Te Karearea

“ Te Karearea, who had apparently shaken off the physical effects of his recent exertion, pulled up short as Kapua Mangu plunged his hand into a hole in the trunk of an enormous fallen tree, which formed a long, low arch across the ridge. Then, striving to hide his terror of some supernatural manifestation under a mask of cultured indifference, the chief advanced again with the evident intention of looking over the magician's shoulder. ”

“ This was an entirely new view of the situation, and the self-satisfied grin faded from Te Karearea's face. The old superstitions were tugging at him once more. 'I will bring him back,' he said humbly, and took a hesitating step in the direction of the heads.
Kapua Mangu was genuinely frightened, but, being by no means certain that anything would happen, he felt compelled to regain his ascendency by thoroughly frightening the chief once more. So he drew largely upon a vivid imagination in order to restrain the foolhardy infidel.
'Stay, fool!' he shrieked. 'The spirits of the dead are angry. ”

“ So severe was the jar, that the club, unsecured by its wrist-loop, flew out of Te Karearea's hand over the side, and fell into the water, just as Bigham, last survivor of the miserable crew, leaped through the open gangway into the sea. There was an instant swirl of lithe black bodies below the surface, and with a shrill yell the mate sank beneath the waves and was seen no more. ”

“ But the more they threw, the more they missed, which struck Terence as odd, and, at last, Te Karearea, who was leaning nonchalantly against a door-post, looking on, drew out his mere and stepped forward.
'Let us show these children what men can do,' he said, and shivered the bottle at the first throw. 'Can you better that, Hortoni?'
'Perhaps I can equal it,' returned George, taking his stand. Te Karearea's eyes gleamed and flashed a glance of intelligence at a lank youth who was lounging near the mark, apparently uninterested. ”

“ A hungry man is an angry man, and certainly when George had eaten all the good things set before him, and smoked a looted cigar—Te Karearea with generous irony had sent him a handful—his temporary irritation vanished, and his usual cool temper reasserted itself. He had plenty of common-sense, and recognising that there was nothing to be gained by quarrelling with the chief, presently accepted the latter's invitation to stroll round the camp and visit the pickets. For Te Karearea observed all proper military precautions, and maintained an iron discipline in camp and field. ”

“ George stared up at him. 'Are my wits wandering again?' he said. 'Do you seriously ask that question? You know as well as I do that the greenstone club went to the bottom of the sea.'
'Nevertheless, I ask you whether you have yet recovered it,' persisted the chief; whereat George, weakened by his accident, grew peevish. 'Am I then a magician, O Te Karearea?' he snapped back.
Te Karearea's rich brown skin turned curiously sallow, and he recoiled a step. 'Far be it from me to offend you, Hortoni,' he said submissively. 'You are not a wizard if you say you are not. ”

“ Not for nothing had Te Karearea spared the lives of the sailors. Without the crew the ship would have been of little use to him; but by sparing the men he would be enabled to reach New Zealand as speedily as the brig could sail thither. Otherwise, at the mercy of the winds and waves, he might be months in completing the voyage—if, indeed, it ever were completed.
'So that is his little game,' thought George. 'He offers us our lives to bring him and his brother rascals to New Zealand. I must see the mate and talk it over with him. I can't decide upon my own responsibility. ”

“ Ay; it is all wrong together,' burst out George. 'A devil is loose upon the earth, and his name is Te Karearea. He—he——' His voice faltered, and he stopped for a moment. Then, ominously calm all at once, he resumed: 'News has come that Te Karearea and a company of his Hau-haus stole upon the settlement at Poverty Bay at night and massacred—there's no other word for it, for the poor people were quite unprepared—thirty-three people. And, Terence'—he covered his eyes with his hand—'there were women and little children among them. Your friend Major Biggs was killed, and——' He could say no more. ”

“ Staring hard at Bigham, George managed to flash an eye-signal, 'Be on your guard!' and the mate stiffened from his lounging attitude and laid his hand carelessly upon a belaying pin. Nearer and nearer drew the returning boats, and at last, as they grated against the side, Te Karearea, who had been leaning contemplatively against the mainmast, raised his right hand. ”

