FICTION.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1675, 6 April 1904, Page 3

FICTION.

A FIGHT TO A FINISH. —t A STORY OF THE MAORI WAR.

BY OWEN HALL.

CHAPTER I. ON THE TRACK OF A BOAR. I had been dreaming, and for a minute the Avhistlie that rang through my room seemed to be only a part of the dream. Then I.started up in bed, as a .till,out followed tire whist Lei: — ‘‘Hallo, Jack; who said he’d! bei ready for a start at djaybreak?” ' I need hardly say that I mas Jack, or that I had failed to keep the proini.se I had made the night before, both to myself and Dick, Av'ha had taken this may of remiiitdiiing me. . 'Dick mas my cousin, hut I had only made his acquaintance four, days before ay hen -I landed in New Zealand. Ho mas more than a year older than me, hub as I hpd spent six years at Rugby, while he had lived first in India, where his father had bedn a district magistrate,' and since then in the colonies, 1 had ©xpccteicl to feel myself the elder, and had certainly thought I should he able to show him a thing or two. After these four days at Matakohe farm I didn’t feci ye sure of this. Dick was a firstrate companion, but it was a little disappointing to feel even more than one year younger in moot ways than the tall, manly-Icoking fellow, who did everything, from driving or riding a horse to milking a cow as if he had dome nothing clue all his life. And yet he had dene* plenty of other things, too. Of course, lie hadn’t been to a great school like Rugby, but after all he seemed to know mci.it cf the things we were supposed to learn as well as I did. Well, at any rate, Dick said I should sco'n do all the things lie did so easily, and it wars a comfort to remember that I wasn’t eighteen yet, and! would have more than a year before I was Dick’s age. A good many of these things ‘had passed tiiiciugh my mind as I was dressing, hub they dicin’b delay me, as 1 determined to make up for lost time,, and to jet Dick see that if I had overslept myself, at any rate, I didn’t care' to dawdle after I was awake. Breakfast and my cousin were both waiting all the same, by the time I had! hurried on my cloth as, and we were soon ready for a start. It mas tp be my firdb introduction to the New Zealand forest of which I had heard so much, and! Dick had promised that if possible we should try for a wild boar at the same time. “I suppose I had better take my revolver, Dick?” I said, as we were about to leave the house. “'Of course we shall want something to kill him with if we do come across a boar.” “Well, perhaps it would bo the bast thing to do.. “I’ve got a boar spear here that! made myself, hut I fancy the less you have to carry the better you’ll get on, till you’re more' used to the bush; it’s pretty rough! b going in places. There’s Ropaita waiting with his dog, but 81.1 bet & trifle he won’t carry any weapon.” “Alt light, Dick,” I said 1 . ‘Til take tho revolver. I might get a shot, and anyhow I shall feel safer with something to defend myself.” Dick laughed. He knew already that I considered myself a good shot, with a pistol, such as I had provided! myself with, under the impression that a revolver was a necessary part of every settler’s outfit. I had only been undeceived when I found that neither Dick nor my uncle owned a pistol, though Dick was a good shot with either a rifle or gun. Well, here was one thing I knew more about than my cousin. at any rate, and it war* with a,good deal of jnki-faction that I fetched my revolver and followed Dick. As Dick had said Ropata. v/m waiting for us in the stable yard, and he had brought his dog with him so that with Teazer. and Pinoher, Dick’s two bn I Uterriers, whose acquaintance X bad already made, of course, we should have three "dogs, all of them, Dick bad assured me while we were eating breakfast, firstclass for a pig hunt. I fancied I knew something about dags, and I had lather amused my cousin I am.afraid, by apiproving of Teiazer and Pinoher as wellbred specimens, but. I confess I had never seen a dog before that; .looked much like the tall, flat-sided animal .that stood close to Ropaita’s heel as wo came up. I looked him over critically, and asked l with acme disgust :.. t y • “Is that the dog.you 'said was so' good) after pigs, Dick? . He’s a regular mongrel of a brute. ; What- breed should you. call him. mow?” Dick-'laughed. “I don’t know that I should call him any breed in particular, Jack. It’s a wise dbg that knows its own father anywhere, they sa.y, andl it w'ould take a regular Solomon of a dog to do -it if he had been raised in a Maori village ; but old Taua here ha® caught more wild pigs than any dog in tho district, and tho’ he wouldn’t take a prize at a diog show, handsome is that handsome dbie®, I suppose, among dogs as Well a® men.”

