re now on foot, and will
be glad to see you," answered the captain.

I sprang below. I should have startled my friends not a little had not
the steward told them that I had come on board, for they had heard of
the supposed loss of our boat, though Mary told me with a smile, while a
tear was in her eye, that as her dear father had been preserved, so she
had not despaired of again seeing me. I felt very happy, for I was sure
that we should beat off the savages. On my return on deck I found that
they had not yet appeared. It was now getting dark. This made us
suspect that they had intended to attempt surprising the ship at night,
and very probably they would have succeeded had we not providentially
seen them and thus been the means of putting our friends on their guard.
Captain Bland, always anxious to avoid bloodshed, ordered the guns to
be fired at intervals, both to show the savages that we were on the
alert and to attract the attention of the "Eagle" should she be in the
neighbourhood. Though prepared we could not avoid being anxious, for if
the natives were resolved on our destruction we should have a severe
struggle before we could drive them off.

It had now become so dark that it would be difficult to see the canoes
till they were close to us. All hands, therefore, remained on deck with
our weapons in our hands to be ready at a moment's notice, but the hours
went by, the savages had thought better of it we hoped, and dawn at
length appeared. We looked out for the canoes, but they were nowhere to
be seen, nor was the "Eagle." The calm continued, and as we had our two
boats besides those of the "Lady Alice," Captain Bland resolved to tow
her out to sea so as to get a good offing before another night. The
anchor was hove up, and with six boats ahead we made good progress. We
had got a couple of miles away from the anchorage, and were nearly free
of the reefs when the look-out at the masthead shouted that he saw the
canoes coming towards us.

"Keep to your oars, lads," cried Captain Bland; "we shall have a breeze
presently, and shall then easily tackle them."

On came the canoes. It seemed too likely that they would reach us
before the wished-for breeze had sprung up. The crews of the boats gave
way lustily. I had remained on board. As I looked astern I fancied
that I could almost hear the shrieks and shouts of the savages as they
approached. Suddenly I saw the dog-waves blowing out. I, with the res