e. They had attacked me
deliberately and without provocation, and, but for the help of the
blacks, Billy and I would unquestionably have been "wiped out". Ten or
a dozen of such men, wounded, would have been a terribly embarrassing
charge for me to have assumed; and it would have been still more
embarrassing to have had them about the place when they were again hale
and strong. No; taking everything into consideration I was not
altogether sorry that they had been put beyond the possibility of
perpetrating further mischief.

Meanwhile, what had become of the junk? I had looked for her just
before leaving the bungalow on my way back to the beach, and had sighted
her, some six miles off, in the south-eastern quarter, heading to the
southward, close-hauled, by which I judged that no further trouble need
be looked for from her.

But there were the dead on the beach to be disposed of, without loss of
time. How could this disposal be best effected? I considered the
matter, and presently hit upon a plan. The Chinese, in their
precipitate flight, had abandoned two of their boats, namely the small
one and one of the bigger ones. Those two would be sufficient to
contain the whole of the dead; and, having now decided upon my mode of
procedure, I led my little band of black warriors back to the beach and,
with their assistance, transferred the dead Chinamen to the two
abandoned boats. We had barely completed this gruesome task when Billy
returned with the sailing boat, whereupon I boarded her, sailed her
round from the cove to the east beach, took the Chinese boats in tow,
and anchored them for the night under the lee of the northern extremity
of Eden. The next day I again took the boats in tow and, with a party
of eight natives to help me, towed them to the beach of North Island,
where we buried the dead Chinamen. The smaller of the two boats I then
presented to Bowata, in recognition of the assistance he had rendered me
in repelling the attack by the Chinese, while the bigger one I kept, for
the sake of her materials, which would be valuable to me in the
completion of the cutter. It was while clearing up and putting matters
generally straight after the Chinamen's unwelcome visit that the sword
of the leader again came under my notice and, impelled by curiosity, I
drew the weapon from its sheath and subjected it to a somewhat critical
examination; for if that should prove satisfactory I intended to make
use of it in f