will do, Jacob, we will claim the reward.” The weather continued bad and it was very cold. The following day they could hear the roar of the sea and pushed on, but could not reach the coast and were forced to camp again in the bush. Next morning they were early astir and in crossing a low hill Lauper slid about ten feet into the bed of the river. Whilst in the act of doing so, the bag in which he carried the biscuits caught in the branch of a tree, which tore it in two, and they lost half of their small store—a misfortune which had happened once before. They then reached a swampy place and had to make a circuit of many miles through dense scrub, which scratched and tore their hands and faces. Weary to death they lay down and were half frozen with cold that night, for they had not the energy to make a fire. The next day the same difficulties were met with, and they vainly endeavoured to reach the sea coast, but night overtook them. They could, however, see the shore distinctly—it was not more than a dozen miles away.
The rain still poured down incessantly, and though they had but one handful of dough left—not enough for one man—they decided to finish it as they hoped to find a Maori on the beach, who had on a previous occasion supplied Lauper (who was then accompanied by the surveyor Drake) with eels and potatoes. They