Thai might be true enough, hut for all that neither Taua nor his master seemed very attractive to me at first' sight. And yet', after all, I could not help' thinking, as I stood and looked at them, while Dick was discussing with Ropaita where we. had better go so a.s to give ourselves the best, change of coming across a hoar, that there was something that was strong-looking, even if it was nob handsome, about both the dog and his master. I had soon Ropata, before, for though he was not regularly employed at Mataitoke, scarcely a day passed that lie didn’t come there for some reason, bat I hadn’t looked at him before with iso much interest as I did now. He was rather a tall lad, and lie seemed to he broad even for hi® height. ITe had a thick head of rough black hair, which looked as if it bad never made the acquaintance of a comb’, and rather heavy eyebrows of the same, under which a pair of bright black eyes looked' out vatchfully. His skin was a. light chocolate colour, and his features were almost as prominent as those of a European. I could see a good deal of his skin too-, for though he wag dressed in a shirt and trousers, the arms of the shirt had been cub off at the shoulder, and the legs of the trousers were rolled up tightly almost to the knees, showing & pair of strong; muscular arms and brown legs that seemed to me to he half as thick again as mine. Ye®, be was certainly strong-looking, a.ncl there was something quick and intelligent about his face as he listened or spoke, which somehow I hadn’t expected to see in a native New Zealander.

Doth Dick andl he talked in English of a sort. There were a good many words that were not English, especially in what Ropata. said, buib not enough to make it hard to understand him, and when lie turned away at last .with tile single word “Kaipai,” I understood that he was satisfied with the arrangements for the expedition. His dog, who didn’t seem to oare to make any friendly advainoeis'tto our dogs, followed close at hits 'heel. Dick had got the hunting-©p-ear he had told me of, though it. certainly didn’t look much like my idea of a hoar spear, being nothing more than a stout, straight stick, about two feet and a half long, with a three-cornered steel spike sticking out of one end, and ground to a sharp point. It looked too short for a spear, and too Jong for a dagger, but it war; light and easy to carry, a'nd perhaps, if the forest were as thick and rough as Dick had said it was, it -might he better than a longer weapon, though I couldn’t fancy it as good as my revolver would be-

I had never been any nearer the forest thato the farm at Matatoke, and that must have been at least a. mile from the nearest point where the ridge® of higher land came out into the level ground, covered with trees that showed different tints of green when the sun shone on them. Looked at from a distance, with the clear warm sunshine falling on it, there was nothing to make.one suppose it would be any more difficult to get through than the old English woods I had many a time gone through at hare and hounds, and I couldn’t- help fancying I might bo able to let Dick seei more than he expected, ©specially as I felt sure I could run faster than lie could in the open land. It was a beautiful clear bright morniing early in June, though it was cold enough to show little patches of white frost in 'the hollow®, where the sun had not reached them. I had been told this was the middle of winter, but I could hardily believe it ; at any rate there was something in the feeling of the aar that made it a positive pleasure to move about, and made me feel that even a good -hard run through the forest might be a 'treat after my three months’ voyage from England. Ropata went- on ahead of Dick and mo at something between a walk and! a slow trot, followed closely by Taua, while Teazer and Thicker seemed to enjoy the exercise of chasing one another backwards land loin aids between Ropata and ourselves. “Do you suppose we’ll have to- go far before wo are likely to come ncaos® pigs?” I asked. “That deoends a good deal on vbetner the Maoris from the village on the other side of the bush have been out lately. Ropata doesn’t think it likely, because most of them have been a,way at the great korero up in the Ring: Country. “What do you mean by a korero, Dick?” ■ , ~ ~ “Oh, a talk; I suppose we shoaißa call it a Conference, or something like that. “And what do you mean by the Ring Country? I didn’t- know the natives had any kings; I thouglitAhey were all under the British Crown?” “Well, so they are supposed- to- be. you know, ever since the treaty was made at Waitangi, more than 20 years ago, but it has never been much more thain a name in most Ways, and it is So less than ever now.”

“Does anybody know Avliat the conference AAias about?” I asked, a little puzzled by this new light thro Aim on tho position of the Colony. “Nob very certainly—though, ot course, the neAVspapers say they know all about it. You see they don’t want our company there, so avo only hear rumours that coma through the missionaries, -and nearly all the mission, schools have* been closed, and some of the missionaries have com© away.” “Bub, Dick,” I said; “doesn’t that look like a iW?, l!

“Well, rather. You know wei did have a small row at Taranaki two years ago-, and though Sir George Grey managed to patch it up when lie was sent back as Governor from the Cape, most people think there’s going to be another one, a good deal bigger.” “A war, d’yeu mean, Dick? A regular war, like the old times-- when they fought the Redskins in America, that avo have alii read about in Cooper’s stories ?”

“Well, Mato ris are not like the Indians exactly. I think they’d fight fair, you know, and not try to murder women and children or scalp men.” “And this King Country you talk about; have they got a king now cf their own ?”

