ing Waireka. This, however, Colonel Murray did not do. He sent
Lieutenant Urquhart and thirty men to clear the ravines aforesaid, and
give the militiamen a chance of retreat. But when the latter, still
expecting him to attack the _pa_, did not retire, he rather coolly
withdrew Urquhart's party and retraced his steps to the town, alleging
that his orders had been not to go into the bush, and, in any case, to
return by dusk. Great was the excitement amongst the wives, children,
and friends of the settlers away in the fight when the soldiers
returned without them, and when one terrified woman, who clutched at
an officer's arm and asked their whereabouts, got for answer, "My good
woman, I don't know"! Loud was the joy when by the light of the moon
the militiamen were at length seen marching in. They had been
rescued without knowing it by Captain Cracroft and a party of sixty
bluejackets from H.M.S. _Niger_. These, meeting Colonel Murray in his
retreat, and hearing of the plight of the colonial force, pushed on in
gallant indignation, and in the dusk of the evening made that assault
upon the _pa_ which the Colonel had somehow not made during the day.
Climbing the hill, the sailors chanced upon a party of natives, whom
they chased before them pell-mell. Reaching the stockade at the
heels of the fugitives, the bluejackets gave each other "a back" and
scrambled over the palisades, hot to win the L10 promised by the
Captain to the first man to pull down the Maori flag. The defenders
from their rifle-pits cut at their feet with tomahawks, wounding
several nastily; but in a few minutes the scuffle was over, and the
_Niger's_ people returned victorious to New Plymouth in high spirits.
Moreover, their feat caused the main body of the natives to withdraw
from the ravines, thus releasing the endangered militia. Among these,
Captain Harry Atkinson--in after years the Colony's Premier and best
debater--had played the man. Our loss had been small--that of the
natives some fifty killed and wounded.

Month followed month, and still the settlers were pent up and the
province infested by the marauding Taranaki, Ngatiawa, and Ngatiruanui
Maoris, and by sympathisers from Waikato, who, after planting their
crops, had taken their guns and come over to New Plymouth to enjoy
the sport of shooting _Pakeha_. The farms and homes of the devastated
settlement lay a plundered wreck, and the owners complained bitterly
of the dawdling and timidity of the