'It would be no easy matter for a Pakeha to break through my lines, Hortoni,' he remarked, as they turned again towards the bivouac.
'If you are hinting at me, I have no intention of trying,' was George's reply to this suggestive remark. 'But why are you so anxious to detain me?'
'Why are you so anxious to leave me, my friend?' countered the Maori, and, as George burst out laughing, 'I have not treated you ill, Hortoni,' he added rather wistfully.
'True. 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. 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. But Arawa, the accursed, shall be deaf, and them and the Pakehas shall my legions smite and slay until the land which has been ours since Maui drew it forth from the sea, is ours once again. Behold! I, Te Karearea, have sworn it.'
[[1]] All the Maori tribes named above were in arms against the British at one time or another during the wars. The Arawas were friendly.