“.Well, they have made one -of the great chiefs king-—-that is the natives in the Waikato Valley, and most- of those in the centre cf the island have, and they aro trying very hard to get. the ether tribes i'n the North and South to acknowledge him too.” “And if they do that I suppose there Aviill be a Avar.” I exclaimed; “what fun. D'ick; of course we should beat them.”

“I should! hope so —at any rate, _of course avo should in the end; hut mind you they Avould fight, and then they have all the middle of the ' country, and it’s mostly hush, Avkicb Avould give them a big advantage, you knoAV.” “Forest land,’do you mean, Dick?”

“Yes, Ave call it all the hush. It isn’t, all forest, of course, for the natives have villages and cultivations all through it; but it’s Avild land —forest mostly, and tea-tree scrub, and high ferns.”

“What do they to fight AA-itli?” “Oh, guns, and tomahawks, a!nd taiahas —native clubs, yon know, nasty avcapons, too, I can tell you.” “Are they all like Ropata there?” I asked, when I had travelled for a Avliile Avithout- speaking, Avhile I digested the news. “Something like that; as big and strong, you kn'ow. but not so good-look-ing, and not nearly suoh good fellows. Ropata—-that’s the Avay they say Robert-, you know—- Avais brought up at one of the mission schools for years, and since lie’s been home at his own village lie likes better ’to bo ivith me than Ins OAvn people.” “If there Avas a Avar do you think lie Avould fight, against us?” I asked, looking AAiifch increased interest at the powerful figure of our guide, as lie had come to a bait on the top of a rising ground three hundred yards or so ahead of us. “I don’t know,” Dick said; “I hope not ; bulb I shouldn’t Avcnder a hit. Yes, I fancy, if it came to the pinch, Ropata avo ul cl ’stick to. his oavii people. But, come along, Jack; lie’s Availing for us now. I expect lie’s going up that gully into the bush, and avo must keep him and the dogs in sight or Ave shall lose one another.”

W T e quickened our pace, and soon reached the spot Avhere Ropata and the dogs 'had halted at the place where- the ground sloped away beyond into a lrollow, like a small shall to ay valley, at the bottom of Avkich there ay a® a. stream that seemed to run down out of the forest. The upper part- of the slope on both sides Arms covered Avit-li a groAvth of tall, thick ferns, perhaps two tor three feet high near the top hut- looking a® if they greAV both talller and thicker near the bottom, -till close to the stream they were mixed with great bunches: of tail grass Avitli plumes .of Avliat. looked like feather® standing up in tho middle, and every here and there trees that looked like giant ferns and yet like palm trees. Tho hollow ran up into the forest. Avhich closed in upon it gradually on both sides, covering -the upper part of the sloping ground Avitli trees, =• Avhile in the hollow the growth ,of tall shrubs, and drooping tree-ferns grew more and more dense, till you could no longer trace the little stream in the bottom.

Ropata stood Avaiting. for us, and I thought, he looked me, over Avitli a clntiea.fgl amcie, as if he was trying to make up his mind how far I Avas likeily to stand the ordeal of a run through the forest. He said something to Dick as Ave cam© up. pointing as lie spoke up the gully, and Dick nodded: “Alt right, Ropata. You find pcaka here.”

“Taua smell pooka,” he answered, glancing at liis dog, Avhich stood a, yard or twta away Avith hi-s head raised a libtie, and liis ear® pricked up, as he gazed fixedly up the gully, while hi® nondescript tail stood tout behind him as rigid as an iron rod, -except for a. very slight tremulous movement that Avas almost invisible. Tlie other two dog® seemed to understand, though their own sclent was not so keen, for they stood and Avatched Taua eagerly. Dick tightened' the belt lie Avore at hi-s Avaist-

“Kapai, Ropata,” be said. “You go ahead Avi't-li tho dogs-.”'

“Kaipai! Haere mai, te pakelia!” Avas Ropata’s answer, as he turned and sprang forward. Taua seemed tp u-uder-standT for Avitli a single snort, hoarsiebark he plunged forward, closely followted by Teazer and! Pinclier. In less than a minute all three dogs had disappeared in. the cover of ferns and bushes that grew thicker along the course of the streams. “Como on, Jack!” Dick shouted as be started in pursuit. “We mustn’t lose sight of them, or we may never catch them again.”

