Chapter 18

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_ Chapter XVIII

"To whom belongs this valley fair,
That sleeps beneath the filmy air,
Even like a living thing?
Silent as infant at the breast,
Save a still sound that speaks of rest,
That streamlet's murmuring?"

Wilson.

When the governor had communicated to his people that the savages were actually among the islands of their own group, something very like a panic came over them. A few minutes, however, sufficed to restore a proper degree of confidence, when the arrangements necessary to their immediate security were entered into. As some attention had previously been bestowed on the fortifications of the crater, that place was justly deemed the citadel of the Reef. Some thought the ship would be the most easily defended, on account of the size of the crater, and because it had a natural ditch around it, but so much property was accumulated in and around the crater that it could not be abandoned without a loss to which the governor had no idea of submitting. The gate of the crater was nothing in the way of defence, it is true; but one of the cannonades had been planted so as to command it, and this was thought sufficient for repelling all ordinary assaults. It has been said, already, that the outer wall of the crater was perpendicular at its base, most probably owing to the waves of the ocean in that remote period when the whole Reef was washed by them in every gale of wind. This perpendicular portion of the rock, moreover, was much harder than the ordinary surface of the Summit, owing in all probability to the same cause. It was even polished in appearance, and in general was some eighteen or twenty feet in height, with the exception of the two or three places, by one of which Mark and Betts had clambered up on their first visit to the Summit. These places, always small, and barely sufficient to allow of a man's finding footing on them, had long been picked away, in order to prevent the inroads of Kitty, and when the men had turned their attention to rendering the place secure against a sudden inroad, they being the only points where an enemy could get up, without resorting to ladders or artificial assistance, had, by means of additional labour, been rendered as secure as all the rest of the 'outer wall,' as the base of the crater was usually termed among them. It was true, that civilized assailants, who had the ordinary means at command, would soon have mastered this obstacle; but savages would not be likely to come prepared to meet it. The schooner, with her cradle and ways, had required all the loose timber, to the last stick, and the enemy was not likely to procure any supplies from the ship-yard. Two of the carronades were on the Summit, judiciously planted; two were on board the Abraham, as was one of the long sixes, and the remainder of the guns, (three at the rock excepted) were still on board the ship.

Mark divided his forces for the night. As Bridget habitually lived in the Rancocus' cabins, he did not derange her household at all, but merely strengthened her crew, by placing Bigelow and Socrates on board her; each with his family; while Betts assumed the command of the crater, having for his companion Jones. These were small garrisons; but the fortresses were strong, considering all the circumstances, and the enemy were uncivilized, knowing but little of fire-arms. By nine o'clock everything was arranged, and most of the women and children were on their beds, though no one there undressed that night.

Mark and Betts met, by agreement, alongside of the schooner, as soon as their respective duties elsewhere would allow. As the Reef, proper, was an island, they knew no enemy could find his way on it without coming by water, or by passing over the narrow bridge which has already been mentioned as crossing the little strait near the spring. This rendered them tolerably easy for the moment, though Mark had assured his companion it was not possible for the canoes to get to the Reef under several hours. Neither of the men could sleep, however, and they thought it as well to be on the look-out, and in company, as to be tossing about in their berths, or hammocks, by themselves. The conversation turned on their prospects, almost as a matter of course.

"We are somewhat short-handed, sir, to go to quarters ag'in them vagabonds," observed Betts, in reply to some remark of the governor's. "I counted a hundred and three of their craft when they was off the Peak the other day, and not one on 'em all had less than four hands aboard it, while the biggest must have had fifty. All told, I do think, Mr. Mark, they might muster from twelve to fifteen hundred fighting men."

"That has been about my estimate of their force, Bob; but, if they were fifteen thousand, we must bring them to action, for we fight for everything."

