“This very province where the MACQUARIE’S wreck has deposited us.”
“Exactly. We have landed a few miles above Kawhia harbor, where the Maori flag is probably still floating.”
“Then our most prudent course would be to keep toward the north,” remarked Glenarvan.
“By far the most prudent,” said Paganel. “The New Zealanders are incensed against Europeans, and especially against the English. Therefore let us avoid falling into their hands.”
“We might have the good fortune to fall in with a detachment of European troops,” said Lady Helena.
“We may, Madam,” replied the geographer; “but I do not expect it. Detached parties do not like to go far into the country, where the smallest tussock, the thinnest brushwood, may conceal an accomplished marksman. I don’t fancy we shall pick up an escort of the 40th Regiment. But there are mission-stations on this west coast, and we shall be able to make them our halting-places till we get to Auckland.”
CHAPTER VIII ON THE ROAD TO AUCKLAND
ON the 7th of February, at six o’clock in the morning, the signal for departure was given by Glenarvan. During the night the rain had ceased. The sky was veiled with light gray clouds, which moderated the heat of the sun, and allowed the travelers to venture on a journey by day.
Paganel had measured on the map a distance of eighty miles between Point Kawhia and Auckland; it was an eight days’ journey if they made ten miles a day. But instead of following the windings of the coast, he thought it better to make for a point thirty miles off, at the confluence of the Waikato and the Waipa, at the village of Ngarnavahia. The “overland track” passes that point, and is rather a path than a road, practicable for the vehicles which go almost across the island, from Napier, in Hawke’s Bay, to Auckland. From this village it would be easy to reach Drury, and there they could rest in an excellent hotel, highly recommended by Dr. Hochstetter.