Page:An account of the natives of the Tonga Islands.djvu/243

Rh people, asleep near the house; it happened, however, to strike a bundle of spears that was placed upright against a tree, and, throwing it down, occasioned such a noise, that several of the men were awakened by it, who, thinking that the main body of the enemy was coming down upon them, began to run away; at this moment, one of them, more courageous than the rest, snatching up a piece of lighted wood, applied it to the touch-hole of one of the guns, which instantly went off, and produced such an effect on the enemy, that no more was heard of him that night. This certainly was a bold act for a man who had never before fired a gun in his life, and might in the worst case have been productive of the best effects, for, if the enemy had come in considerable numbers, as was at the moment falsely imagined, and this man had not had such presence of mind, all Finow's army might have been put completely to the rout, their guns taken from them, and a vast number of them slain: as it was, the report of the gun, awakening all who were yet asleep, induced such a degree of consternation as is scarcely to be conceived; they ran in all directions, but most of them to the canoes, and it was some time before their fears were sufficiently calmed for them to be induced to return. The man who performed this exploit received