he had but three.  Each of these shot had been fired several times, in his wars with Ooroony, and clays had been spent in hunting them up, after they had done their work, and of replacing them in the chief’s magazine.  Brown could not say that they had done much mischief, having, in every instance, being fired at long distances, and with a very uncertain aim.  The business of sighting guns was not very well understood by the great mass of Christians, half a century since; and it is not at all surprising that savages should know little or nothing about it.  Waally’s gunners, according to Brown’s account of the matter, could never be made to understand that the bore of a gun was not exactly parallel to its exterior surface, and they invariably aimed too high, by sighting along the upper side of the piece.  This same fault is very common with the inexperienced in using a musket; for, anxious to get a sight of the end of their piece, they usually stick it up into the air and overshoot their object.  It was the opinion of Brown, on the whole, that little was to be apprehended from Waally’s fire-arms.  The spear and club were the weapons to be dreaded; and with these the islanders were said to be very expert.  But the disparity in numbers was the main ground of apprehension.

When Brown was told how near the schooner was to being launched, he earnestly begged the governor, to let him and Bigelow go to work and put her into the water, immediately.  Everything necessary to a cruise was on board her, even to her provisions and water, the arrangements having been made to launch her with her sails bent; and, once in the water, Bill thought she would prove of the last importance to the defence.  If the worst came to the worst, all hands could get on board her, and by standing through some of the channels that were clear of canoes, escape into the open water.  Once there, Waally could do nothing with them, and they might be governed by circumstances.

Woolston viewed things a little differently.  He loved the Reef; it had become dear to him by association and history, and he did not relish the thought of abandoning it.  There was too much property at risk, to say nothing of the ship, which would doubtless be burned for its metals, should the Indians get possession, even for a day.  In that ship he had sailed; in that ship he had been married; in that ship his daughter had been born; and in that ship Bridget loved still to dwell, even more than she affected all the glories of the Eden of the Peak.  That ship was not to be given up to savages without a struggle Nor did Mark believe anything would be gained by depriving the men of their rest during the accustomed hours.  Early in the morning, with the light itself, he did intend to have Bigelow under the schooner’s bottom; but he saw no occasion for his working in the dark.  Launching was a delicate business, and some accident might happen in the obscurity.  After talking the matter over, therefore, all hands retired to rest, leaving one woman at the crater, and one on board the ship, on the look-out; women being preferred to men, on this occasion, in order that the latter might reserve their strength for the coming struggle.