"Ay, ay, sir," answered Betts, ejecting the tobacco juice in the customary way, "there's reason in roasted eggs, they say, and there's reason in firing a few broadsides afore a body gives up. What a different place this here rock's got to be, sir, from what it was when you and I was floating sea-weed and rafting loam to it, to make a melon or a cucumber bed! Times is changed, sir, and we're now at war. Then it was all peace and quiet; and now it's all hubbub and disturbance."

"We have got our wives here now, and that I think you'll admit is something, Bob, when you remember the pains taken by yourself to bring so great a happiness about,"

"Why, yes, sir--I'll allow the wives is something--"

"Ship ahoy!" hailed a voice in good English, and in the most approved seaman-like tones of the voice.

The hail came from the margin of the island nearest to the Reef; or that which was connected with the latter by means of the bridge, but not from a point very near the latter.

"In the name of heavenly mercy!" exclaimed Betts, "what can that mean, governor?"

"I know that voice," said Mark, hurriedly; "and the whole matter begins to clear up to me. Who hails the Rancocus?"

"Is that ship the Rancocus, then?" answered the voice from the island.

"The Rancocus, and no other--are you not Bill Brown, her late carpenter?"

"The very same, God bless you, Mr. Woolston, for I now know _your_ voice, too. I'm Bill, and right down glad am I to have things turn out so. I half suspected the truth when I saw a ship's spars this afternoon in this place, though little did I think, yesterday, of ever seeing anything more of the old 'Cocus. Can you give me a cast across this bit of a ferry, sir?"

"Are you alone, Bill--or who have you for companions?"

"There's two on us, sir, only--Jim Wattles and I--seven on us was saved in the launch; Mr. Hillson and the supercargo both dying afore we reached the land, as did the other man, we seven still living, though only two on us is here."

"Are there any black fellows with you?--Any of the natives?"

"Not one, sir. We gave 'em the slip two hours ago, or as soon as we saw the ship's masts, being bent on getting afloat in some craft or other, in preference to stopping with savages any longer. No, Mr. Woolston; no fear of them to-night, for they are miles and miles to leeward, bothered in the channels, where they'll be pretty sartain to pass the night; though you'll hear from 'em in the morning. Jim and I took to our land tacks, meeting with a good opportunity, and by running directly in the wind's eye, have come out here. We hid ourselves till the canoes was out of sight, and then we carried sail as hard as we could. So give us a cast and take us aboard the old ship again, Mr. Woolston, if you love a fellow-creatur', and an old shipmate in distress."

Such was the singular dialogue which succeeded the unexpected hail. It completely put a new face on things at the Reef. As Brown was a valuable man, and one whose word he had always relied on, Mark did not hesitate, but told him the direction to the bridge, where he and Betts met him and Wattles, after each of the parties had believed the others to be dead now fully three years!

The two recovered seamen of the Rancocus were alone, having acted in perfect good faith with their former officer, who led them to the awning, gave them some refreshment, and heard their story. The account given by Jones, for the first time that very day, turned out to be essentially true. When the launch was swept away from the ship, it drove down to leeward, passing at no great distance from the crater, of which the men in her got a glimpse, without being able to reach it. The attention of Hillson was mainly given to keeping the boat from filling or capsizing; and this furnished abundance of occupation. The launch got into one of the channels, and by observing the direction, which was nearly east and west, it succeeded in passing through all the dangers, coming out to leeward of the shoals. As everybody believed that the ship was hopelessly lost, no effort was made to get back to the spot where she had been left. No island appearing, Hillson determined to run off to the westward, trusting to fall in with land of some sort or other. The provisions and water were soon consumed, and then came the horrors usual to such scenes at sea. Hillson was one of the first that perished, his previous excesses unfitting him to endure privation. But seven survived when the launch reached an island in Waally's part of the group, so often mentioned. There they fell into the hands of that turbulent and warlike chief. Waally made the seamen his slaves, treating them reasonably well, but exacting of them the closest attention to his interests. Brown, as a ship-carpenter, soon became a favourite, and was employed in fashioning craft that it was thought might be useful in carrying out the ambitious projects of his master. The men were kept on a small island, and were watched like any other treasure, having no opportunity to communicate with any of those whites who appeared in other parts of the group. Thus, while Betts passed two months with Ooroony, and Heaton and his party nearly as much more time, these sailors, who heard of such visitors, could never get access to them. This was partly owing to the hostilities between the two chiefs--Ooroony being then in the ascendant--and partly owing to the special projects of Waally, who, by keeping his prisoners busily employed on his fleet, looked forward to the success which, in fact, crowned his efforts against his rival.

