Captain Grant's Children

Chapter 45 The current war (2)
"Under the leadership of William Sampson, the Maori warriors were extremely heroic and fearless in the face of the British artillery! His troops increased from 2500 to more than 8000, and it can be said to continue to grow! Even women They all fought too. It's just that they didn't have good weapons in their hands at the time."

"Later, General Kamorong occupied Kukato County again; alas, it was really a bloodbath, with corpses strewn all over the field, it was unbearable to see... One of the battles was quite brutal, 1400 Maori soldiers fought against 1000 A British army, in the end, even if they ran out of ammunition and food, they would not surrender to the death, and at noon they broke through a bloody road to the swamp..."

"Occupy Kukato County," John asked, "does that mean that the war can come to an end?" Paganel suddenly realized:
"No! The British will not stop here. They will enter Taranaki Province and capture William Sampson's fortress, Matthew Tawa. For this, they even paid a heavy price."

"Well, when I left Paris this time, I heard that the governor and general had accepted the surrender offered by the tribes of Taranga, allowing them to keep 3/4 of the land. It was also said that William Sampson might He is also planning to raise the flag to surrender; but the Australian newspapers did not report it; in fact, he is leading the Maori soldiers to a decisive battle with the British army!"

After hearing this, Glenarvan hurriedly asked: "In your opinion, Paganel, has the war already started from Taranaki to Oakland?"

"Yes."

"That's why it's all the fault of the Macquarie! What bad luck! Why did you come to Oakland?"

"Who's to say otherwise! We're just a few miles above Koia Harbour, and Koia must be waving its own Maori flag!"

"Oh, I think it might be safer for us to go north." Glenarvan immediately came up with an idea.

"Yes! It must be safe!" Paganel immediately agreed, "New Zealanders really hate Europeans, especially those British people. They really have a mortal hatred? Thank God, may God bless us Don't run into Maori!" "Maybe it's possible to run into Europeans! Maybe, as long as we run into European troops, we'll be saved!" Mrs. Helen expressed her other views.

Paganel didn't know what it was like to hear this, and he said: "Perhaps, Madame, but I don't really want to run into the woods in the country, even in the smallest grove, the lowest grass, there will be a grove. Deeply concealed a Maori guerrilla... European troops dare not go to the countryside like this; so I don't expect to run into them! However, there is a church on this west coast, so we can stop and see In the present situation, I can always get to Oakland in the end! Besides, I really want to find Mr. Hauchett's road along the Kukato River."

"Oh, is that the so-called traveler? Mr. Paganel?" Robert asked intently.

"Yes, that's true. But he's a scientist too! He was here in 1858 when he traveled around the world."

Robert's eyes sparkled and he asked: "Isn't there any great traveler in New Zealand who is well-known in Australia? Like Burke and Stuart."

"There are quite a few! For example, Dr. Hooker, Professor Bailissar, biologist Difenbah and Haster are all relatively famous travelers, and they even dared to risk their lives! However, their Not as famous as an African traveler..."

"Just enumerate them in detail," Robert begged eagerly. "My child! Look how anxious you are! I knew your cleverness always wanted to put everything in my head into your little head!"

"My dear Monsieur Paganel, I humbly learn from you! Thank you!"

"We also want to hear it very much," Madame Helene interrupted, "it is our greatest enjoyment to listen to your lectures in this terrible weather, Mr. Paganel!"

The geographer hurriedly responded happily: "Okay then! Since everyone is unanimously begging, then I will talk about it! But there is nothing too prominent. For example, you can't see the fight with the minotaur here! New Zealand It's not big, and there's nothing to explore. So, you can treat these travelers as tourists, even though they lost their lives, they're obviously not heroic enough..."

"Then who...?" Madam Helen asked. "There are geometers Wei Gongbo and Howett. Speaking of Horwitt, I wonder if you still remember that he is the one who found Burke's remains during the famous expedition on the Vimera River."

