When at last their persecutors--the Ngapuhi and Te Waharoa--met over their bodies, Te Waharoa's astuteness and nerve were a match for the invaders from the north.

In vain the Ngapuhi besiegers tried to lure him out from behind the massive palisades of Mata-mata, where, well-provisioned, he lay sheltered from their bullets.

When he did make a sally it was to catch half a dozen stragglers, whom, in mortal defiance, he crucified in front of his gateway.

Then he challenged the Ngapuhi captain to single combat with long-handled tomahawks.

The Northerners broke up their camp, and went home; they had found a man whom even muskets could not terrify.
Te Waharoa's final lesson to the Ngapuhi was administered in 1831, and effectually stopped them from making raids on their southern neighbours.