CHAPTER II.

New Zealand Illustrated Magazine, Volume I, Issue 7, 1 April 1900, Page 499

CHAPTER 11.

It is six months after the big meeting at Meremere, and Tautini is in a rifle pit in the little pa at Orakau. Alas, he has realised to the full the bitter hopelessness of striving to push the white man into the sea. "What can we do ?" he sadly remarks to his neighbour — not stolid, kindly Nini, for he fell at Rangiriri with a bullet in his broad young breast — " What can the Maori do ? As fast as we kill one, another fills his place. We cannot fight against their ships and guns. We are doomed to perish ! At Mere-

mere Rangiriri, Te Rori and Rangiaohia we have been forced to fall back, leaving behind us scores of our strongest braves ; we make here our last stand under Rewi the bold, and what hope have we of victory ? Our water is all gone, our food is nearly done, and death is very near. The home of his fathers is being

snatched from the Maori." The scene iv the hastily-constructed pa was a painful one. There were but. three hundred ill-armed men, with perhaps nsnuiny women and children, cooped up in rough dug rifle and shelter pits, with no water, little

food and no hope. For two days they had endured the deadly hail of shot and kIioII from fifteen hundred British troops outside. Again and again with unconquered bravory they had hurled themselves upon tho foo only to struggle back, gasping and brokon ; again and again, with fierce joy, they had

beaten back the bull-dog charges of those who strove to surmount their poor palisades. And now the sap was within twenty yards of them, and a hellish, screaming whirl of shell and shot swept through and through their scanty protections, till mortal thing could scarce live save in the friendly pits. By -and -bye the firing ceases, and a messenger calls upon the Maoris to surrender, that their lives may be spared . How strangely soothing the unwonted lull seems to the weary defenders, how sweet the thought of peace after the long, long days of war and strife! Up then stands their leader Rewi, tall, commanding. "Friends," the words are flung fearlessly at the foe, "this is the word of the Maori — We will tight on for ever, and ever, and ever !" With sudden start, galvanised into life, the weary braves behind him take up the thrilling cry. From frenzied throats, nigh bursting with the vehemence of the dauntless answer, blares out the cry — " Ka whawhai tonu, ake, ake, ake ! " The very women scorn to leave the pa — they know no yielding — "Ka whawhai tonu, ake, ake, ajce !" and the dazed little childi'en take up the cry. The dying with wild convulsive gasp shriek out, and perish with the choked defiance^ri' their lips — '"Ake, ake, ake!" and a thrill of ungrudging admiration runs through every mau that hears the stinging deh'auce. A big sob breaks from one lad in the ranks. "My God ! They're better men than we," runs from mouth to mouth as, with almost an unwillingness, the troops are moved forward, and hand grenades thrown into the pa. The last scene in the tragedy has come. Suddenly and without warning the Maoris, under cover of the smoke, glide out in steady,

compact array through an almost unnoticed gateway, and are rapidly traversing the fernclad slope before their movement is seen. All at once they are perceived, and the startled guard at that point gives the alarm. Steadily — as steadily as in the old meeting whare at Meremere — rises loud clear and swelling the ancient chant of deathless bate : " Arise ye bold, arise, And stem the flood ; Shout loud the battle cry, And storm and conquer ! " Without a shot, for powder and shot are almost priceless now, they move gallantly on, seeking shelter in the friendly swamp from the death that strives to overtake them. Volley after volley, shot after shot, breaks from the English ranks, and the little baud grows thinner at every pace. And then the ground trembles and resounds beneath the headlong charge of cavalry, victorious, impetuous and irresistible. Tautini is buffeted in the mad whirlpool, and strikes out blindly and savagely. With the butt of his rifle he fells one stout assailant, but the next moment the wave of men and horses sweeps over him, and he is cvushed lifeless upon the ground. The few who have gained the swamp turn, and spend their long hoarded ammunition in the work of avenging some few of their comrades. The bulk, caught in the open, fall before the fierce onslaught, but even as they die there rises clear above the battle's noise the old defiance : " Ka whawhai tonu, ake, alee, ake ! " That night Tautini's bruised and broken corpse was found by Hinetuatai, the daughter of Raugiarunga ; it was borne with wailing and lamentation far away into the secret places of the Maori, and wept over by the remuaut of his conquered people.