16 ADVENTURES IN THE SOUTH SEAS 
“In the evening two of their number ventured to return 
to their former residence, and finding all quiet in the neigh- 
borhood, the others joined them, deeming it safer to do so 
than to spend the night in the unfrequented place to which 
they had fled. In this, however, they found themselves mis- 
taken; so they removed to an adjacent house belonging to 
a native who professed great friendship, while, as they after- 
ward found, he intended to murder them during the night. 
The eye of the Keeper of Israel was over them; the treach- 
erous native was prevented from carrying his purpose into 
effect, and at break of day they returned to their former 
dwelling, in the hope of finding one of their number, who 
had been separated from them on the previous evening. Be- 
ing unable to obtain any tidings of him, they again betook 
themselves to the wilderness, and sought safety by conceal- 
ing themselves in a wood near the rocks where they had 
found shelter on the previous day. 
“About noon the same day they were surprised by hear- 
ing a native call one of their party by name, and on leaving 
their concealment, they saw numbers fleeing like broken 
ranks of a vanquished army, and they soon learned that 
the fortune of the war had turned, and that the Ahifuans 
were beaten, and many of those who had professed to be 
their friends were killed, and that the principal surviving 
chief had fled to a place farther along the shore, where he 
requested to see them. They joined the fugitives, and fol- 
lowed with the crowd, till they were met by a party of armed 
men, who demanded from them what clothes they had been 
able to retain, but spared their lives. 
“Having obtained some native cloth, it does not appear 
how, they continued with the fugitives, many of whom 
evidently regarded them with no friendly feelings, till they 
reached a thick wood, beyond which a range of craggy rocks 
seemed to promise a place of concealment, and in which they 
were glad to take shelter. And here, in the seclusion and 
comparative quiet which their retreat afforded, they reviewed 
