ted for the purpose existed in the cavern itself,
and only needed moving forward close to the entrance, after which--as we
tested by experiments--five minutes' work would suffice to block the
opening so effectually that nothing less than a powder charge would ever
clear it. Accordingly we divided our weapons and ammunition into two
equal parts, one of which parts we put aboard the schooner, while the
other we deposited in the mouth of our cavern. Then, having secured
ourselves as far as was possible against attack, we returned to our work
upon the schooner with redoubled energy.

Dawn of the twenty-third day after the flight of Mokalua and Vati found
us in high feather; for the strenuous labour of the preceding three
weeks had brought us to the point that a few hours' further work would
see the completion of our task, the further work required being that
needed to finish the cradle and wedge up, preparatory to launching. We
had been working systematically, attending first to those matters which
were most urgent, with the result that the schooner was now finished and
ready for sea, with ballast--consisting entirely of as much gold in
nuggets as Cunningham's calculations showed she could possibly carry--
properly stowed, the water casks stowed and filled, provisions on board,
masts stepped and rigged, sails bent--in short, everything completed
except the fitting and equipment of the cabin, and that, we decided,
could be done as easily after our little ship had been launched as while
she remained on the stocks. On this particular morning, then, we were,
as I have said, all in high feather, for we awoke with the comfortable
assurance that, barring accidents, the schooner would be safely afloat
before we again lay down to rest.

Now, although we had been working so strenuously during the past three
weeks, we had not omitted to take proper precautions against a surprise
on the part of the natives, the most important of these precautions
consisting in the visit of one of us to the summit of the crater the
first thing every morning, from which commanding elevation the sea to
the south-west was carefully scanned, with the aid of Cunningham's
telescope, in search of the expected flotilla of canoes. The same
precaution was observed the last thing before nightfall; and we decided
that, should the sea prove to be clear on these occasions, there was not
much risk of our being surprised during either of the intervals between.