tribe had come to meet them (the old
woman with the flint had arrived in these canoes), and they departed
_sans ceremonie_, taking with them all that was left of the pigs and
potatoes which had been given them, and also the "fine lot of eds."
Their departure was felt as a great relief; and though it was
satisfactory to know peace was made, it was even more so to be well rid
of the peacemakers.

Hail, lovely peace, daughter of heaven! meek-eyed inventor of Armstrong
guns and Enfield rifles; you of the liquid-fire-shell, hail! Shooter at
"bulls'-eyes," trainer of battalions, killer of wooden Frenchmen, hail!
(A bit of fine writing does one good.) Nestling under thy wing, I will
scrape sharp the point of my spear with a _pipi_ shell; I will carry
fern-root into my pa; I will _cure_ those heads which I have killed in
war, or they will spoil and "won't fetch nothin'": for these are thy
arts, O peace!

CHAPTER IV.

A little Affair of "Flotsam and Jetsam."--Rebellion crushed in
the Bud.--A Pakeha's House sacked.--Maori Law.--A Maori Lawsuit.
--Affair thrown into Chancery.

Pakehas, though precious in the good old times, would sometimes get
into awkward scrapes. Accidents, I have observed, will happen at the
best of times. Some time after the matters I have been recounting
happened, two of the pakehas, who were "knocking about" Mr. ----'s
premises, went fishing. One of them was a very respectable old
man-of-war's man, the other was the connoisseur of heads; who, I may as
well mention, was thought to be one of that class who never could
remember to a nicety how they had come into the country, or where they
came from.

It so happened that on their return, the little boat, not being well
fastened, went adrift in the night, and was cast on shore at about four
miles distance, in the dominions of a petty chief who was a sort of
vassal or retainer of ours. He did not belong to the tribe, and lived
on the land by the permission of our chief as a sort of tenant at will.
Of late an ill-feeling had grown up between him and the principal
chief. The vassal had in fact begun to show some airs of independence,
and had collected more men about him than our chief cared to see; but
up to this time there had been no regular outbreak between them:
possibly because the vassal had not yet sufficient force to declare
independence formally. Our chief was, however, watching for an excuse
to fall out with him before he should