This Avals some tiling like old times, I thought, as I bounded down th© slope

after him, reminded for the moment of many a hard run in which I had distinguished myself at Rugby, and determined to let- both Dick and Ropata see there was something I could cio as ay ell as other people. I was a yard or.two behind Dick at the start, but I was delighted'to find that I soon came up with him, and held my cw'n easily enough, as long as we were on the higher part of the slope, at any rate. I had to admit to myself that the running Avas harder than it looked even there, for tho ferns, though not very high, Avere densely matted together, and' as aa*o get farther up tho gully, and ;at the same time nearer tho bottom, it got worse ait. every step. The dogs and Ropata had made some sort of track, hut in spite of that avo Avere seen plunging along through a thicket of ferns and great bushes of gras® nearly breast high. “Mind that cutty-grass, Jack,” Dick shouted. “Give it as Avide a berth as you can. or you’ll get your hands cub to pieces.” The Avarning did not. come a minute too scon, for I liad just- put out my hand to Avard off the tall, drooping leaves, and before I knew tire sharp sawh like edges had scored several nasty cut® across my hand. I had begun to avoiider if it ay as going to be like this all the way, and to think that if it Avas I shouldn’t be fit for a very long run, Adieu tp my great relief I suddenly burst through the thicket, and found myself on open ground, except, for a tall tree trunk here and there, and a' few smaller trees that looked! like palms groAving on the loAver ground 1 near the stream. We oould see Ropata, and even the* dogs flashing in and out among the trees farther up the horioAV, and the short, occasional bark «cf one or other of them seemed to show that they Avere follow-* ing a hot scent. - In another minute aaw saAV old Taua cross the stream and leaa? the Ava.y up the hank o'n the opposite side Avitli liis nose close to the ground. Tho tAVa other dogs folloAved him, and then Ropata, Dick and I made for the stream, the bed of -which seemed to be almost hidden in deep thickets of maidenhair and other small, delicate ferns, and in a moment more we liad! hounded across, and Avere following as fast as Ave could. - It seemed bo me that -the tree® Avere growing more closely together, and the ground ay as seamed and roughened by great roots and ran like cables along tlie surface, half buried in the soil. but. it ay as a great improvement on the thickets at the edge of the forest. It AA r as. rough, certainly, and I felt drops running down my face, hut..if tms were the worst of it. I thought T had seen nearly as difficult travelling in an English wood, where the soft beds of fallen leaves made it more tiring. Thor® were no beds of leaves here, and! it seem)* ed unnatural' if one had had! time to think about it, that if this Avas the depth tof winter, the leaves overhead Avere as thick as if it Avere the height of summer.

Suddenly the dogs turned down hill! again, and avo lest sight of them, though I -could! still see Ropaita. no-Av and then among the trees, a® if lie Avere trying to keep up with them without going down into the hollow. Dick and I followed Ropaita. I ctoulcl see as I raA the reason Avhy he kept on theground, for below us the forest seemed to groAV so much thicker that it- Avasi noli possible to see through it more tha® a few yards. Wo could see nothing of the dogs now, and Ropata ay as evidently following by ear. An occasional hark Avould come up out of the hollow, and tell us that they Avere not far aheiacL and indeed, it ay as easy now to- travel a® fast as they seemed -to- he going. At last Ropata stopped and listened. Both Dick and I lia-o! almost conic up AA'ith him Avhen tlie sound of fierce barking reached us from heloAA’', folloAved by a succession cf gjeep sounds, that AVere almost like barks, too, except; that they came in -short. sudden explosion®, different from anything I liad eve? heard before.

“'All right. Jack,” Dick shouted to me. “They’ve bailed up an old boar. I’ll be hound, by lii® voice.” We listened, am in another moment there AA r as a louder explosion yet-, and avo .could hear something crashing away through the underwood ay hi la the sharp bark of a dog was followed by a fierce, growl. “Haere mail Haere mai!” Ropata shouted, as lie plunged down the slope in the direction from' Avliioh the mingled sounds came, and Dick and I followed liis example. I had been right- in my impression that tho forest- grew thicker in the gully, for Ave hadn’t gone many yards before I at least Avas almost brought- to a standstill. It Avas not go much bo ca-uso the tree® grew more closely to-o-ether, though that Avas true too, or because bushes or an unclergroAvtli of plants grcAA* up thickly to a height of three or four feet; these Avere troublesome enough,, but Avliat Ava’s ten times Avorse ay as that from every branch there hung long supple canes of every thickness—from quarter -of an inch to an inch—that SAvayed in the AV'ind; and caught you as you tried to force your way through, and held’ you fast, i6E tipped! you up, till you felt as if you Were tied hand and foot. Both Ropata and Dick seemed to get through them, though not very fast-,-but I struggled furiously, all the time feeling as if I made noi progress at all. I suppose I did get on, for though at first the barking and growl-