At length Waally undertook the expedition which had appeared in such force beneath the cliffs of the Peak. By this time, Brown had become so great a favourite, that he was permitted to accompany the chief; and Wattles was brought along as a companion for his shipmate. The remaining five were left behind, to complete a craft on which they had now been long employed, and which was intended to be the invincible war-canoe of those regions. Brown and Wattles had been in Waally's own canoe when the terrible echoes so much alarmed the uninstructed beings who heard it. They described them as much the most imposing echoes they had ever heard; nor did they, at first, know what to make of them, themselves. It was only on reflection, and after the retreat to Rancocus Island, that Brown, by reasoning on the subject, came to the conclusion that the whites, who were supposed to be in possession of the place, had fired a gun, which had produced the astounding uproar that had rattled so far along the cliff. As all Brown's sympathies were with the unknown people of his own colour, he kept his conjectures to himself, and managed to lead Waally in a different direction, by certain conclusions of his own touching the situation of the reef where the Rancocus had been lost.

Bill Brown was an intelligent man for his station and pursuits. He knew the courses steered by the launch, and had some tolerably accurate notions of the distances run. According to his calculations, that reef could not be very far to the northward of the Peak, and, by ascending the mountains on Rancocus Island, he either saw, or fancied he saw, the looming of land in that part of the ocean. It then occurred to Brown that portions of the wreck might still be found on the reef, and become the means of effecting his escape from the hands of his tyrants. Waally listened to his statements and conjectures with the utmost attention, and the whole fleet put to sea the very next day, in quest of this treasure. After paddling to windward again, until the Peak was fairly in sight, Brown steered to the north-east, a course that brought him out, after twenty-four hours of toil, under the lee of the group of the reef. This discovery of itself, filled Waally with exultation and pride. Here were no cliffs to scale, no mysterious mountain to appal, nor any visible obstacle to oppose his conquests. It is true, that the newly-discovered territory did not appear to be of much value, little beside naked rock, or broad fields of mud and sea-weed intermingled, rewarding their first researches. But better things were hoped for. It was something to men whose former domains were so much circumscribed and girded by the ocean, to find even a foundation for a new empire. Brown was now consulted as to every step to be taken, and his advice was implicitly followed. Columbus was scarcely a greater man, for the time being, at the court of Ferdinand and Isabella, than Bill Brown immediately became at the court of Waally. His words were received as prophecies, his opinions as oracles.

