Such a shifting came about, and in a moment the flames enveloped the walls.

Shouting in triumph, Rauparaha's men mustered in array and danced their frenzied war-dance, leaping high in air, and tossing and catching their muskets with fierce yells.

"The earth," says an eye-witness, "shook beneath their stamping." Then they charged through the burning breach, and the defenders fell in heaps or fled before them.

The lagoon was black with the heads of men swimming for life.

Through the dense drifting smoke many reached the swamps and escaped.