14 ADVENTURES IN THE SOUTH SEAS 
to pray any more. Of course they did not comply with 
this demand, but their persistence in prayer led to much 
annoyance at the hands of the people. 
About this time the truculence of the natives became more 
marked, and theft of the missionaries’ goods, with violence 
to their persons, began. Their situation seemed at that junc- 
ture to be growing worse daily, but all that they had as yet 
endured was as nothing to the troubles that were just before 
them, for even then civil war was approaching and darker 
days were near. 
Up to this point the prospect of the mission had been 
sufficiently gloomy, but on April 21, 1798, the king of the 
Tongans was assassinated by his brother, whose name was 
Finau Lugalala, and this led to war of the most ruthless 
sort. As the report of the murder spread, all law and order 
ceased. The chiefs demanded that the missionaries take 
part in the strife, and upon their refusal so to do, they 
were told that no further protection would be afforded them. 
“Thus they were as sheep in the midst of wolves, exposed 
to all the horrors of war in its most appalling forms; and 
though for a time the influence of some of the chiefs, who 
were inclined to befriend them, afforded them protection, 
their houses were ultimately plundered, they were stripped 
of their wearing apparel, some of them being able to secure 
only a covering of native cloth, their lives being as much 
in danger from the followers of the chiefs who had hitherto 
protected them, as from their avowed enemies. 
“At this sad crisis they managed to get together, and, 
under deeply solemn feelings, they united in imploring the 
divine interposition, and in commending themselves and their 
work to the care and protection of their Father in heaven. 
This meeting must have been of an intensely affecting char- 
acter. It was the last time they met on earth, and that thus 
it would prove, the circumstances under which it took place 
must have been sadly suggestive. These good men felt that 
their lives were in jeopardy every hour, and in their extrem- 
