On this, Cook stepped back into the boat,
making signs that he would soon return. The islanders, however, had no
intention of allowing him to depart, so while some of them laid hold of
the gang-board, and attempted to drag up the boat on to the beach,
others snatched at the oars, and tried to wrest them away from the
sailors. In this predicament, and seeing that neither expostulations
nor menaces were of any avail, the captain raised his musket, pointed it
at the chief, who had again made his appearance, and pulled the trigger;
but, as on a former occasion, the piece missed fire, or only flashed in
the pan. The savages then began throwing stones and darts, and shooting
their arrows. The captain now felt compelled to order his men to fire.
The first discharge threw the savages into confusion, but even a second
was hardly sufficient to drive them off the beach, and they then retired
behind trees and bushes, popping out every now and then to throw a dart.
Four lay to all appearances dead; but two managed to crawl behind the
bushes. Happily, half the muskets missed fire, or more would have been
wounded. One of the boat's crew was badly wounded in the cheek by a
dart, and an arrow shot from a distance struck Mr Gilbert. The
skirmish ended by the English making good their retreat.

On the arrival of the party on board, the ship was got under way and
stood closer in shore; and presently two of the natives appeared with
two oars which had been lost in the scuffle. In a fit of exasperation,
probably on account of the treatment he had received, and of
mortification at his partial defeat, Captain Cook ordered a round shot
to be fired at the men, which, though it proved harmless, had the effect
of driving the men away. They left the oars, however, leaning against
some bushes.

The whole of this unhappy affair seems to have been a series of
misunderstandings. At least, it is not difficult to conceive that the
natives were, at first, friendly disposed; that their offer to haul the
boat upon the beach may have been dictated by kind motives, and that
their subsequent conduct arose from what they might have conceived to be
the suspicious actions of their strange and uninvited visitors. As to
their being armed, and declining to lay down their arms, it is to be
remembered that the English had arms also, which they did not lay down.
It certainly does not seem improbable that if the chief of these poor
barbarians and the Engli