ing seemed! to get farther away, after a while I could hear it as plainly as alt first, iuicl then gradually it grejv louder and nearer till I felt. sure. I was gaining on the dogs. It was about the hardest work I had ever done, but I set my teeth and struggled on, till at last I found, to. my very great satisfaction, that I was gaining on the others. First I caught eight of Dick, and then of Ropata; then I cam e on a bit of the forest that was almost clear of the creepers and got on faster. At last the growling and barking seemed to turn up hill, and in a few minutes more I. came out of the bewildering mass of-tree-trunks, and bushes and! creepers, and found myself oncie more in the -comparatively open forest.. Now I caught sight, of the dogs again. They seemed to be runmng, huddled tor gather in a heap, and though I couldn’t see them distinctly among the trees, I was able to catch a glimpse of something grey and taller than themselves, round 1 which they gathered, that seemed to be dragging them off along with it. At the moment Ropata raised the cry, “Haere mai! Haere mai! Kanui tojpicaka!” (Oonie to me!- Coma to me! Very, big the pig!) and both Dick and 1* put cm a spurt though I Wouldn't have believed I had it in me a minute or two before, and followed him. It hadn’t seemed far, but I thought I should never get there. Run as. hard as I might, that great, grey brute seemed still to keep in front, though ho was dragging the weight of three big dogs after him. everyone of them hanging Un like grim death; one by each ear. and the third somewhere, behind. Suddenly, with a hoarse sound that was something between a grunt and a bark, but almost loud enough for a roar, the brute turned at bay. With one toss of his head he seemed to fling the big dogs that clung to Ills ears almost in bathe air, but they came down clinging to him still: then he made a clash for Renata..

CHAPTER 11.

AT BAY,

I confess it was startling. It. _ was my first experience of a real wild animal, and the sudden apparition of the huge boar as lie turned on ua with fierce little eyes that. secmed*to- flash, viciously, and a pair of tusks that curled upwards ■fir om his mouth quite six inches on each side, took me so. much by surprise that for a second; or two I only stood and stared at him helplessly. Luckily for himself, Ropata was. perfectly cool, and slipped instantly behind the trunk of a big tree, disappearing from the. eyes of the enraged pig at- the moment he rushi-

ed forward dragging the; dogs with him in his course. Startled a® I was I

couldn’t help feeling seme thing like’ admitral tion for the powerful _ brute: that seemed su'c-h, an impersonation of fierce revolt against any kind of restraint. When he made the rush it looked as. if he -carried the big, heavy dog® along with- him as easily as if they had been file® bolt it soon grew evident that only his rage and desire for revenge gave him the strength to do- so-. He must have stood about three and a-half feet in height, and his head and shoulders looked enlormo-us, while a heavy mane of ■iron-grey hair bristled up, flecked with great spots of white foam that flew from his jaws.

When he lest sight of Ropata he seeni-

ed to catch sight of me as I stood locking at him, and swung half round' in my direction. Then he stood for half a minute, as if gathering up his forces for another rush, while the low growling soun js of the dogs, and the harsh sound of his champing teeth were the only eoiu'nds.

“Mind youirself, Jack!” Dick shouted from the other side. “He’s coming your .way next!” Than I remembered my revolver for the first time, and pulled it out of the leather case at my belt. "Mind what you’re doing with that.

Jack,” he shouted again. “You’ll shoot the dags if you don’t take care 1 . Slip behind a tree when he comes for you, as Ropata didhe’ll soon get tired of that with the dogs on him.” I could feeil that Dick was right, for though I didn’t feel a bit afraid, I fancy I -shouldn’t have made very good shooting just then. With a fierce, explosive snarl, the big brute made a dash at me in my turn, and if it hadn’t been .for the powerful drag put on his motions by-tho clogs I might have found it difficult to get out of his way in time. As it was he didn’t reach me, but pulled up as he reached the foot of a huge tree the roots of which ran out from the foot of the trunk like great ribs,

leaving deep hollows between them. He had scrambled over one or two of them, dragging the dogs with him, till coining to one that was at least, two feet high, his streugh or his courage seemed to fail him, and with another fierce grunt he wheeled till lie faceiK outwards, backing towards the great'Trunk which rose like a tower behind' bifri. ' He couldn’t have hit upon a more

! cunning trick or-fiHiibrd awkward place > for us, if he the forest through to find it; "-Even I could see ; how dangerous it was for the dogs, though I didn’t jnst at first notice liow difficult it made the task of getting at him for ourselves. Teaser, who had been holding on to liis hind legs, and

dragging backwards like grim death, suddenly found himself swung around, and in danger each moment, of being trampled under foot by the boar’s sharp hoofs, or crushed almost to death between him and the trunk of the tree, for the brute—gaunt, and flat-sided as ho was—didn’t weigh less than 500 or 6001 b. Old Ta.ua and Fincher, who had him by the ears, backed, step by step, keeping their hind quarters pressed close to the ribs of the boar, knowing instinctively that if they were once thrown out at anything like right angles, they would next instant be ripped up. by one pf his cruel tusks;. 'He seemed quite to understand his advantage, too’, for lie retired steadily, orushing the dogs harder and harder at each step against the great roots, and making Teaser howl with pain as he trampled on and crushed: him at the same time. All the time, too, his head moved from side to side, and Ids. wicked little eyes seemed to shoot fierce, lightning glances in. every direction at ones. The growls and cries of the dogs, and\tho occasional fierce grunt of the boar "-who seemed positively to enjoy the predicament in which lie had got his enemies, made the forest ring again, and brought- uis all three forward to see what could be. done to put an end to the struggle. \

