She Blows! And Sparm at That!

by William John Hopkins

The days passed, and nothing happened. Whatever eagerness I had felt oozed away; but Captain Coffin’s did not, I judged. He was silent, restless, tense with it, especially as we began to raise the Paumotus, one after another. These are atolls, with the usual coral reefs, sea-beach, and lagoon, none of them more than a few feet above sea level. The topmasts of the Battles would be easily seen above them, unless some unusually tall coconut trees were in the way. We did not go far into the archipelago, for it is dangerous navigation there for a vessel as large as the Clearchus, and one no more easily manageable. The passages are filled with hidden dangers, and the currents swift and treacherous.

We had been searching, in a superficial way, for a week or more, when, one morning, dawn showed us a small atoll, a few miles long. We heard the dull boom of the surf, and with the growing light we saw a long white beach, crowned with green vegetation. A few stunted coco-palms showed their green tufts, and beyond the palms the familiar topsail yards of the Battles. There was no sign of habitation, and we found out later that this atoll was uninhabited, and visited only occasionally by canoe parties from some other atoll, in search of eggs, or fish, or adventure. At the time it seemed strange to me that somebody from the crew of the Battles had not seen us. The Clearchus must have been as familiar to them as the Battles was to us. Then I concluded that they had not seen us because they were close under the palms, and had had no lookout to seaward, and perhaps had been asleep. I was right in one thing: they had been asleep. They were not asleep now, for, as we worked around to find the opening into the lagoon, we heard faint noises, as if they were shouting to one another.

When we reached a point from which we could see into the lagoon, we saw that the schooner was plainly aground; there were a number of large canoes drawn up on the shore; and there on the beach was the crew of the Battles, surrounded by natives, and fighting for their lives. I heard no guns, and supposed that they must have been lured ashore by the prospect of trade, and then attacked.

Captain Nelson did nothing immediately, but turned to Captain Coffin. I chanced to be near them at the time.

“What do you think, Fred?” he asked. “Shall we try to help your crew there? They ’re no better than pirates, and I ’ve no doubt the Kanakas have the right of it.” Some particularly villainous example of thievery on the part of the Battles was probably at the bottom of the quarrel. “But I suppose we ’ve got to.”

Captain Coffin nodded. “I want to settle their hash myself.”

I was on tiptoe with that laughing exhilaration that always came upon me before a fight of any kind, and I found that I had been afraid that Captain Nelson would stay out of it.

I dived below, where I gathered all the arms from the cabin; and, the steward helping me, I got them on deck. I found three boats down. They were Mr. Macy’s, Captain Coffin’s, and mine, in which the captain was going in place of Mr. Brown. There was some danger to the ship in leaving her so lightly manned, for the islanders might take it into their heads to attack her; but he took the chance. I had an oak wagon-spoke in addition to a spade. I had found it among the firewood taken on at New Bedford. A wagon-spoke is an excellent weapon, and that was not the only time I used one.

It took us some time to find the opening in the reef. There were several false leads, and we found the break narrow when we hit upon it. I wondered that the Battles had been able to get through.

The fighting was going on at the head of the lagoon, a little over half a mile from the point where we entered, too far off to see what had been happening. All we could see from that distance was a confused mass of men, and all we heard was a confused shouting. After we had straightened out on the course to the beach, I saw nothing but the backs and the oars of the men before me, Captain Nelson at the steering oar, and the other boats out of the tail of my eye. We were a little in advance.