KIDNAPPED WHITE CHILD

Ohinemuri Gazette, Volume XX, Issue 2551, 27 September 1909, Page 2

KIDNAPPED WHITE CHILD

s, *-"■* ' ———^p , A KING COUNTRY STORY. '■ >

A correspondent at Russell supplies the following interesting story :~Residing amongst the Maoris in the most inaccessible part of the King Country, ~- which lies about the source of the" •/ Mokau' River, is a white woman whose

tongue has never yet mastered the sibilant grotesqueness of her mother's speech, but conyeys her meaning, with exquisite softness, through the language of her brown-skinned ioster kindred. .How this has come about was related to me recently, and, since the story is true, I have avoided mentioning names as far as possible.

About 15 years ago a settler was en- • gaged in the usual round of bush work on his section, which abutted on the railway between New Plymouth and Hawera. Labour was scarce, and he. was anxious to fence oft a portion of a newly-burnt bush. Although he was married his family was still young, and he gladly availed himselt of the help . offered by a Maori named Nguku, who had recently arrived from the King Country. A bargain was struck, and in due course posts were .split out and carried into position^ when Nguku re: ' ceived news which necessitated his re--turn to the King Country without delay. This caused a heated, dispute between the settler and Nguku, the • latter claiming payment for work done,

the former refusing to pay until the con-. tract was' completed, The settler remained firm, and, with the characteristic stubbornness of his race, Nguku de- ( ' > parted, vehemently declaring that he had been wronged and would obtain vengeance' ; How this vengeance was obtained appeared next day at lunch time, x when little Mary, a rosy-cheeked, brown-' haired [toddler, could not be found, and L her brother Willy, into whose keeping she had been entrusted, said that , Nguku had ■ come along* on his horse while they were playing on the road a m d taken Mary for a ride. The settler ■ ' guessed at once what had happened, and got on his horse in pursuit. Whether they passed each other on a by-road or Nguku had too much start

was never known. Little Mary and her kidnapper disappeared completely.

The settler's wife,, overcome with 'grief, died within 12 months of this sad .event.

As the years went by and the family . grew up, the' boys began to go away from the homestead to vanous employments. Willy, by this time a young man of 20, was on the survey, and, still mindful of his childish mistake in letting Mary go for a ride, always made a point of visiting any kainga near where they were working. One evening,

while they were exchanging yarns over . the camp fire, a surveyor from a neigh-' bounng camp happened to mention that he had seen a white girl living with the Maoris in the upper waters of the Mokau. Willy, of course, made all the inquiries^ he could, and finally, after relating his story to the surveyor, who , was known as Bob, persuaded him. to make an expedition up the Mokau during the next Christmas holidays, and find out if this white girl was his sister or not. The old settler was getting feeble, and a great desire came upon him to ' see his daughter again, He was most anxious to take part in the expedition, ' but this was out of the question,, considering his feeble state. He had to content himself, therefore, in writing to Willy and telling him that he would know his sister by a scar underneath her chin, where she had been burnt by falling on the stove. A surveyor, after several years of work in the bush, develops a wonderful > instinct for locality. Thus it was that these two struck across country,' up' river beds, and along spurs, winding here and there, but always making for a trig station, which was a day's journey from the kainga they were m search of. Presently, after three nights in the bush, they came out upon open fern country, and about mid-day strolled into, the kainga and sat down for a smoke in the • marae (open space). Natives came

round with the usual greetings and •

questions, but beneath the cheerful talk there lurked a feeling of hostility. Try as they would, neither Willy nor Bob could get any information about a white woman in the kainga, until the door of a whare opened, and a white girl, about 17, came out, talking to an old Native woman in Maori. She did not notice the two men at first, but the old woman was heard to mutter, "Lo ! Strangers ! Let us return." ' Then, as the girl lifted her head to look, Bob noticed a red mark on her white throat. He had just • tune to exclaim, "By G—, that's her," when the old woman dragged her back into the whare and shut the door.

After this, this most unexpected thing happened. Willy refused "to believe it was his sister.. He had not seen the scar, and said she was not like any of the lamily. Anyhow, as the Maoris refused to let them stop the night in the kainga, Willy proposed that they should return. Bob was lurious to see his mate " turn cocktail " just when he seemed to have tound the girl. Before anyone could interfere, he dashed up to the wharc and broke through the door, Speaking in English, he asked the girl to come away to her father with him. She looked at him in open-eyed wonder, without a sign of having understood " * what he had said. He tried in Maori, and the girl laughed, replying, v You talk foolishly ; my father's dead. I was born here ; this is my mother." Then strong hands pulled him out ot the whaic and handled him roughly. - I have often wondered if that woman ever discovered the true story of ; her early life. , i* ' /.