Page:An account of the natives of the Tonga Islands.djvu/140

74 to destroy the enemy's canoes; and they succeeded in doing it, after some opposition. They next directed their march to the place where the loyalists were assembled, about three quarters of a mile distant from Hihifo, and a general battle took place, which lasted till night, with great slaughter on both sides: Finow's party, however, was at length repulsed, and forced to fly back to Hahagi, where it remained till the evening of the ensuing day, when an event happened which reinforced its strength, and gave the allied chiefs and their followers fresh spirits for the combat; this was the arrival of the two canoes with Tooi Hala Fatai and his bold adventurers from the Fiji islands. This chief and his warlike companions, ever ready to enter into a new contest, immediately joined Finow and swore allegiance to his cause. The very evening of their landing, however, their leader, Tooi Hala Fatai, felt himself much indisposed; and as his disorder hourly increased, he was seized with the apprehension that his complaint was mortal. With this idea strongly impressed upon his mind, he proposed that they should sally forth as early as possible the ensuing morning, to meet the enemy while he had any strength remaining, that by this means he might escape the bed of sickness and die gloriously in the field of battle. Scarcely had the sun risen, when