A wild rush took place.

Most of the Kaiapois escaped into the _pa_, shut the gate and repulsed a hasty assault.

Others fled southward, and skulking amid swamps and sand-hills got clear away, and roused their distant fellow-tribesmen.

A strong relieving force was got together, and marching to the beleaguered _pa_, slipped past Rauparaha and entered it at night, bending and creeping cautiously through flax and rushes as they waved in a violent wind.

But sorties were repulsed, and the garrison had to stand on the defensive.