Honest Bill, who anticipated no more from his discoveries than the acquisition of certain portions of wood, iron, and copper, with, perhaps, the addition of a little rigging, certain sails and an anchor or two, acted, at first, for the best interests of his master. He led the fleet along the margin of the group until a convenient harbour was found. Into this all the canoes entered, and a sandy beach supplying fresh water in abundance having been found, an encampment was made for the night. Several hours of daylight remaining, however, when these great preliminary steps had been taken, Brown proposed to Waally an exploring expedition in a couple of the handiest of the canoes. The people thus employed were those who had given the alarm to the governor. On that occasion, not only was the boat seen, but the explorers were near enough to the reef, to discover not only the crater, but the spars of the ship. Here, then, was a discovery scarcely less important than that of the group itself! After reasoning on the facts, Waally came to the conclusion that these, after all, were the territories that Heaton and his party had come to seek; and that here he should find those cows which he had once seen, and which he coveted more than any other riches on earth. Ooroony had been weak enough to allow strangers in possession of things so valuable, to pass through _his_ islands; but _he_, Waally, was not the man to imitate this folly. Brown, too, began to think that the white men sought were to be found here. That whites were in the group was plain enough by the ship, and he supposed they might be fishing for the pearl-oyster, or gathering beche-le-mar for the Canton market. It was just possible that a colony had established itself in this unfrequented place, and that the party of which he had heard so much, had come hither with their stores and herds. Not the smallest suspicion at first crossed his mind that he there beheld the spars of the Rancocus; but, it was enough for him and Wattles that Christian men were there, and that, in all probability, they were men of the Anglo-Saxon race. No sooner was it ascertained that the explorers were in a false channel, and that it would not be in their power to penetrate farther in their canoes, than our two seamen determined to run, and attach themselves to the strangers. They naturally thought that they should find a vessel armed and manned, and ready to stand out to sea as soon as her officers were apprized of the danger that threatened them, and did not hesitate about joining their fortune with hers, in preference to remaining with Waally any longer. Freedom possesses a charm for which no other advantage can compensate, and those two old sea-dogs, who had worked like horses all their lives, in their original calling, preferred returning to the ancient drudgery rather than live with Waally, in the rude abundance of savage chiefs. The escape was easily enough made, as soon, as it was dark, Brown and Wattles being on shore most of the time, under the pretence that it was necessary, in order that they might ascertain the character of there unknown colonists by signs understood best by themselves.

Such is a brief outline of the explanations that the two recovered seamen made to their former officer. In return, the governor as briefly related to them the manner in which the ship had been saved, and the history of the colony down to that moment. When both tales had been told, a consultation on the subject of future proceedings took place, quite as a matter of course. Brown, and his companion, though delighted to meet their old shipmates, were greatly disappointed in not finding a sea-going vessel ready to receive them. They did not scruple to say that had they known the actual state of things on the Reef, they would not have left the savages, but trusted to being of more service even to their natural friends, by continuing with Waally, in their former relation, than by taking the step they had. Repentance, or regrets, however, came too late; and now they were fairly in for it, neither expressed any other determination than to stand by the service into which they had just entered, honestly, if not quite as gladly as they had anticipated.

The governor and Betts both saw that Brown and Wattles entertained a high respect for the military prowess of the Indian chief. They pronounced him to be not only a bold, but an adroit warrior; one, full of resources and ingenuity, when his means were taken into the account. The number of men with him, however, Brown assured Mark, was less than nine hundred, instead of exceeding a thousand, as had been supposed from the count made on the cliffs. As it now was explained, a great many women were in the canoes. Waally, moreover, was not altogether without fire-arms. He was master of a dozen old, imperfect muskets, and what was more, he had a four-pound gun. Ammunition, however, was very scarce, and of shot for his gun he had but three. Each of these shot had been fired several times, in his wars with Ooroony, and clays had been spent in hunting them up, after they had done their work, and of replacing them in the chief's magazine. Brown could not say that they had done much mischief, having, in every instance, being fired at long distances, and with a very uncertain aim. The business of sighting guns was not very well understood by the great mass of Christians, half a century since; and it is not at all surprising that savages should know little or nothing about it. Waally's gunners, according to Brown's account of the matter, could never be made to understand that the bore of a gun was not exactly parallel to its exterior surface, and they invariably aimed too high, by sighting along the upper side of the piece. This same fault is very common with the inexperienced in using a musket; for, anxious to get a sight of the end of their piece, they usually stick it up into the air and overshoot their object. It was the opinion of Brown, on the whole, that little was to be apprehended from Waally's fire-arms. The spear and club were the weapons to be dreaded; and with these the islanders were said to be very expert. But the disparity in numbers was the main ground of apprehension.

When Brown was told how near the schooner was to being launched, he earnestly begged the governor, to let him and Bigelow go to work and put her into the water, immediately. Everything necessary to a cruise was on board her, even to her provisions and water, the arrangements having been made to launch her with her sails bent; and, once in the water, Bill thought she would prove of the last importance to the defence. If the worst came to the worst, all hands could get on board her, and by standing through some of the channels that were clear of canoes, escape into the open water. Once there, Waally could do nothing with them, and they might be governed by circumstances.

