old off fifty picked men, and sent them round with instructions to
scale the cliff at the point where the parapet ended. The work was a
dangerous and difficult one, for the cliff was very steep and gravelly,
and the Hau-Haus crowded to the end of the trench and fired down,
wounding five of the stormers. But to do this they had to expose
themselves, and suffered severely from the fire of the men told off to
cover the attack. Finally the Ngatiporou succeeded in climbing up under
the outer face of the parapet, which they cut through with their spades,
and opening a raking fire upon the Hau-Haus drove them out and took
possession of the first line of defence.

All night a sap was carried upwards towards the second line, with the
intention of blowing up the earthworks and storming the main works next
morning, and two hundred picked men were assembled in the trenches ready
to attack at daybreak. But at two o'clock in the morning a woman cried
out from within the pah that the Hau-Haus had all left leaving only some
wounded men and women and children. Her words were not at first
believed, and they were considered to be only a ruse to induce the
assailants to advance up the hill under the enemy's fire. But at
daybreak it was found that the news was true, that the whole of the
Hau-Haus had escaped, by means of ropes, down the face of the
perpendicular cliff.

Rapata with his men started in pursuit He followed the Hau-Hau trail
for some distance, and then scattered his men in small parties as he
guessed that the enemy would scatter in search of food. A hundred and
twenty of the Hau-Haus were overtaken and killed, and Rapata returned
after an absence of two days. By this time the whites and constabulary
had left, as the work had now been done and the constabulary were
urgently needed elsewhere. Rapata marched back by a circuitous way,
captured eighty more prisoners, men, women, and children, whom he
brought alive down into the settlement. Te Kooti had lost altogether
during the siege and pursuit a hundred and fifty of his men, but he was
still believed in by the natives, three tribes joining him at once, more
than making up for the loss he had suffered.

Mr. Atherton and the other volunteers with Colonel Whitmore's force had
taken but small share in the second attack upon Te Kooti's position, not
being attached to any regular force. Rapata had been greatly struck with
the coolness of Mr. Atherton and Wilfrid in his first attack,