Page:Tales-of-Banks-Peninsula Jacobson 2ed 1893 cropped.pdf/56

Of the few survivors, some had the courage to return to their homes, after the departure of the northern invaders, but others, unable to overcome their fears, fled for refuge to Otakou, where they remained till induced to join the expedition organised by Taiaroa and Tukawaiki to attack Rauparaha on the shores of Cook’s Straits. Before the capture of Kaiapoi, Taiaroa had escaped with about two hundred followers, purposing to return with a larger force for the relief of the besieged pa, but before he could execute his design the place was taken, and the subsequent capture of Onawe put a stop for a time to his movements; but having learnt that Rauparaha paid periodical visits to the settlement he had formed on the shores of Cook’s Straits, he determined to go there and seek to avenge the injuries done to Ngai Tahu. He was cordially assisted in carrying out his designs by Tuhawaiki, Karetai, and other chiefs, who headed the populous communities which still existed in the south. But though active in organising the first expediton, Taiaroa did not accompany it. It consisted of two hundred and seventy men, under the command of Tuhawaiki and Karetai.

They proceeded in war canoes from Otakou to Queen Charlotte’s Sound, where they were successful in surprising Rauparaha, who had a very narrow escape from destruction. For in the frantic efforts made by his men to launch their boat, on discovering that they had fallen into a Ngai Tahu ambuscade, the keel was torn off, and the boat rendered useless. Rauparaha, finding his followers falling all around him, and being unable to reach his canoes, which had got afloat, without running the risk of being detected and pursued, sought concealment in the kelp near the shore, where, by occasionally lifting his head under cover of the broad leaves as they swayed backwards and forwards with the waves, he