Woolston viewed things a little differently. He loved the Reef; it had become dear to him by association and history, and he did not relish the thought of abandoning it. There was too much property at risk, to say nothing of the ship, which would doubtless be burned for its metals, should the Indians get possession, even for a day. In that ship he had sailed; in that ship he had been married; in that ship his daughter had been born; and in that ship Bridget loved still to dwell, even more than she affected all the glories of the Eden of the Peak. That ship was not to be given up to savages without a struggle Nor did Mark believe anything would be gained by depriving the men of their rest during the accustomed hours. Early in the morning, with the light itself, he did intend to have Bigelow under the schooner's bottom; but he saw no occasion for his working in the dark. Launching was a delicate business, and some accident might happen in the obscurity. After talking the matter over, therefore, all hands retired to rest, leaving one woman at the crater, and one on board the ship, on the look-out; women being preferred to men, on this occasion, in order that the latter might reserve their strength for the coming struggle.

At the appointed hour next morning, every one on the Reef was astir at the first peep of day. No disturbance had occurred in the night, and, what is perhaps a little remarkable, the female sentinels had not given any false alarm. As soon as a look from the Summit gave the governor reason to believe that Waally was not very near him, he ordered preparations to be made for the launch of the Friend Abraham White. A couple of hours' work was still required to complete this desirable task; and everybody set about his or her assigned duty with activity and zeal. Some of the women prepared the breakfast; others carried ammunition to the different guns, while Betts went round and loaded them, one and all; and others, again, picked up such articles of value as had been overlooked in the haste of the previous evening, carrying them either into the crater, or on board the ship.

On examining his fortifications by daylight, the governor resolved to set up something more secure in the way of a gate for the crater. He also called off two or three of the men to get out the boarding-netting of the ship, which was well provided in that respect; a good provision having been made, byway of keeping the Fejee people at arms' length. These two extraordinary offices delayed the work on the ways; and when the whole colony went to breakfast, which they did about an hour after sunrise, the schooner was not yet in the water, though quite ready to be put there, Mark announced that there was no occasion to be in a hurry, no canoes were in sight, and there was time to have everything done deliberately and in order.

This security came very near proving fatal to the whole party. Most of the men breakfasted under the awning, which was near their work; while the women took that meal in their respective quarters. Some of the last were in the crater, and some in the ship. It will be remembered that the awning was erected near the spring, and that the spring was but a short distance from the bridge. This bridge, it will also be recollected, connected the Reef with an island that stretched away for miles, and which had formed the original range for the swine, after the changes that succeeded the eruption. It was composed of merely two long ship's planks, the passage being only some fifty or sixty feet in width.

The governor, now, seldom ate with his people. He knew enough of human nature to understand that authority was best preserved by avoiding familiarity. Besides, there is, in truth, no association more unpleasant to those whose manners have been cultivated, than that of the table, with the rude and unrefined. Bridget, for instance, could hardly be expected to eat with the wives of the seamen; and Mark naturally wished to eat with his own family. On that occasion he had taken his meal in the cabin of the Rancocus, as usual, and had come down to the awning to see that the hands turned-to as soon as they were through with their own breakfasts. Just as he was about to issue the necessary order, the air was filled with frightful yells, and a stream of savages poured out of an opening in the rocks, on to the plain of the "hog pasture," as the adjoining field was called, rushing forward in a body towards the crater. They had crept along under the rocks by following a channel, and now broke cover within two hundred yards of the point they intended to assail.