■‘Shall I try a shot at him now. Dick 2 ’ I exclaimed, handling my pistol a little nervously, as I scrambled over one or two of the high roots that ran out like riba of a ship. “No, Jack. You’ll never get at him in that hole lie's backed into, unless you were right over his head, and then I’m not sure that your bullet wouldn’t gla'nca off andi kill one of the dogs.” “Well, he'll very soon kill the dogs as it is, if they- stay in that corner,” 1 replied, as a, sharper howl was extracted from Teaser, under the pressure of the jblouifis hind-quarters. “I believe he’s sitting on him.” Dick came as close as he could get to him on the opposite .side, to where I was, and leaned over the great root, where it stood out like a buttress from the tree, probing into the hollow with the point of fils spear. A sharp howl from one of the clogs showed that he was doing more harm to. friends than the foe in the quickly moving heap, of life struggling below. He drew back with an exclamation, and looked around with a puzzled expression. ’' Halloa, Ropata, what you do row? Peak a kill T'a-ua, we no kill him.” Ropata had disappeared for half a minute, but he stepped forward at Dick’s appeal. Ho had a stick, which he had picked up, in hi® hand. “All nighty, Tika,” he said: “poaka come out. plenty quick, taiboa” (by and bye). As he spoke he grasped toe stick by one end, and stepped deliberately in front of the lair into which the boar had withdrawn himself. Then lie advanced slowly towards it, step by step, looking straight into the comparatively dark recesses into which, the boar had retired, a’nd, holding the stick out as if pointing at him. “Haere mai! Haere- mai, to poaka !” be chanted, in a voice that was low at first, but rose higher and higher, into, a taunting, mocking tone, as he came near e.r and near er 1

“Don’t. Do pat a! Don’t be a fool!” Dick exclaimed anxiously; out Repot a took no notice, except by advancing another step, and repeating his invitation or chaTleneg, to the fierce animal, whose deep explosive grants came to our ears alternately with the sound of his champing teeth, and the smothered growls of the do-gs. Dick and I had both grown wildly exr cited, but it seemed a<s> if wei were the only ones. Ropata seemed cool enough, and for anything we could see the boar was at >any rate cool enough to refuse the challenge'. Ropata had got within a yard or two of the recess in which the dogs and pig were struggling, and liis chant of invitation rose Jiigher and higher, when suddenly, witir one fierce loud grunt —so deep and sudden it migh t have "been some newly-invented firework just exploded—the boar sprang forward. Dick and I were, of course, fully protected by the great roots of the hinau tree, but both of us gave a “startled cry of alarm at the danger of Ropata. The native lad 1 was fully equal to the occasion, however, for with a shout, “Haere maiTika! Haere nape-nape !” (quickly), he leaped aside, and let the boar crash past him with the full impetus of liis rush.

The weigh b of all three dogs still clinging desperately to him would soon have stopped him, no doubt, but almost as quickly as Ropata himself the brute had swept round in a wide curve in the effort to follow him up. Dick, however, had rushed 1 after him in answer to Ropata’s appeal, and before X -could reach him with my revolver, which I had determined to risk firing at close quarters, he had plunged liis spear into the. boar from behind somewhere near his shoulder. I couldn’t have believed it possible’that loaded as he was the animal clbuld have wheeled as he did to face- the new enemy. I don’t know how lie did it even now/ but I saw the whole struggling mass swing round suddenly. Pincher being thrown into the ail*, and Taua almost trampled under foot, and next -instant the fierce eyes seemed to flash fire into my own. The quarters were close enough now, for I felt as if I shouldn’t have time to get away, but

I hardly thought, of that. Here was .a chance for my pistol at last, and with a quick aim I pulled the trigger and fired straight into the- wild face before me. He made another step or i we, and I thought lie was coming; then lie stopped. His fierce eyes seemed to fix mine .still, his great jaw® ground together once more, and as I pulled the trigger again lie sank on his hind quarters and roiled slowly over. The hunt was done. - The clogs had known it sooner than I did. for old Tana, on whose side the boar had lurched over as he fell, had let go his hold and jumped out of the way, and Teazer had cleared out in time to avoid being sat upon when lie sank backwards. Only Fincher had' continued to. cling in a stupid, dazed way, so that lie was dragged almost on the top of the dead bear, bleeding profusely from a great gash in hi® side made by one of the gleaming tusks at the moment lie was swung into the air. Almost before I had noticed it Dick had sprung forward and lifted the clog tenderly oft’ the boar, his teeth falling helplessly apart, and letting go the ear he had clung to so long - . “Has he killed him, Dick? - ’ I exclaimed.