“ What a man!'
The wily Te Karearea had been quick to perceive the effect of his accident upon the emotional minds of his countrymen, and with characteristic effrontery set himself to efface the unfavourable impression. Standing between the friends, he began a stirring address to the warriors, who had now crossed the bridge and were waiting to enter the pah, by the outer gate of which were grouped the tohunga and his small garrison, ready to welcome the conquering chief. ”

“ Presently the watchers heard Te Karearea's voice raised in a shout of savage triumph. 'Mataika! Mataika!' he yelled, and, grasping a young Arawa chief by the hair with his left hand, dashed out the man's brains with a single blow of the heavy club in his right. 'Mataika!' he yelled again. 'Ki au te Mataika!' and, brandishing the blood-stained mere, dashed into the midst of the foe.
'Is that his battle-cry?' called Terence from behind his tree.
'No. The first to be killed in a fight is called the Mataika,' explained George. ”

“ Soon they were again upon the march, and Te Karearea, who had taken every precaution against a surprise, jogged peacefully along, smoking a looted cigar, and listening with interest to the story of the youthful adventures of George and Terence, whom he addressed as Mura, or The Blazing One. The name had much the sound of Moore, but it was the appearance of the Irishman, with his red coat and flaming head of hair, which had really suggested the title. ”

“ George had no choice but to believe the story, and he felt completely mystified. Why should the possession of him be accounted so precious that even the life of a valuable fighting-man was not allowed to weigh down the scale against it?
But Te Karearea dismissed Winata Pakaro and broke in upon his thoughts with a question which sent flying what little power of comprehension was left to him. 'Have you yet recovered your mere, Hortoni?' the chief inquired blandly. ”

“ At any rate, instead of playing tricks and laying ambuscades, there he was on the hillside, fighting like a demon. As the comrades raced down the slope in advance of Te Ingoa, the desperate Hau-hau turned his head and saw them, and with a loud howl of fury sprang through the press and made straight at them.
It was magnificently brave—one man charging two hundred—but the upward rush of the Arawas to meet Te Ingoa bore back the Hau-haus, and Te Karearea, shouting hateful words of vengeance, was swallowed up in the recoiling wave of his own men. ”

“ The deep-voiced command of Kapua Mangu arrested the flight of the chief, and, as if the sight of the demon on the ground were not sufficient, the old man, with pointing finger, asked in a terrifying screech: 'Where, O Hawk of the Mountain, where is the mere of TUMATAUENGA?'
Te Karearea started, but before he could reply, the venerable mystic flung his arms above his head and chanted in his fine, sonorous voice the race-old prophecy of the greenstone club:—
'Behold! In the days to come a strange, strong race
Shall contend with the Maori. ”

“ Old Te Kaihuia had gone down to Reinga with his warning word unspoken.
'Thank heaven, we shall make land, and all this horror will be over by to-morrow night at latest,' George said gloomily to himself, as he crawled into his hammock an hour or so after poor old Te Kaihuia's remains had been dropped overboard. 'The loathsome cruelty of poisoning the harmless old creature because he was likely to be in their way! I can't believe that Te Karearea had any hand in the shameful business. The chief is high-minded in his way. Yet—oh, what devils men can be! ”

“ This allusion to the significance of his name pleased the chief, whose fierce features relaxed in a smile. 'It is good,' he said. 'Fear nought, Hortoni; I mean you no evil. No one shall suffer at my hands.'
'Yet the captain of the brig lies dead upon the sand,' observed George, with less than his usual tact.
'He was a fool,' answered Te Karearea, with darkening brow. 'He resisted, and my young men slew him.' He studied George intently for a moment, and resumed: 'They who are wise will not walk to Reinga. You, for instance, Hortoni, would rather that they should carry you there. ”

“ All this I spake in thine ear, O son of the dead and gone White Mist!' declaimed the old wizard. 'Guile, not force, must win the mere of TUMATAUENGA from the Pakeha to whom Te Kaihuia gave it. Yet, if he resign the weapon of his own free will, even though he lay it aside but for a moment, and thou hast the wit to seize it, then it is thine.' His voice sank suddenly to an ordinary tone. 'But doubtless, so astute a man as Te Karearea, knowing all this, has already acted upon it. ”

