Page:Tales-of-Banks-Peninsula Jacobson 2ed 1893 cropped.pdf/54

captors. Their appearance very much disconcerted the defenders of the place, who were loth to fire upon their kinsmen, and yet realised the danger of permitting any of the enemy to approach too near. Rauparaha himself, accompanied by quite a crowd of Kaiapoi notabilities, came boldly up to the walls, where he had a very narrow escape, for Puaka, recognising him, pushed his musket through a loophole, and levelled it at him, and must have shot him dead but for Tara, Pita te Hori’s eldest brother, who was standing by Rauparaha, and pushed the muzzle of the gun aside. The Kaiapoi captives, partly at the instigation of their conquerors, and partly moved by a jealous dread lest Onawe should escape their own fate, urged the inhabitants to surrender. In the disorder and confusion occasioned by this unexpected parleying, some of the Northern warriors got inside the gates, and commenced killing every one about them. A panic ensued, and for some minutes Onawe was the scene of the wildest confusion and bloodshed, the shrieks and cries of the dying mingling with the loud and furious shouts of the victors. Big William relates how, terror-stricken by the fearful sights and sounds that surrounded him on all sides, he sought a hiding-place in one of the covered trenches, but, having been seen, was followed by a young Ngatiawa warrior, whose handsome face made an indelible impression on his memory. Finding he was pursued, he picked up a spear and prepared to defend himself, and as the young man ran towards him in a stooping position, he thrust the spear at his face, and succeeded in piercing his cheek, and nearly putting out his eye. Unexpectedly checked in this manner, the Ngatiawa called frantically for a gun to be brought to shoot his assailant, but another warrior running up the trench behind him, seized William, and, having tied his hands and feet, carried him down to his canoe, and eventually