J U D G E ' S B A Y . O N E A S T E R N S U B U R B OF A U C K L A N D .

THE MARY IRA. 27

C H A P T E R II.

UP THE COAST.

T H E sun had scarcely streaked with light the eastern sky, on the morning of the twenty-fifth of April, 1866, when the noise of the catch pass­ing over the palls of a wooden windlass, might have been heard on board the " Mary Ira. " She was evidently making preparations for an immediate start, for one man was heaving up the anchor, another was setting the mainsail, a third nailed the handle firmly on the tiller, while the other two members of the crew were hauling

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28 THE MARY IRA.

over her side a small dingy (boat). Sam, who was the only passenger onboard, sat on the cabin hatch, smoking and listening to the crew who were so actively engaged in getting her under weigh.

" Come, Sam, you ain't hardly avake, " said Harry.

»' That's why I smokes, old chap. " " Come, give us a 'and, vill you?" " You've got a heavy crew, Captain, " said Sam,

evasively, " for so small a craft. Why me and a boy could manage her!"

" Jist give a pull on the boat's painter, sir, vill you, her 'ed vants slewing round a leetle. There—that'll do it. "

" Yes, Sam, she's handy enough. Hallo! She's off, isn't she Harry ?"

" The anchor's up, me bwoise; vind 'er in sharp. She's away!" shouted Harry as he jumped to the tiller.

M Who the juice are y-you sh-shouting at, "

retorted Charlie, " d-do you think I d-don't know

THE MARY IRA. 29

she's away. If so I guess y-yer t-tarnation m-mistaken—t-tarnation m-mistaken. "

" That'll do now; none of that growling. Haul aft that jib-sheet, Charlie, and steer between the ' Curacoa' and the 'Eclipse' (two men of war). We'll 'bout ship when we get them well on our quarter. Keep her head as close to the wind as she'll go, Harry. "

" Right you is, Cap'n. Vy the ' Siller Eaglet's' got her salt-horse flag up, sir. She's in a hurry, she is, to get away. The Skipper seeminli doesn't take kindly to the drubbin vich them boatmen gave 'im. My heyes it vos a joke, that was. After the ball, sir, he vos having a bit of a halterkation-like, vith von on 'em as vanted to take all the wissitors ashore in his own boat. The Skipper didn't see it, an' gives him just a leetle push on von side; so they all sets on him at vonce, an' gives him a reg'lar good mailing, a svearing all the time as 'ow he vas the haggressor. "

" Ready there, 'bout ship, helm's a lee. "

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30 THE MARY IKA.

" She comes roun', sir, werry pruttee, don't she, in smooth vorter. Like a leetle top, she do?"

The vessel, having gone about, rapidly ap­proached the Island of Rangitoto, which is the Maori for " Mountain of blood. " It forms the most characteristic feature of Auckland Harbour, which it completely shuts in. It is about three miles in diameter, and rises gradually to a height of a thousand feet, with a crater-like summit, on which are clearly to be distinguished three nipples. It has, moreover, this peculiarity, that, if visible at all, it always presents the same appearance, from every point of view. There is but little vegetation on it. It's upper part being composed of huge masses of red scoria. Several rocky ledges extend off its western side.

" Now, Tony, we're ready for breakfast. Is that water boiling ?"

" Yes. W i l l you have it on deck?" " To be sure. Who'd think of going below,

such a morning as this ?"

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" You ain't going to ballast her at Drunken Bay, are you, Captain ?"

" No, man; it would be too long a job. It would take all day with this dingy; she's un­commonly cranky, though. I shall take in more ballast at Munro's farm, where I shall put you ashore. "

" You'd better come with me, Captain; and leave Harry to get her in order for her deep sea voyage. The country about Waikari, they say, is worth seeing. You'd enjoy i t ; and you may just as well fill up the time with a bit of a walk in the interior. "

" Well, I don't mind if I do. How long shall you be about it ?"

" Two or three days, sir. " " And what will you take with you ?" " A tent and a blanket, rolled up together. " " How about food ?" ( i Some ground coffee, a saucepan-coffee-pot,

half-a-dozen biscuits, and a sausage. " "Is that all?"

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32 THE MARY IRA.

" A couple of biscuits and a mouthful of sausage a day is enough; besides, there's plenty of wild fruit, such as peaches and grapes, to be had in the bush, sir. "

" You don't say so ? Just clear away those things, will you, Tony ?" said the Captain, as he went below to light his pipe.

There was a fine breeze, and the schooner soon after passed out from between Rodney Point and the Little Barrier Island into the open sea. Rodney Point forms one side of the truly mag­nificent entrance into the Pacific from the Huraki Gulf. It is the western portal, so to speak, of this broad road of green waters, by which vessels run out from the port of Auckland. It is bold and cliffy in the extreme, and is backed by Mount Hamilton, a remarkable hill, which looks like some double-headed monster, raising itself thirteen hundred feet aloft. On the opposite side of the Gulf, which is twelve miles wide, stands the other portal—the Little Barrier Island; it is four miles in diameter, and thickly

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wooded. Steep, and apparently inaccessible, it rises up almost perpendicularly into a multitude of lofty peaks, of from two to three thousand feet in height, whence it is often called " Mount many peaks. "

" Hallo ! there's a fore-and-aft schooner ahead of us, " suddenly exclaimed Tony.

" It's only a rock, my lad; they calls i t ' Sail Rock, ' on the chart, 'acause of it's zemblance to a sail, " said Harry. " I suppose, " continued he, addressing Sam, "you're up to all sorts of dodges for travelling up an' down the bush; but this 'ere place ain't zimilar to Horsetrailly. The land here is svompt vith vorter. "

" I've travelled in the bush near as much as I have on sea, especially about Queensland. "

" Queensland! Then you nose Brisbane ?"

"Just a few, Harry; why, man, I've lived about Brisbane fer the last ten years. "

" D'ye recomember a party as vos called the Songster. "

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" Yes, I do; I was there when he discovered about the sapless pine. "'

" What!" said Tony, opening his eyes, " have the pine trees got no sap ?*

" I ' l l tell you the story, me lad. There's a curious little insect at "Brisbane as lives in the brackish water at the mouth of the river. It settles on the timbers of the small craft, what do the lightering business up and down the river, between the town and Moreton Bay, where the merchant ships anchor. This insect ain't no bigger than a pin's head at first; but as it slowly eats its way into the wood, it increases in size, and becomes as big as a marble. It completely honeycombs the bottoms of ships, though they looks all the time as sound as a bell. ' '

" I've heared on't, " said Harry, " they calls it the c cobra; ' and I recomember as how they was a sheathing the lighter boats and wharfs with copper or zinc, to presarve'm. "'

" Yes, that's it, " said Sam. " Well, Songster

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was once a sailing in his cutter; there was a nasty lop of a sea a running in from the nor'-east, and every indication of a breeze. He saw a vessel outside the bay, as was a trying to get to windward of Morton Island; he hadn't got more than a couple of miles or so past the lighthouse, when he heard her a firing guns of distress, and so he determined to run back to her assistance. As he tacked round a buoy, his cutter missed stays in the heavy seas, and was precious near driving on to a sand bank. Seeing his danger, he suddenly seized hold of a light kedge anchor, and flung it right on the top of the buoy; it for­tunately held, and swung the cutter's head round on to the other tack. As soon as she got ' weigh on, ' the kedge broke loose from the buoy, and as he hauled it in on board, he found a great piece of the buoy sticking to its flukes. The cutter soon reached the vessel, which was stuck hard and fast on a mud bank; he flung a rope to her, and the crew and passengers all got away just before she went to pieces. Having left them at