Page:Twenty years before the mast - Charles Erskine, 1896.djvu/201

 Group, the little island, Henry’s Island. We wandered about the beach a short time, then reshipped and  returned to Malolo. Preparations were at once made to punish the actors in this foul deed. The rest of the day and during the night, the ship’s small arms were prepared, and parties duly organized for the fight. Several boats, well manned and armed, were stationed around  the island, so that none of the natives could escape. At nine o’clock we landed well armed, and provided with  port-fires and rockets (fiery spirits), which we had found  so efficient on a former occasion. Orders were given to spare all women and children.

The first town we arrived at was entirely deserted. The natives had even taken all their household goods with them. We reduced it quickly to ashes, destroyed their yam and taro patches, and made the next town. When the natives first got sight of us, they sent up a shout of defiance. They exhibited no signs of fear, but rather defied us. While awaiting the arrival of Captain Ringold’s and Lieutenant Johnson’s parties, we descended the hill, and advanced towards the ditch of the  town. The natives boldly came to meet us, with a discharge of arrows, and exhibited the utmost confidence. They in truth believed their town to be impregnable, for it had hitherto withstood every attack made by the  Fiji warriors. Its defenses showed no little engineering skill. A ditch twelve feet wide, and full of mud and water, surrounded the whole. Next came a stong palisade, built of cocoanut trunks, placed four or five feet apart, among which was here and there a living tree. This palisade also included a fence of wicker-work, about