he other. The friends always left their shelter and retired to camp
as soon as the sun set.

The Hau-Haus were not, however, idle. A party of sixty men made a long
circuit and came down in rear of the column, captured the depot at
Patutahi with eight kegs of ammunition and a great quantity of
provisions, and also seized a number of pack animals on the way up. On
the 3d of December the force was strengthened by the arrival of the
chiefs Rapata and Hotene, with three hundred and seventy men from Te
Wairoa. These chiefly belonged to the Ngatiporou tribe, who were far
better fighters than the Napier or Mahia men.

As soon as the reinforcements had arrived it was decided at once to
dislodge the enemy from a hill of which they had possession, and then to
make a general attack on the intrenchments. Forty men of the Wairoa
tribe under Mr. Preece made a dashing attack on the hill, and just as
they carried it Rapata sent a message to him to say that his tribesmen
were annoyed by the enemy's shot falling into their camp, and were
therefore determined to attack at once. That tribe sallying out, carried
two of the enemy's outworks with a rush, and drove the Hau-Haus back to
their last line of rifle-pits near the river. Here they were attacked by
the Wairoa men on the left, Rapata in the centre, and the tribesmen from
Napier on the right. The assailants carried the intrenchment and drove
the Hau-Haus across the river, these suffering heavy loss from the
firing of the left column, who from their position commanded the course
of the stream.

Unfortunately this fire, though destructive to the enemy, was to a
certain extent in their favour, for it prevented the close pursuit of
Rapata's men. Thirty-four Hau-Haus, including three of their fighting
chiefs, were found dead. Te Kooti himself had a narrow escape. He was
still suffering from his wound in the ankle, and was carried up the bed
of the creek on a woman's back. A great quantity of the loot taken from
the settlers was recaptured, and many of the friendly natives held
prisoners by the Hau-Haus escaped during the fight. Mr. Atherton and
Wilfrid had joined Rapata's men in their charge, and after the fight
was over the former said: "Well, Wilfrid, it is a satisfaction to have
got some natives with us at last who will fight. It seemed at first as
if all the plucky natives had joined the enemy; but Rapata's men are
first-rate fellows, though I wish that they had rather an easier name,