MANIHERA AND KERE0PA. 
565 
of two walking abreast ; immediately Manihera and Kereopa 
came in a line with them, they fired, Manihera was only 
wounded, but his companion was shot dead. Huiatahi, an 
old Chief, nearly seventy, immediately rushed out of the 
thicket, and chopped at poor Manihera with his hatchet, 
but his blows were too feeble to kill him, and it was a long 
time before he fell, one stroke destroyed his sight, he then 
put up his hand as it were to wipe away the blood from his 
eyes ; at last he fell, but still lingered from the morning 
when this cruel tragedy was perpetrated until sunset, ejacu- 
lating prayers for his murderers, that their eyes might be 
opened to the truth, and assuring his companions that all 
was light within. Having taken his Testament, and a kind 
of journal which I requested him to keep, and given them to 
one of the young men who accompanied them, with the 
prayer that it might impart the same comfort to him which 
he had received from it, he expired. 
Such was the end of these two devoted men : truly they 
were soldiers of the Cross, faithful even to death, and doubt- 
less at the last day will stand in their lot, clothed in spotless 
raiment of white, in the holy company of those who have 
sealed their faith with their blood. 
Their companions, who were unarmed, loudly expressed 
their indignation at this treacherous deed ; they carried the 
bodies back to Waiariki, and afterwards buried them with 
great solemnity near their pa, erecting a double fence around 
their graves ; to mark the spot where these faithful soldiers 
of the Cross fell, they scooped out two hollow places in the 
turf ; not satisfied with this, they immediately sent round 
to all the Christian villages, exhorting them to take up arms 
and avenge so unmerited a death ; they likewise wrote to 
me, and bade me lose no time in coming to Taupo. They 
were killed on the 12th March, and on the 22nd the news 
reached us, we were all deeply affected; the following day 
a prayer-meeting was held, I told the natives I had no doubt 
the Almighty would over-rule this sad event for good, and 
that He in whose cause they had shed their blood, would not 
suffer it to sink into the ground unrequited, for the blood of 
