But it was different with old Kawiti. Ruapekapeka was his very own, the offspring of his own science and skill. He would not leave the _pa_ while hope remained of saving it. So he threw his oratory into the scale against Heke's arguments, and prevailed upon a few devoted adherents to share his fortune for good or ill.
So the 10th of January closed without the British being aware that Heke and the bulk of the garrison had slipped away to safety.
The end came on the next day, and from one point of view rather pathetically. It was Sunday, and if there was one principle more than another which the _mihonari_ had impressed upon their converts, it was that no work of any kind must be done upon God's Day of Rest. Most of those who were left in Ruapekapeka were Christians, and these, believing that the British would be similarly employed, assembled for divine service under cover of some rising ground outside, and in rear of the _pa_. Kawiti and the few who remained inside were asleep in the trenches; for they, too, had assumed that no attack would be delivered on that Day of days. Heke might have warned them; for he had read the lives of Wellington and Napoleon, and knew that Sunday never yet stopped a fight. But Heke and his people were also busy at their devotions in the shelter of the forest.
Had the British been alone nothing might have happened; but the friendlies made a shrewd guess at the cause of the unusual quietude within the _pa_, and Wiremu Waka Turau (William Walker), Waka Nene's brother, stole up to the breaches and cautiously peeped through. As he had expected, he could see no one; so signalled his brother.
Nene communicated the news, and Captain Denny and men of the 58th instantly hurried up with the _hapu_ of Nene and Tao Nui at their heels. As they burst into the silent fortress, old Kawiti awoke and with a handful of followers made a brief defence. But the assailants poured in, the odds were too great, and the old warrior, knowing that the game was up, turned and fled out at the rear of the _pa_ and joined Heke in the bush, calling upon him to return with his Nga-Puhi and retake Ruapekapeka.
The face of the situation was thus entirely changed. The fort was occupied by the British and their allies, and the Nga-Puhi were hopelessly attempting to re-enter it at the rear. Their attack was really a feint, intended to lure the soldiers to Heke's ambush; but when the Nga-Puhi skirmishers at last fell back towards the bush, strict orders were given against pursuit. Here, again, it was the advice of the friendly chiefs which prevented the conversion of an unexpected success into a disaster.