When Heke's people heard that the soldiers were coming, most of them left him, and there remained but 200 men. Then Heke left Te Ahuahu, and came and built a pa not far from Taumata Tutu, on the clear ground by the lake; for he said he would fight the soldiers on the spot where the last words of Hongi Ika had been spoken. The name of this pa of Heke's was Te Kahika. Now, when this new fort of Heke's was finished, the spirit of the Ngakahi entered into the _atua wera_, who is the greatest _tohunga_ in all the country of the Ngapuhi. So the Ngakahi spoke in the night to Heke and his people, by the mouth of the _atua wera_, "Be brave, and strong, and patient. Fear not the soldiers, they will not be able to take this fort--neither be you afraid of all those different kinds of big guns you have heard so much talk of. I will turn aside the shot, and they shall do you no harm; but this pa and its defenders must be made sacred (_tapu_). You must particularly observe all the sacred rites and customs of your ancestors; if you neglect this in the smallest particular, evil will befall you, and I also shall desert you. You who pray to the God of the missionaries, continue to do so, and in your praying see you make no mistakes. Fight and pray. Touch not the spoils of the slain, abstain from human flesh, lest the European God should be angry, and be careful not to offend the Maori gods. It is good to have more than one God to trust to. This war party must be strictly sacred. Be brave, be strong, be patient."[20] [Footnote 20: This is word for word a literal translation of the speech of the _atua wera_ to Heke's men. He was, however, supposed only to speak the words of the _Ngakahi_ by whom he was at the moment inspired.]