The governor behaved admirably on this trying occasion. He issued his orders clearly, calmly, and promptly. Calling on Bigelow and Jones by name, he ordered them to withdraw the bridge, which could easily be done by hauling over the planks by means of wheels that had long been fitted for that purpose. The bridge withdrawn, the channel, or harbour, answered all the purposes of a ditch; though the South Sea islanders would think but little of swimming across it. Of course, Waally's men knew nothing of this bridge, nor did they know of the existence of the basin between them and their prey. They rushed directly towards the ship-yard, and loud were their yells of disappointment when they found a broad reach of water still separating them from the whites. Naturally they looked for the point of connection; but, by this time, the planks were wheeled in, and the communication was severed. At this instant, Waally had all his muskets discharged, and the gun fired from the catamaran, on which it was mounted. No one was injured by this volley, but a famous noise was made; and noise passed for a good deal in the warfare of that day and region.

It was now the turn of the colonists. At the first alarm everybody rushed to arms, and every post was manned, or _womaned_, in a minute. On the poop of the ship was planted one of the cannon, loaded with grape, and pointed so as to sweep the strait of the bridge. It is true, the distance was fully a mile, but Betts had elevated the gun with a view to its sending its missiles as far as was necessary. The other carronades on the Summit were pointed so as to sweep the portion of the hog pasture that was nearest, and which was now swarming with enemies, Waally, himself, was in front, and was evidently selecting a party that was to swim for the sandy beach, a sort of forlorn hope. No time was to be lost. Juno, a perfect heroine in her way, stood by the gun on the poop, while Dido was at those on the Summit, each brandishing or blowing, a lighted match. The governor made the preconcerted signal to the last, and she applied the match. Away went the grape, rattling along the surface of the opposite rocks, and damaging at least a dozen of Waally's men. Three were killed outright, and the wounds of the rest were very serious. A yell followed, and a young chief rushed towards the strait, with frantic cries, as if bent on leaping across the chasm. He was followed by a hundred warriors. Mark now made the signal to Juno. Not a moment was lost by the undaunted girl, who touched off her gun in the very nick of time. Down came the grape, hissing along the Reef; and, rebounding from its surface, away it leaped across the strait, flying through the thickest of the assailants. A dozen more suffered by that discharge. Waally now saw that a crisis was reached, and his efforts to recover the ground lost were worthy of his reputation. Calling to the swimmers, he succeeded in getting them down into the water in scores.

The governor had ordered those near him to their stations. This took Jones and Bigelow on board the Abraham, where two carronades were pointed through the stern ports, forming a battery to rake the hog pasture, which it was foreseen must be the field of battle if the enemy came by land, as it was the only island that came near enough to the Reef to be used in that way. As for Mark himself, accompanied by Brown and Wattles, all well armed, he held his party in reserve, as a corps to be moved wherever it might be most needed. At that all-important moment a happy idea occurred to the young governor. The schooner was all ready for launching. The reserve were under her bottom, intending to make a stand behind the covers of the yard, when Mark found himself at one of the spur-shores, just as Brown, armed to the teeth, came up to the other.

"Lay aside your arms," cried the governor, "and knock away your spur-shore, Bill!--Down with it, while I knock this away!--Look out on deck, for we are about to launch you!"

These words were just uttered, when the schooner began to move. All the colonists now cheered, and away the Abraham went, plunging like a battering-ram into the midst of the swimmers. While dipping deepest, Bigelow and Jones fired both their carronades, the shot of which threw the whole basin into foam. This combination of the means of assault was too much for savages to resist. Waally was instantly routed. His main body retreated into the coves of the channel, where their canoes lay, while the swimmers and stragglers got out of harm's way, in the best manner they could.

