Page:Tales-of-Banks-Peninsula Jacobson 2ed 1893 cropped.pdf/171

to where it had been standing, we found a pile of its dirt, and a little further on, where there was a small spring in the side of the hill, we noticed quite distinctly the track of its feet in the soft earth. I have a pretty big hand, and I spread it over the footmark, but could not span within three inches of it, from my thumb to my middle finger end; and from the depth it sunk in the soft earth, it must have been a good weight. We followed on for about two miles, but could see no sign of it, but coming to a small flat, we noticed that the heart of several of the cabbage trees had been pulled out, and part of them eaten, so that we were pretty sure it was done by the moa, as there was no one else in the district but ourselves. My mate was determined to leave the place, and as our tucker was nearly run out, I was compelled to go back with him. We had about eight ounces apiece for a little over two months’ work, so we packed up and started back, arriving at Queenstown in about a week. We told our tale there, and were of course called liars, and several other nice names. I got locked up over it, and this is how it happened. I had described the whole affair to three or four up-country hands, and when I had finished one of them—I forget his name now—called me a b———y liar. I hauled off and gave him a plug in the eye; then we had a regular set to, the finish of it being that several of us got locked up, and when called upon before the magistrate next morning, I told him the provocation I had got, and how the row commenced, so he let me off pretty light. He seemed to have some faith in my story, and got me and Bill to recount the whole of it to him. Several of the storekeepers offered to fit out an expedition to try and capture the moa. I offered my services to lead them to the place, and they also engaged an Arab, who was reckoned a dead shot to go with us, but he got his neck broke while breaking