the French vessel would turn up at Tubuai.

"He took with him Thomas Godwin and William Myson, leaving Watts, who
was master of the other vessel, with me, to attend to the whaling.

"A week after he had sailed I set out to walk to the north end of the
island, where my children were buried. I had with me an active native
boy named Tati--who was carrying some plants and seeds which I intended
planting on and about the children's graves--and two young women. We
started early in the morning, for I intended staying at the north end
till late in the afternoon, whilst the two girls went crayfishing on the
reef.

"About noon I had finished my labours, and then, as it was a beautifully
bright day, I climbed a hill near by, called 'The White Man's Lookout,'
which commanded a clear view of the sea all round the island. It had
been given this name by the natives, who said that Fletcher Christian
and his fellow-mutineer, Edward Young, had often ascended the hill and
gazed out upon the ocean, for they were fearful that at any moment a
King's ship might appear in pursuit of their comrades and themselves.

"I was again feeling somewhat anxious on account of my husband. He
should have returned a week before, for there had been no bad weather,
and I knew that his business at Vavitao should have kept him there only
a day at the most. But the moment I gained the summit of the hill my
heart leapt with joy, for there were two vessels in sight, one of which
I at once recognised as my husband's. They were about a mile distant,
and were running before the wind for the harbour. The strange
vessel, which was a brigantine, was following close astern of our own
schooner--evidently, I thought, my husband is showing her the way into
the lagoon.

"Just as I was preparing to descend the hill my little companion, the
native boy, Tati, drew my attention to four canoes which, in company
with a boat from Captain Watts' schooner, were approaching the vessels.

"'Ah,' I thought, 'Watts has seen the vessels from the whaling station,
and is going out to meet them.'

"But presently something occurred which filled me with terror. When the
boat and canoes were quite close to the vessels, they both luffed,
and fired broadsides into them; the boat and two canoes were evidently
destroyed, and the two remaining canoes at once turned round and headed
for the shore, the brigantine firing at them with guns which I knew to
be long twenty-fours by the sharp sound