well without it. They had no intention of
sending hogs or fruit to sell to the Americans. If the Americans
wanted supplies, let them come and take them. The Americans were
cowards, white lizards, and mere dirt. The sailors were weaklings, who
could not climb the Nookaheevan hills without aid from the natives.
This, and much more of the same sort, was the answer of the Typees to
Porter's friendly overtures.

This left no course open to the Americans save to chastise the
insolent barbarians. The departure of the expedition was, however,
delayed until a fort could be built for the protection of the American
village. This work, a sand-bag battery, calculated to mount sixteen
guns, was completed on the 14th of November, and preparations for the
expedition were then begun. And, indeed, it was time that the
Americans showed that they were not to be insulted with impunity.
Already the Taeehs and Happahs were beginning to wonder at the delay,
and rumors spread about the village that the whites were really the
cowards for which the Typees took them. One man, a chief among the
Happahs, was rash enough to call Porter a coward to his face; whereat
the choleric captain seized a gun, and, rushing for the offender, soon
brought him to his knees, the muzzle of the weapon against his head,
begging for mercy. That man was ever after Porter's most able ally
among the natives.

The preparations for war with the Typees were completed, and the
expedition was about to set out, when a new difficulty arose, this
time among the white men. First, a plot was discovered among the
British prisoners for the recapture of the "Essex Junior." Their plan
was to get the crew drunk, by means of drugged rum, and then rise,
seize the vessel, and make off while the American forces were absent
on the Typee expedition. This plot, being discovered, was easily
defeated; and the leaders were put in irons. Then Porter discovered
that disaffection had spread among his crew, which, for a time,
threatened serious consequences. But this danger was averted by the
captain's manly actions and words, which brought the jackies to his
side as one man.

On the 28th of November the long-deferred expedition against the
Typees left the snug quarters on the shore of Massachusetts Bay. The
expedition went by sea, skirting the shore of the island, until a
suitable landing-place near the territory of the hostile tribe was
reached. The "Essex Junior" led the way, followed by five