ore he was able to gratify this wolfish
taste, and in the confusion which followed the assault upon the
Ohinemutu _pa_ the missionary premises were looted. They were at the
time in charge of two young assistants, Knight and Pilley--the former
being a nephew of Marsden. Both were felled to the ground, wounded and
stripped of their clothes. Chapman and his wife were fortunately absent.
Mrs. Chapman after many dangers reached Matamata, but the tide of war
rolled thither also, and the mission ladies were hurried through the
swamps to the river bank. Here they were met unexpectedly by Fairburn
and Wilson, who had been rowing up the Waihou for the last two days in
the endeavour to bring help to their colleagues at Rotorua. Wilson in
his journal thus describes the meeting: "River covered by a thick fog,
everything dripping wet. After rowing a few miles in the early morning
we came to a small sandy landing place. Here, under some canvas thrown
over the shrubs, we found Mr. Morgan and three missionaries'
wives--Mesdames Brown, Chapman, and Morgan--and with them two or three
native girls (bearers of their luggage from Matamata). These poor ladies
had all the appearance of fugitives, and such they really were. They had
slept in their clothes on the wet ground, and their chief comfort was a
little fire struggling for existence with wet green wood. On hearing the
noise of our boat landing, I saw from under the canvas a weary pale
face, nearly on a level with the wet earth, looking to see what it was.
How glad they were to see us! What a change in their countenances from
sorrow to gladness! Now--for a time at least--their troubles were over.
In a few minutes we had them packed and arranged in our little boat, and
sent them down the Waihou on their way to the Puriri."

Though the ladies had escaped unharmed, their belongings had not. The
Matamata station was no safe place for anything, on account of the
marauding bands who infested the country. As soon as possible therefore
the most valuable articles were packed and sent off towards the river.
News soon arrived that the convoy had been plundered. Morgan and Knight
set out in pursuit and encountered a band of armed men, whose grotesque
appearance brought a laugh to the missionaries' faces in spite of the
danger of the situation. Most of the party were dressed in white shirts,
and "one man was marching before the rest, with the utmost consequence,
his head and olive-coloured face being e