Chap. V. FIGHTING BAY— NAVAL ENGAGEMENT. 109 
quently took advantage of a fog to abandon tlie scene of 
combat, leaving the Ngatiawa, whom he had persuaded 
to join him, at the mercy of their foes. This treacherous 
policy was, we were told, by no means uncommon on 
his part, it being his plan to destroy one enemy by 
means of another. As we approached the mouth of 
the Tory Channel, the wind fell light, and we conse- 
quently lost the flood-tide. We had been hove-to for 
half-an-hour, when a fresh breeze from south-east 
sprang up, and Arthur, who knew the sailing qualities 
of the Tory, told Captain Chaffers that he might " put 
" her at it," and we rattled in against a four-knot tide. 
We flew past the southern head, on to which you might 
have flung a biscuit, with the tide-rip fizzing and smok- 
ing on either side of us. A handy ship is requisite to 
effect this entrance. We found the Honduras making 
eight inches of water, having been swung by an eddy 
against a rock, and narrowly escaped total wreck, when 
coming in with a fair tide yesterday. 
We found that Barrett had been detained by the ill- 
ness of his wife ; and as she was still too ill to come on 
board. Colonel Wakefield determined to cross over the 
Strait and eff*ect an agreement with Hawperaha^ and 
then return to the north entrance of the Sound for 
Barrett. We took with us an interpreter named John 
Brooks, who had been engaged in Cloudy Bay as a 
sawyer. He was thoroughly acquainted with the na- 
tive language and habits, having been eight years among 
the wildest TVaikato natives. 
Four of our crew asked and obtained permission to 
leave the ship here, intending to settle in Cloudy Bay. 
Two others ran away to join them soon after. As the 
whaling season was nearly over, they would probably 
soon repent their bargain, and be glad to engage in 
another ship. They were the most idle of our crew ; 
