g that it was very hard that they should be kept on board,
slipped into the canoes, and allowed the savages to carry them off.
Others followed their example. The officers shouted to them to return,
but their orders were not attended to. More canoes now came off, full
of savages, who, as they got alongside, clambered on board, till the
deck was crowded with them, so that the crew who remained at their duty
could scarcely move about. The first mate, seeing this, ordered the
natives back into their canoes. I had, while the mate was issuing his
orders, turned my glance aft, when, at that moment, he cried out to
Lieutenant Pyke, who was below, to get his men under arms, and then
signed to the natives crowding the deck to return to their canoes.
Thinking, apparently, to make the savages understand him better, he
incautiously gave a shove to one of the chiefs who was standing near
him. The savage, uttering a fearful cry, whirled round his heavy club
and struck the poor mate dead on the deck. It was a signal to his
followers. In an instant every club was upraised and aimed at the head
of the nearest seaman.

Dick, hearing the savages shout, looked up from his work, and seeing
what was taking place, laid hold of me by the collar and dragged me
along to the jib-boom end, whence we witnessed the dreadful scene
enacted on deck.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN.

IN THE CLUTCHES OF THE CHIEF.

The crew of the _Dolphin_, though numerous and well accustomed to the
use of arms, being thus taken unawares, were almost helpless. The
sharp-edged war-clubs of the natives came crashing down upon their
heads, as they ran here and there in search of weapons to defend
themselves. Lieutenant Pyke was struck dead the instant he appeared at
the companion-hatch. The second mate was treated in the same way, while
the boatswain, with a few men who gathered round him, made a desperate
attempt to defend himself; but he and his party were overpowered by
numbers, and cut down, after they had killed several of the natives.
Some of our men jumped down below, but were followed by the savages.
Whether they were killed, or whether any escaped, we could not tell. A
few ran up the rigging, where the natives appeared afraid to follow
them.

In a few minutes, besides Dick and me, not a white man whom we could
see, except those aloft, remained alive. The natives now began dancing
frantically about the deck, whirling their clubs over their heads, and
shouti