Tapu

Mogul's gas pipeline across New Zealand's North Island halts at the edge of Maori land regarded as tapu, or sacred. The chief, a former Mogul toolpusher, has given his consent, but many of his people resent it, and after an explosion wrecks the pipeline, work comes to a halt. Peter Thornton is caught in the middle of the dispute, which also divides the chief and his daughter Kiri, and James Langley flies in to assist.