“Nci, I don't think so; but I was a fool not to bring something to bind him lip in case of an accident like this,” Dick answered, as lie bent over the clog, which locked up into his face ancT tried feebly tie lick his hand.

By this time we had all three gathered round the. wounded dog, and: even Teazer spared time from licking. Ins own bruises to lock anxiously at his comrade. Only Tana stood oft and l seemed to employ hi® time in looking critically at- the dead bear, who had been eo fc-nm-idabio only a minute or two before. For the rest of us the interest appeared to have, ceased with his death, and had all been transferred to his victim. Dick looked up. at Ropata. “What w'e do now, Ropata? ’ he asked. ‘‘No able carry Fincher home ; he die first.”

“Kuia. Tika. No far te kaianga Maori. (The Maori village). You carry now; taiho-a, me carry Fincher.” “Well, I suppose it’s the only thing to do 1 . We’ll bo able to. got an old woman there who knows more about it than any of us. I’ll be bound, and that will give. Fincher a chance, any how.”

“Can’t we take anything as a, memento of this old fellow?” I asked, eyeing the huge carcase as it. lay, with some reluctance.

“Ok, never mind the brute, Jack. The only thing worth taking would! be; his tusks, and you’re entitled to them as you killed him, hut you would never get them out of his jaws, and I must try to get. poor Fincher to some place where he’ll have‘a chance. I’m sorry we ever saw the old brute.” Wo started for the Maori village on the other side of the range-. It was lees than half the distance from where we Arc-re than Matatcke would! have been, and though I, and probably even Dick himself, might* have- wandered long enough in the forest looking for it. Ropatseemed to have no difficulty in leading us there by the shortest, way. Dick carried the wounded dog till we had crossed! the ridge, and then. Ropata relieved him, going ahead, followed djoiscty by the. other two dogs,, while Dick and I brought up the rear. “Is this Ropata’s village. Dick?” I asked, after we had walked some distance in silence.

“Oh, no; this is the village I told you about from which Ropata .said the men were away at the. korero.” “Oh. then they are King natives, I suppose; but how do you know how they will receive you, if they re so near going to war* with us?” Dick laughed. “Oh. that’s all right, Jack. You needn’t be a bit afraid of them. I’ve known them for years and we’ve had them working for us, digging potatoes, and things like that, many a time. Of course if we were at war they would fight hard, I haven’t a doubt ; but they’re not at war yet and I have no idea that- we.shall! not- get plenty of warning. Maoris are not like, the Redskins in Cooper’s stories. They’ll fight,, but I don’t believe they’ll fight unfairly-—certainly they won’t scalp anybody at the very worst.” It was a good’.deal less difficult walking oil the other side of the ridge, for bosidles having the, slope in our favour the forest was generally open, without any of tho thick undergrowth of canes and creepers that- had made some of it' so impenetrable on the side nearest home. We had been walking half an hour. I should think however, before I noticed that the trees were not so close together, and that tlie. growth of tree-ferns, palms, and shrubs that had mad© it so hard to get into the forest on the side we had first approached it Was beginning again. Then wei heard the barking of clogs at no, great distance, and in a few minutes more we came out into the open again in a beautiful little valley almost shut in by wooded ridges, .perhapsh, quarter of a mile wide at the’ bottom, Through which there ran ai stream.

The village 's&emecl to lie on both sides of the stream, for I could' see what looked like large huts scattered about irregularly, and) even at that di®tiamee I could: make out figures moving about in what seemed to be cultivated around that stretched for some distance

on two sides, and was all fenced in with! a light fence of stakes-. On the- other two sides there was a. broad clump of largo trees—the first ones I had seen that had lost their leaves since we started in the morning. A little-drove of