"They each commanded two major expeditions in the South Island. Both set out from Christchurch in the first half of 1863, planning to cross the mountains of northern Canterbury. Later , Horwitt crossed the mountains to Lake Bailenna, and established a stronghold there. Wei Gongbo followed the Lakaya River Valley to Mount Tyndall. In his expedition, he had a traveling companion named Rubu, He wrote a report in the Littleton Times, as I roughly remember, that on April X, 1863, two explorers arrived at the source of the Rakaya River - at the foot of the iceberg. They went up to the top of the mountain , in order to find a new way.”

"The next day, they had to stop because they were cold and tired. So they camped on the snow-capped mountain at an altitude of 4000 feet. After 7 days, they finally found their way down the mountain. It was very difficult! Surrounded by firewood and food. The sugar they carried with them turned into paste, and the biscuits turned into dough. And there were mosquito bites! They walked up to 3 miles a day, sometimes even 200 yards No."

"On the 4th of April they saw a Maori hut and dug some potatoes in the garden - and that was their last meal. Alas! That very evening they went to the sea , it happened to be near the crowded part of the Taramako River. They had to cross the right bank of the river to go to the Gelai River. But how to cross the river in the current situation? Rube searched everywhere, and it took him more than an hour to find it. Two broken canoes. They just repaired them briefly and connected both canoes together."

"At dusk, they all got into the boat, but to their surprise, the boat leaked. Wei Gongbo jumped into the river in a hurry, and quickly swam back to the left bank. But Lu Bu couldn't swim, so he had to hold on tightly. Holding on to the boat tightly. After tossing for a long time, he finally escaped from death! He was washed up on the rock by the waves, stumbled, and his whole body was covered with scars. The house leak happened to be rainy, and it rained again at night, and the river rose rapidly again When he got up, the fierce waves came one after another, and when he was washed on the bank, he was unconscious! He didn't wake up until the next morning. Fortunately, he could still distinguish what he had said. The location was about a mile away from where they went down the river. He struggled to stand up and walked back with difficulty. After a while, the corpse of his companion appeared in front of his eyes."

"It was a terrible scene. Uncle Wei fell into the mud. Lubu made a hole on the beach with his hands and buried the unfortunate man. After walking for two days, Lubu almost died of starvation." Later, the Maori - some of them were kind - rescued him. Later, he returned to Lake Bairenna and entered Horwitt's stronghold. Six weeks later, Horwitt also died. "

"It's really a grasshopper tied to a rope. As long as one dies, the other one will never escape!" John sighed.

"It makes sense, John, what you said is right!" Paganel continued, "It's true! It seems to be a rope led by the god of death. Strange! Horwitt was originally the director of government engineering for Wade to detect A new road, with a mission. He set out on New Year's Day, 5, with five men. He was a very clever man, and he had already explored 1863 miles. The road can be used by horses. But he was blocked by the Ramacao River. In desperation he had to go back to Christchurch."

"This stubborn man has already entered the winter, and he will continue to work. Could it be that Wade just let his temper go. He didn't stop dissuading him. Horwitt went to the blocked place for the second time, and brought Lots of stuff for winter."

"And it was at this time that Rubu came to him. On June 6, Horwitt and his party went to cross the Bailenna Lake again. Unexpectedly, they never returned! Later, people discovered that Their boat was docked by the lake. After that, everyone searched for their bodies everywhere, but they couldn't find them after 27 weeks of searching. Besides, these three people couldn't swim, so they must have drowned in the lake ! Alas, there is no dead body."

"Is it possible that they are still alive? Could it be that they were in a village in New Zealand at that time? It's just that no one is alive." Mrs. Helen had her own reasons.

Paganel sighed: "Madame, don't just think about beautiful things! Since they disappeared, that is, in August 1864, there has been no news for a whole year... Can they still be alive? Ghosts like New Zealand There is no such beauty at all!" His tone immediately became very low and deep.

(End of this chapter)