The scene was now suddenly shifted to the Tauranga district on the east, in the neighbourhood of the Bay of Plenty. The Maori here had nothing to do with the quarrel, but emissaries from the Waikato had constantly approached them, and many of the tribes were deeply disaffected. No great distance separated the two districts; Wiremu Tamihana owned considerable land in the Tauranga country, and, it was well known, the Tauranga men had materially helped their western neighbours. Fortunately, the Arawa tribes, which had an immemorial feud with the Waikato,[66] took our side and, led by Captain McDonnell of the Colonial Forces, defeated the tribes of the Rawhiti at Maketu. A week later this initial success was forgotten in view of the disaster which overtook the British at Tauranga. General Cameron had towards the end of April transferred his headquarters to Tauranga, and established himself with two thousand men before a strong fortification of the enemy, which is remembered as the "Gate _Pa_." This fort was built upon a neck of land which fell away on each side to a swamp. On the summit of the neck the chief redoubt had been constructed and, flanking it, were lines of rifle-pits and shelters, covered with wattle or earth, rendering the place almost impregnable. The position had been completely invested, and the bombardment opened on the morning of the 28th of April, 1864. The Maori lay grimly silent behind their defences while our great guns banged and boomed, belching their storm of shot and shell at--emptiness! The cunning foe had planted their standard one hundred yards in rear of their _pa_, while the besiegers fondly imagined it to be placed in the centre. For two hours the waste of ammunition went on before the mistake was discovered; but, even when the great guns roared furiously at the redoubt, as if wroth at the saturnine jest played upon them, the Maori made no sign; so that none could tell whether they were lying close, like scared rabbits in their burrows, or whether--though this was not likely--they had already stolen away and escaped. The afternoon was advanced when, with their reserves well up, the troops poured through a wide breach in an angle of the redoubt. They met with little opposition, and those on the plain actually believed the _pa_ to be taken. Not so. In the very moment of victory occurred one of those inexplicable panics which, rarely enough, seize the most seasoned troops; the positions were reversed in an instant, and the Maori masters of the situation.