wo
cases of rum, and when these were handed over to them the natives rose
as if to go. Suddenly the leader drew his axe from his girdle, and with
a loud yell buried it deep in the captain's head.

The yell was echoed from some hundred throats, the crew of the canoe
leapt to their feet and began to clamber up the side of the vessel,
while those in the smaller craft dashed their paddles into the water and
urged their boats towards it. At the same moment the natives on board
all drew concealed weapons. So quick had been the action of the chief
that Mr. Atherton had not time to prevent it, but before the body of the
captain touched the deck that of the chief was stretched beside it with
a bullet through the brain.

Wilfrid and the Allens seeing the natives rise to go had thought the
danger over, and two passengers had been struck down before they brought
their rifles to their shoulders. They were within a few feet of the
chiefs, and each of their shots told. For a minute or two there was a
scene of wild confusion. The natives in the waist fell furiously upon
the sailors, but these, fortunately put upon their guard, received the
attack with determination. The sound of the lads' rifles was followed
almost instantly by the sharp cracks of a revolver Mr. Atherton
produced from his pocket, and each shot told with fatal effect. When the
revolver was empty not a native remained alive on the poop.

The other passengers had been taken so completely by surprise that even
those who had brought up their arms did not join in the fray until the
poop was cleared. "Keep them back there!" Mr. Atherton shouted as the
natives came swarming up the ladder on the port side. Several shots were
fired, but the passengers were too startled for their aim to be true.

"Give me your musket, Renshaw!" Mr. Atherton exclaimed, snatching the
piece the latter had just discharged from his hands, "my rifle is too
good for this work." He then clubbed the weapon, and whirling it round
his head as if it had been a straw fell upon the natives, who were just
pouring up on to the poop, shouting to the passengers, "Fire on the mass
below! I will keep these fellows at bay!" Every blow that fell stretched
a man lifeless on deck, until those who had gained the poop, unable to
retreat owing to the pressure of those behind them, and terrified by the
destruction wrought by this giant, sprang over the bulwark into the sea.
Just as they did so the little party of sailors