negro village. We were going to pass round
it when some of the natives saw us, and we agreed that it would be best
to put a bold face on the matter, and to march openly into the village.
Bigg did his utmost to talk over the people, but I suspect that his
language betrayed him. They collected in numbers, and by their gestures
it appeared to us that they contemplated detaining us. To this it would
not do to submit; so having observed a path which we believed led down
to the sea, we hurried along it, Alfred leading. We supposed that there
was no person of authority in the village to stop us, and we agreed that
it would be wiser to go ahead before one should arrive. We looked round
every now and then; when at length we saw that no one was watching us,
we pushed on as fast as we could go. It was generally a descent, but
now and then we had to climb a hill. At the top of one we saw the sea
glittering below before us, and what was our delight to observe three
boats pulling in towards the shore from a man-of-war brig, which we had
no doubt was the _Star_. On we ran faster than ever, and good cause we
had to do so, for some loud shouts made us look behind, when we saw a
whole posse of natives brandishing their spears and running after us at
the top of their speed. Still the boats appeared to be too far off to
reach the shore before the natives would overtake us. On they came with
dreadful shrieks and cries. As far as we could see, on looking back,
none of them had firearms, and had I chosen, of course I could have
picked off two, and perhaps even more, before they could have got up to
us; but I was most unwilling to shed blood, and besides, I thought that
if matters could be explained to the natives they might be disposed to
be friends instead of enemies.

Still, unfortunately, this could not under the present juncture be
ascertained. What we had to do was to keep out of their way. Lightly
clad as they were, they ran very fast; so did we. The people in the
boats pulling in towards the shore must have seen them, we fancied, and
gave way with a will to get in in time to assist us. I looked at the
savages, and then I looked at the boats, and I felt utterly hopeless
that this could be done. The blacks were almost close enough to have
hurled their spears at us, when, as I had given up all hope of escape, a
loud cheer saluted our ears close to us, and Mr Henley with a dozen
blue jackets well armed, appeared from behind