Not a moment was to be lost. The Abraham was brought up by a hawser, as is usual, and was immediately boarded by Mark, Bigelow and Wattles. This gave her a crew of five men, who were every way equal to handling her. Betts was left in command of the Reef, with the remainder of the forces. To make sail required but two minutes, and Mark was soon under way, rounding Loam Island, or what had _once_ been Loam Island, for it was now connected with the hog pasture, in order to get into the reach where Waally had his forces. This reach was a quarter of a mile wide, and gave room for manoeuvring. Although the schooner bore down to the assault with a very determined air, it was by no means Mark's cue to come to close quarters. Being well to windward, with plenty of room, he kept the Abraham tacking, yawing, waring, and executing other of the devices of nautical delay, whilst his men loaded and fired her guns, as fast as they could. There were more noise and smoke, than there was bloodshed, as commonly happens on such occasions; but these sufficed to secure the victory. The savages were soon in a real panic, and no authority of Waally's could check their flight. Away they paddled to leeward, straining every nerve to get away from pursuers, whom they supposed to be murderously bent on killing them to a man. A more unequivocal flight never occurred in war.

Although the governor was much in earnest, he was riot half as bloodthirsty as his fleeing enemies imagined. Every dictate of prudence told him not to close with the canoes until he had plenty of sea-room. The course they were steering would take them all out of the group, into the open water, in the course of three or four hours, and he determined to follow at a convenient distance, just hastening the flight by occasional hints from his guns. In this manner, the people of the Abraham had much the easiest time of it, for they did little besides sail, while the savages had to use all their paddles to keep out of the schooner's way; they sailed, also, but their speed under their cocoa-nut canvas was not sufficient to keep clear of the Friend Abraham White, which proved to be a very fast vessel, as well as one easily handled.

At length, Waally found his fleet in the open ocean, where he trusted the chase would end. But he had greatly mistaken the course of events, in applying that 'flattering unction.' It was now that the governor commenced the chase in good earnest, actually running down three of the canoes, and making prisoners of one of the crews. In this canoe was a young warrior, whom Bill Brown and Wattles at once recognised as a favourite son of the chief. Here was a most important conquest, and, Mark turned it to account. He selected a proper agent from among the captives, and sent him with a palm-branch to Waally himself, with proposals for an exchange. There was no difficulty in communicating, since Brown and Wattles both spoke the language of the natives with great fluency. Three years of captivity had, at least, taught them that much.

A good deal of time was wasted before Waally could be brought to confide in the honour of his enemies. At last, love for his offspring brought him, unarmed, alongside of the schooner, and the governor met this formidable chief, face to face. He found the latter a wily and intelligent savage. Nevertheless, he had not the art to conceal his strong affection for his son, and on that passion did Mark Woolston play. Waally offered canoes, robes of feathers, whales' teeth, and every thing that was most esteemed among his own people, as a ransom for the boy. But this was not the exchange the governor desired to make. He offered to restore the son to the arms of his father as soon as the five seamen who were still prisoners on his citadel island should be brought alongside of the schooner. If these terms were rejected, the lad must take the fate of war.

Great was the struggle in the bosom of Waally, between natural affection, and the desire to retain his captives. After two hours of subterfuges, artifices, and tricks, the former prevailed, and a treaty was made. Agreeably to its conditions, the schooner was to pilot the fleet of canoes to Betto's group, which could easily be done, as Mark knew not only its bearings, but its latitude and longitude. As soon as this was effected, Waally engaged to send a messenger for the seamen, and to remain himself on board the Abraham until the exchange was completed. The chief wished to attach terms, by which the colonists were to aid him in more effectually putting down Ooroony, who was checked rather than conquered, but Mark refused to listen to any such proposition. He was more disposed to aid, than to overcome the kind hearted Ooroony, and made up his mind to have an interview with him before he returned from the intended voyage.

Some delay would have occurred, to enable Mark to let Bridget know of his intended absence, had it not been for the solicitude of Betts. Finding the sails of the schooner had gone out of sight to leeward, Bob manned the Neshamony, and followed as a support. In the event of a wreck, for instance, his presence might have been of the last importance. He got alongside of the Abraham just as the treaty was concluded, and was in time to carry back the news to the crater, where he might expect still to arrive that evening. With this arrangement, therefore, the parties separated, Batts beating back, through the channels of the Reef and the governor leading off to the northward and westward, under short canvas; all of Waally's canoes, catamarans, &c.; following about a mile astern of him. _

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