'Somewhere in the thick of it,' panted George. 'Haven't seen him since the start. Come on!'
The combat on the hillside waned to a close; but as yet there had been no concerted movement towards the river-bridge, where a much smaller force of Arawas did battle with an outnumbering body of Hau-haus. Still, every now and then an Arawa from the hill would arrive and take a hand, so that matters were growing more equal as the friends came racing across the plain.
'Pull up for a moment,' gasped George. 'If we don't get our wind we shall be brained for a certainty. Where are the white soldiers and Colonel Cranstoun?—Oh, God help us! Look at that!'
With a horrible fear at his heart he hurled himself towards the bridge, at the far end of which two Pakehas were defending themselves against a dozen Hau-haus. Both were elderly, while the hair of one was snow-white; but their erect carriage, fearless demeanour, and the manner in which they wielded their old-fashioned swords, occasionally getting in a shot with the revolvers in their left hands, showed that they were old soldiers, and quite accustomed to give a good account of themselves.
The construction of the bridge gave them an advantage, and no doubt they could have held their own against any frontal attack; but what horrified George and Terence was the sight of Te Karearea, who with four Hau-haus were hurrying to assail the two old soldiers from behind.
He with his men and George with Terence were running along two sides of a triangle, the bridge being the apex. If the chief reached it first—No! George set his teeth and swore he should not.
'Father!' he shouted after one long indrawing of breath. 'Keep at it! We are behind you!' For he feared that the noise of footsteps racing up behind would disturb the attention of Colonel Haughton and General Cantor, whose presence there he could in no way account for.
They were indeed the only white men with Te Ingoa, for Colonel Cranstoun to his great annoyance had been called south. But he had set the wheels in motion, and the friendlies, along with Colonel Haughton and his brother-in-law, had marched against the pah. George had presumed the "white-haired chief" to be Colonel Cranstoun, never dreaming that his father and General Cantor had crossed the sea in chase of him as soon as they learned that he was in New Zealand.
Te Karearea heard George's shout and grinned at him, shaking his bloodstained mere. He was slightly in advance and running like a deer.
'Aha! Hortoni, they told me up there who the white-haired chief was,' he yelled. 'Give me the mere of TUMATAUENGA, and I will call off my men.'