pigs wandered about among the tree®, digging holes with their noses, and evidently very much at home. Except these, and a dozen or so of dogs, who gave notice of our arrival by a very noisy welcome, there seemed co be no ether live animals, and I noticed that there wia® no grass, but only a thick covering of ferns that spread far and wide over the open land whever it had not been cultivated. As we came nearer the harking increased, and! more figures made their appearance at the doorways of some of the huts. Most of these- seemed to- he women, but gradually more men made their appearance too, and before- we had got to the first of the houses we had a considerable group l of spectators. It was the women, however —a.nd I noticed wit'll some surprise that none of them seemed l -to he 1 young—who met and spoke to Ropata., who no doubt explained what had brought us to the village, and before we had gone far several of them had -surrounded him, and were examining Fincher’s wound with interest. “Are there no children Dick?” I asked struck by the fact that while there were -a good l many old Women and a few men, some of whom strolled in a lazy way across to where the little group had gathered round the wounded dog, I hadn’t seen either boys or girls. “Oh yes, lots-of them,” Dick answered absently, without lifting his eye® from the dug, who was now being handled carefully by two old women, while the o their® looked on with interest. Whether illy question had attracted the attention of Ropata., or whether lie noticed the same thing that had.struck me for himself, I don’t know, but I saw him look up quickly. Then his keen black eyes seemed to wander round the place as if in search of something; then they canio back to the dog and I fancied there was a new expression of doubt cn hi® face.

The old women who were attending to Fincher seemed, as Dick had expected, tio understand a good! deal about wounds, for though he had given two or three little impatient growls- when they first began, ho soon seemed quite reconciled toi their treatment, and .within ten min lit or so they had managed to stop the bleeding, and to apply a pad of some kind of leaves, fastened round! his body with strips of native, -flax, a® neatly a® if it had been done by a surgeon. in a hospital. Dick put his hand in his j octet., a® if in search of money; then he turned to me hastily:

T say, Jack,” lie said, “have you any money about you?” I was just going to feel in my pockets when the woman who had dene most of the work turned ou Dick almost angrily. “Kali-ore” (n'o), she exclaimed ; “Kahore te utu” (not the money). “Hagai te kuri o. te pakeka” (the white man’s dog good). Dick looked at her, apparently in some surprise; then he said. “Kapai te wahine” (the woman is good), and held oiut hi® hand. The woman didn’t attempt to take it, but drew herself up with a curious dignity that looked almost. funny in its contrast to her wrinkled face, bleared eyes and wild head of coarse grey hair, and looked Dick full in the face:

“Kahore pai te pakeha; kap-ai to hurt o te pakeha” (no good the white man; very good the white man’s dog). She eyed! Dick for a moment, as if to make sure that he understood her, and then turned .away, and lifting Fincher tenderly in her arms, as if he had been a child, carried him off to a hut that stood near. Diok had looked puzzled for a moment while the old woman spoke; then he looked at- Ropata for an instant, then lie laughted good-humoured-ly.

I hadn’t understood what, the old woman said, of course, though I could see it lipid boon a refusal to accept payment fci* what she had done, and I thought it liad .surprised Diok and even Ropata a little. I suppose my eyes asked) for ah explanation, for Diok said carelessly: “Old Mata seems to be in a bad temper to-day; never mind, she- has adopted Fincher, so he’ll he all right. He couldn’t be in safer hands.”

He was turning away, as if lie meant to leave the village without going farther, when I said: “But look here, Diok, douildn’t wo just see the inside of one of these housee? You know it’s mv first introduction.”

“Well, there isn’t- much to see, Jack,, except smoke and fleas, but I daresay Ropata here will show you the chief’s! whare; there’s pretty sure to be nobody* there.”

He' spoke to Ropata, who led the way along the wide road that ran up between the stake fences till we reached a, hut that seemed much bigger than the rest. It stood with the gable end facing the road!, and though certainly not very high in the roof it must have been eighteen or twenty feet wide. There was no window in -the end, but the eaves projected perhaps two feet, and i’n the middle was a small doorway without any door. Round the doorway .and along the eaves were broad ela-bs of timber carved into patterns, with here and there a hideous figure, with a big stomach, and a gpreat -head with a mouth from ear to ear, out of winch invariably hung a

tongue painted red. I stepped forward to look at them more closely, and as I did soi my eyes for the first time got a glimpse of what there was inside the huh. ••Why, Lick,” I said, making a. quick backward step, “they mus| have come hack from the borero; there’s a lot of men in there.” Dick stepped forward and glanced in; then lie turned away. ‘‘We had better not disturb them, Jack,” be said, “and we may as well be getting home again.” I said nothing, but I followed Dick, aim? Riopata did the same. I thought I noticed the keen eyes of the Maori glanco from hut to hut as if in search of something, but lie never opened bis lips. A few young men who lingered about the lints as we passed nodded, but whether to Idepata or Dick I couldn’t tell, and one or two old women, who seemed to be at work within the fence, looked up as we went, by, but that was" all. Wo had got away from the village before i pick looked' round at nie—then he aaod: “I think it as lucky we came, Jack. Did you see what the men were doing in the wha.ve?” “Yes. Dick; they seemed to be cleaning guns.” (To be Continued.)