“The fellows probably brought their fate upon themselves,” said the captain. “They must have provoked the savages and got killed in consequence.”
“I’m afraid that such was the case,” observed the missionary; “but I will ask the chief to inquire into the matter.”
Utatee said he would do so, but if the white men were guilty he could not undertake to punish their murderers.
While we were talking some of the crew cried out, “A shark! A shark!” and sure enough there was a huge creature swimming up close under the counter, with his fin just above the water, his wicked eye glancing up at the ship. The chief said something to one of the natives who had come aboard with him, a fine athletic fellow, who, like the chief, appeared to be fully dressed in a tightly-fitting dark blue silk dress, but who, in reality, had only a loincloth round his waist, fastened by a girdle, in which were stuck a couple of knives, the rest of his body being perfectly tattooed from head to foot.
The man looked at the shark, and waiting until it had gone a little ahead, overboard he went, and swam rapidly up after it. Presently he dived, and we saw the shark floundering in the water. I thought that he had turned to seize the man, and that the blood which tinged the waves was issuing from his body; but no, it was the shark which was wounded. The man rose, and again plunged his knife into the monster’s side. He did the same several times, and then towing it up by the tail to the ship, made signs for the bight of a rope to be hove to him. He passed it over the shark’s head, and another rope being secured near the tail, the monster was hoisted up, while the native, with wonderful agility, climbed on deck, apparently not in the slightest degree exhausted by his exertions.
Immediately after this we saw a prodigious commotion near the entrance of the bay, while a loud sound like that of stones knocked together reached our ears. We soon made out a number of people, men, women, and children, who had come off from the extreme point forming one side of the entrance of the bay, and were swimming across it, shouting and striking together a couple of big stones, which they held in their hands. Having formed in a line across the bay, they turned and swam up it, and we saw that they were driving before them a shoal of porpoises. On they kept in perfect order, till the porpoises were driven right ashore at the head of the bay. Here a number of other natives met them. Together they attacked the creatures, which they quickly killed. The missionary told us that their object was to extract the teeth, through which they make holes for the purpose of forming necklaces.
“You’ll not forget, sir, I hope, to look out for my brother Jack,” I said, as the missionary was going.
“You may trust me for that, my young friend,” he answered, kindly; “but I shall not be long on these islands, I fear, as the French are coming to take possession of them, and they’ll allow no Protestant missionaries to live here.”
The captain had no wish to remain for the purpose of inquiring into the death of the two seamen, as they didn’t belong to his ship, and we therefore sailed at daybreak the next morning for Dominica, the largest island of the group, where we understood that we could obtain a larger supply of pork than we had obtained at Witahoo.
We quickly came off that island, but could discover only one bay into which we could safely enter.