uproar and confusion; messengers were running like mad, in
all directions, to call in stragglers; and the women were carrying fuel
and provisions into the pa, or fortress, of the tribe. This pa was a
very well built and strong stockade, composed of three lines of strong
fence and ditch, very ingeniously and artificially planned; and,
indeed, as good a defence as well could be imagined against an enemy
armed only with musketry. All the men were now working like furies,
putting this fort to rights, getting it into fighting order, mending
the fences, clearing out the ditches, knocking down houses inside the
place, clearing away brushwood and fern all around the outside within
musket shot.

I was in the thick of it, and worked all day lashing the fence; the
fence being of course not nailed, but lashed with _toro-toro_, a kind
of tough creeping plant, like a small rope, which was very strong and
well adapted for the purpose. This lashing was about ten or twelve feet
from the ground, and a stage had to be erected for the men to stand on.
To accomplish this lashing or fastening of the fence well and with
expedition required two men, one inside the fence and another outside;
all the men therefore worked in pairs, passing the end of the
_toro-toro_ from one to the other through the fence of large upright
stakes and round a cross piece which went all along the fence, by which
means the whole was connected into one strong wall. I worked away like
fury, just as if I had been born and bred a member of the community;
and moreover, not being in those days very particularly famous for what
is called prudence, I intended also, circumstances permitting, to fight
like fury too, just for the fun of the thing.

About a hundred men were employed in this part of the work, new lashing
the pa. My _vis-a-vis_ in the operation was a respectable old warrior
of great experience and approved valour, whose name being turned into
English meant "The eater of his own relations." This was quite a
different sort of diet from "melons;" and he did not bear his name for
nothing, as I could tell you if I had time; but I am half mad with
haste, lashing the pa. I will only say that my comrade was a most
bloodthirsty, ferocious, athletic savage, and his character was
depicted in every line of his tattooed face. About twenty men had been
sent out to watch the approach of the dreaded visitors. The repairing
of the stockade went on all one day and all one night,