“ Ascend the ladder which I am holding for you, and you will be great. Refuse, and you are doomed, even as your race is doomed. You ask for Paeroa. He is gone to carry the message of my coming.'
'And who will listen to it?' George asked dryly.
'Say rather, who will not hear my word?' Te Karearea drew himself up proudly. 'Waikato and Ngatiawa shall hear and flock to my standard. Taranaki and Wanganui shall lift the spear and shake the tomahawk. Taupo and Ngaiterangi, Whakatoea and Ngatiporou, Ngatiapa and Ngatihau [1] —all these and more shall hear and come with club and gun. ”

“ Familiar with his friend's lightest change of expression, Terence knew that the storm was ready to break, and dropped his hand lightly upon the revolver in his coat pocket, through which he covered the chief. If treachery were intended, it was as well to be prepared.
'Speak, Hortoni!' Te Karearea's tone was imperative to the point of insolence. His scarred face looked terrible under his malignant scowl.
There was a steely glint in George's eyes, and his nostrils quivered; but his voice was fairly calm as he answered: 'A man may do as he likes with his own. ”

“ An instant later, with a look of fiendish malignity, he swept through the press and came upon George from behind.
Within striking distance he stopped, swung up and poised the cruel tomahawk, ready for the smashing downstroke which would have crashed through scalp and skull and brain, when a piercing yell was heard, and George, glancing in the direction of the sound, saw Te Karearea bounding towards him, spear in rest.
Instinctively the young man swerved to one side as far as the close-packed throng would allow, and the movement saved his life. ”

“ Without a word or a look at Te Karearea, George thrust the club back into his belt and strode away. Terence, however, lingered an instant to grin triumphantly at the chief, in exchange for which attention he received a scowl so hateful and malignant that he thought it wise to follow his friend without delay.
The captives were greatly troubled by their inability to discover the whereabouts of Paeroa, Kawainga his betrothed, and Pokeke the Hau-hau, not one of whom had been seen since the day of their entrance into the pah. ”

“ The gods of the old religion were good enough for Kapua Mangu, who detested the blasphemous absurdities of Hau-hauism, and he had brought Te Karearea, the backslider, to the underground haunt—known, he believed, only to himself—partly to convince him that the arms of these same old gods were still powerful, and partly for another reason.
Actuated by the first of these motives, he had produced his very strongest card at the outset of the interview, and flung at the chief the dried body of a tuatara, a large and harmless lizard, indigenous to New Zealand. ”

“ Again George was puzzled. What was the matter with every one to-night? At the same time he was greatly relieved; but, not wishing to show his satisfaction too plainly, rallied the chief upon his manifest trepidation.
'Since there are no dead men, why do you mutter a karakia, O Hawk of the Mountain?' he said. 'Are you afraid that Taniwha will come out of the sea and——'
He broke off in amazement, for Te Karearea's teeth were chattering and his eyes rolling wildly. ”

“ Still, you talk as a fool. Home, friends, duty, inclination, all call me away from you. You are in arms against the men of my race. Is it any wonder that I fret in the toils?'
'Yet there are chiefs who have their Pakehas,' urged Te Karearea.
'That is not much to the credit of those Pakehas,' George said loftily; and to change the subject went on: 'Where is Paeroa?'
'Be wise in time, Hortoni,' the chief urged earnestly. 'You possess, though you do not realise it, a certain means of attaining greatness. ”

“ We will bring the ship to land, if you will thereafter let us go free.'
'It is well,' echoed Te Karearea, flashing a glance at the mate. 'You have dealt fairly with me, Hortoni, and I am minded to be your friend. The eyes of the hawk are very keen, and he sees what is good and what is bad. So, too, I read the hearts of those upon whom my eyes are fastened.' Just then they were blazing upon Bigham with a malignity which even that dullard should have perceived. But as he regarded George, the chief's glance became milder. ”

“ The old Maori shook his head and showed his toothless gums. 'Nay; he is not here, Hortoni. He is gone to fight the Pakeha.'
'Gone to fight the Pakeha!' echoed George. He looked down again. A band of armed Maoris had issued from the bush and were crossing the river bridge. 'Is that the Hawk returning?' he asked. 'Wake up, old man!' He gently shook the ancient. 'Is it the Hawk who flies hither?'
The old fellow blinked drowsily in the warm sun. 'Nay; Te Karearea is gone to drive the Pakeha into Moana. Who knows when he will return? ”