hey
are plainly in sight."

I jumped back again amongst the natives. I knew that they would have
already seen the coming boats had they not been toiling so hard, so I
called to Niabon to open another bottle of grog and serve it out.

"Hurry, hurry, O strong men," I cried, as we moved the boat another foot
astern, "else shall I be laughed at by the king's white men, for two
boats are coming. And instead of twenty it shall be forty sticks of
tobacco each if ye get this boat in the water before the king's men are
here to laugh at me."

The poor beggars were working like Trojans, their naked bodies streaming
with perspiration, as Niabon held out to each of them half a pannikinful
of raw gin, which was tossed off at one swallow. Then both she and
Lucia, who was now on the reef, began digging the promised tobacco out
of a case with sheath knives.

"Don't bother to count the sticks!" I cried, as the boat made a sudden
move and was kept going for nearly a dozen feet. "Toss out about half of
the case and be ready to jump on board and get under cover."

At last, with a yell of satisfaction from the natives, the stern post
was seen to be over the ledge of the coral, and then with one final
effort the boat went into the water with a splash like a sperm whale
"breaching."

"Now, in with everything," I shouted to Tematau, as one glance showed
me the two boats, now less than half a mile away, coming along at what
seemed to me to be infernal speed.

Tematau and the natives made a rush at the boxes of stores, bundles of
sails, water breakers, and everything else, and tumbled them on board
anyhow, Lucia and Niabon taking the lighter articles from them and
dropping them into the cabin, so as to give us more deck room, whilst I
ran up the jib, and big Tepi the mainsail.

"Take all the loose tobacco there, my friends," cried Niabon to the
fishermen, who with panting bosoms stood looking at us as if we had all
gone mad, "and here are the four bottles of _rom_."

One of them sprang to the side of the boat just as I, feeling every
moment that I should drop with exhaustion, pushed her off with an oar
into deep water. And then we heard a chorus of yells and cries from the
two boats, as we eased off the jib and main sheets, and Niabon put her
before the wind. Then _crack! crack!_ and two bullets went through the
mainsail just below the peak, and I heard Tolly's voice shouting to me
to bring to again.

"Come aft here, you two," I crie