouth; and was now gently heaving her soft watery way over the locg swells that are erer found on this coast, eves on such BttU mornings as this. The sun Sad risen over the woods to the left, as one looked inland, of the mountainous bills mentioned above. The heavy mists of the morning which hung over the sea seemed to be receding further and farther into the offing. The sea, which had looked purple in its oily smoothness, began to glint and sparkle in the slaa eananlne. and the little waves which broke upon the grey sandy shore, rushed, bisaiag upwards, Into the dry sand above the asual high water mask, for it was a spring tide. The young officer, who had been watching this fair scene with pleased Interest as •Rwt*ii)ejutet*.-os. a>:; " r • ■' ; -■, '_■

he paffed his briarwood pipe, now said suddenly : 44 Hullo! what's that oat there over the mist; it can't be a cloud, it's too dark. Iβ it the smpke of a steamer J" The old pilot raised his gtaes. " A steamer's smoke aura enough, ,, said he, "and a big an too, I should guess, but whether she's coming here, or on her way down the straits, I cannot say; we shall see better soon as the miat lifts." The mist did lift soon, and then a large steamer was seen rapidly approaching. She was not far off, the mist having concealed her, and until the word had been passed to "shake her up" but little smoke seemed to have risen from her funnel. "There ajoes her bunting; a man-of-war, by jingo I 'cried the old salt. " Moro buntlnj?, whab'sup nowT he added, "I can'fe make it out, steady, there's a cafcspaw Orawing down to her ; yee, now they unfold, ttoops on board, what's the bloomins people after, sending sodgera and milingtary stores here for like this ? But anyways she'll want the boats. I must i signal the men." [ .He hoisted a email whip on the yard. He briskly hurried into the little black tarred shed, in which he kept flags, ropes, sails, tar, paint, and a thousand other things Invaluable In his eyes. He now returned with a bag of powder,and at once, poured it into the mouth of a signal gun. One of those old-fashioned sea guns, on solid carriages, such as may be seen in pictures over Dibdin's songt, such guns as Nelson used. These and otuers of the kind were, I believe, relicts of the old military stores brought out by the New Zealand Company for the defence of their early settlers. The eld fellow now rammed home his charge with a big plug of oakum over it, and struck a wooden match coated with brimstone. With this be lit the end of a drykoraddi, or flax fttiok, saying that v for all he knew the. blooming oil Run might blow his blooming old head off, like that there H»ppy Marks, as passed out just now, was blowed up at New Plymouth years ago, along with Captain Llardeb and Mr John Watson, the pilot there. Oh! I know the darned things; they'refaot to be toasted. , When primed and fired, the " blooming eld thing" certainly made a report fie to " reud rocks" and eooh men were seen hurrying along the beach. Idlers from the townsbipoegan to congregate below the flagstaff, watching, and surmising the business of the troops on board the approaching vessel. She approached the anchorage in the roadstead, where large vessels lay. " Do you know her P said someone. " Oh, yes, 1 know her, she's the Victoria—see, there's a puff of smoke," and the thunder of a great gun rolled across the intervening mile and a-half of water. "There, drop anchor you needn't be bellowing away out there like a mad bull, wasting your blooming powder; Ikaowed as you'd want the cargo boats, and there they come, smart and tidy. Two large, strong boats had left the wharf and were passing rapidly out to sea. They were built as huge whale boats, sharp at both ends, steered with a long steer oar, by a man standing in the stern sheets. " Snow her," he said again, " I should think so, see; now she swinge to her anchor, we can see her colours plain. She's the Victorian Government gun-boat Victoria, that's what she is, and no blooming mistake about that, slapping hie horny right fist into the palm of his left hand as he spoke., " Sue s been bere before, and shers got as flue a lot of Jacks and jollies on board of her as ever trod the deck, and there's no blooming mistake about thai neither." He slapped his shoulder of mutton hand on the seat of his tarry breeks, this time to emphasise hU statement and as a guarantee of good faith. The ship lowered her boats, those from the shore soon reached her, ana the former were quickly filled with men, while the i latter, for the most part, took cargo in the 1 shape of officers' traps and the various belongings of the men. "Well, it was a kind thought, promptly acted upon, which made our Australian cousins place their beautiful and powerful man-of-war at our disposal In the hour of our utmost need, without recompense or price." This from the young o£B,cer ? who spoke as if more to himself than as if ad- ; dressing any of the party. " And/, he added, if we young colonists ever get the chance we won't be slow in returning . a kindness that wo shall never forget." . " Bight you be, sir, right you be. If old i Jack Sliago ever gets the chance he'll give the——s a "sheaveo" and therte's no blooming mistake about, that I'm to —— if there is." A sad old blackguard Was old Jack. Honest as the day, kindhearted, brave as a lion ; he had been very strong In youth and was an awkward customer to tackle Btill. He had one virtue, possessed by few of the real old rum bottle claas he belonged to, that waa,, that if he was seldom quite sober, he neVer got too drunk to attend to duties, which were, to him, so slmplb that he could have performed them in hie sleep—that is, he did not get drank when his services were required, therefore ho had retained his position through long years. it required two trips of al the boats to land the party. They proved to be 400 strong. Military settlers and Forest Bangers from the East Coast, where they had been for months in the back country, hunting cannibal murderers and bloodyminded thlevee. The party was under the command of the well-known Major Hart. As they landed, military transport carts met them at the wharf, and they and their belongings were quickly pitching camp on the grassy market place on the grassy outskirts of the little town.