ied by some thirty men of the Mahia tribe. A waggon
had been procured for the transport of the women and children, and a
march of twenty-four miles took them to Taranganui. They found that
parties had been out the day before to bury the dead, and had brought in
two persons who were supposed to have been murdered. As one of the
parties were going along they saw a small poodle dog run into a bush,
and recognized it as having belonged to Captain Wilson. They called and
whistled to it in vain, and came to the conclusion that someone must be
in hiding there. After half an hour's search they discovered little
James Wilson with the dog tightly held in his arms; the boy was too
frightened to distinguish friend from foe, and was greatly delighted
when he recognized one of the party. He told them that his mother was
alive, and was lying wounded in an out-house at their place. He had lost
his way while trying to reach Taranganui to bring help to her.

Captain Wilson had defended his house with a revolver until the natives
brought fire to burn him out. As they offered to spare the lives of all
within if they surrendered, Captain Wilson, thinking that there was a
possibility of their keeping their word, while those within would
certainly be burned if they resisted, surrendered. The prisoners were
being led along by their captors, Captain Wilson carrying the little
boy, when the natives fell upon them. Captain Wilson was shot through
the back, his servant, Morau, tomahawked, and Mrs. Wilson and the other
children bayoneted. Captain Wilson, when shot, fell into a bush, and the
little boy in the confusion crawled away unnoticed into the scrub. He
had wandered about sleeping in out-houses for several nights, often
close to the enemy, and at last found his way back to what had been his
home, and found the bodies of his father, brothers, and sisters, and on
going into an out-house for shelter found his mother alive there.

She had been bayoneted in several places and beaten on the head with the
butt of a rifle until they thought her dead. Later in the day she had
recovered consciousness and crawled back to the house, where she got
some water and then took refuge in the out-house, where two or three
days later she was found by her son. She had since been kept alive by
eggs and other things the child found by foraging round; but he had at
last started to try to get assistance for her.

After hearing the child's story the party had galloped