tle, open slope to the
simple-looking stockade. Only two or three got inside. In a quarter of
an hour half the force were shot down, and the survivors only saved by
the bugle-call which Despard ordered to be sounded. Forty, including a
captain and two lieutenants, were killed on the spot or died of their
wounds. Sixty-two others were wounded. Gallant Lieutenant Philpotts,
the first through the stockade, lay dead, sword in hand, inside the
_pa_. At the outset of the war he had been captured by the natives
whilst scouting, and let go unharmed with advice to take more care in
future. Through no fault of his own he had lost Kororareka. Stung by
this, or, as some say, by a taunt of Despard's, he led the way at
Ohaeawai with utterly reckless courage, and, to the regret of the
brave brown men his enemies, was shot at close quarters by a mere boy.
The wounded could not be removed for two days. During the night
the triumphant Maoris shouted and danced their war-dance. They
tortured--with burning kauri gum--an unfortunate soldier whom they
had captured alive, and whose screams could be plainly heard in the
English camp. Despard, whose artillery ammunition had run short,
remained watching the _pa_ for several days. But when he was in a
position to renew his bombardment, the natives quietly abandoned the
place by night, without loss. According to their notions of warfare,
such a withdrawal was not a defeat.

Such are the facts of one of the worst repulses sustained by our
arms in New Zealand. It will scarcely be believed that after this
humiliation Captain Fitzroy, on missionary advice, endeavoured to make
peace--of course, without avail. Heke became a hero in the eyes of
his race. The news of Ohaeawai reached England, and the Duke of
Wellington's language about Colonel Despard is said to have been
pointed. But already the Colonial Office had made up its mind for a
change in New Zealand. Fitzroy was recalled, and Captain Grey, the
Governor of South Australia, whose sense and determination had lifted
that Colony out of the mire, was wisely selected to replace him.

Chapter XII

GOOD GOVERNOR GREY

"No hasty fool of stubborn will,
But prudent, wary, pliant still,
Who, since his work was good,
Would do it as he could."

Captain Grey came in the nick of time. That he managed because he
wasted no time about coming. The despatch, removing him from South
Australia to New Zealand, reached Adelaide on the 15th of