was so much taken with the beauty and
fertility of the country, and perhaps not so well inclined to go to sea
again after such danger as he had incurred in the last voyage, that he
resolved to purchase land and settle there. He did so, and had already
stocked his farm with cattle, and had gone round to Sydney in a schooner
to await the arrival of a large order from England which he had sent
for, when the brig arrived and reported the existence of some white
people on the small island, and also that they had hoisted a flag with
the name _Pacific_ worked on it.

Captain Osborn, hearing this, went to the master of the brig, and
questioned him. He found the latitude and longitude of the island to be
not far from that of the ship when she was deserted, and he was now
convinced that, by some miracle, the Seagrave family had been preserved.
He therefore went to the Governor of New South Wales, and made him
acquainted with the facts which had been established, and the Governor
instantly replied, that the government armed schooner was at his
service, if he would himself go in quest of his former shipmates.
Inconvenient as the absence at that time was to Captain Osborn, he at
once acquiesced, and in a few days the schooner sailed for her
destination. She arrived off the island on the same morning that the
fleet of canoes with the savages effected their landing, and when
William made the remark to Ready as they were hastening into the
stockade, that there was another vessel under sail off the garden-point,
had Ready had time to put his eye to the telescope, he would have
discovered that it was the schooner.

The schooner stood in to the reefs, and then hauled off again, that she
might send her boat in to sound for an anchorage. The boat, when
sounding, perceived the canoes and the savages, and afterwards heard the
report of firearms on the first attack. On her return on board the
schooner, they stated what they had seen and heard, and their idea that
the white people on the island were being attacked by the savages. As
the boat did not return on board till near dusk, they had not time to
canvas, the question when the night attack was made, and they again
heard the firing of the muskets. This made Captain Osborn most anxious
to land as soon as possible, but as the savages were in such numbers,
and the crew of the schooner did not consist of more than twenty-five
men, the commander considered it was rash to make the attempt.