Luckily, the discovery of the look-out boat prevented the execution of the Abraham’s project, which would have led the pirates directly up to the capital.  But, no sooner did the governor see how things were situated, than he boldly luffed up towards the strangers, intending to divert them from the chase of the Abraham; or, at least, to separate them, in chase of himself.  In this design he was handsomely seconded by Betts, in the Martha, who hauled his wind in the wake of the Anne, and carried everything that would draw, in order to keep his station.  This decision and show of spirit had its effect.  The two brigs, which were most to the southward, altered their course, and edged away for the Anne and Martha, leaving the ship to follow the Abraham alone.  The governor was greatly rejoiced at this, for he had a notion a vessel as large as the strange ship would hesitate about entering the narrow waters, on account of her draught; she being much larger than any craft that had ever been in before, as the Kannakas must know, and would not fail to report to the pirates.  The governor supposed this ship to be a vessel of between six and seven hundred tons measurement.  Her armament appeared to be twelve guns of a side, below, and some eight or ten guns on her quarter-deck and forecastle.  This was a formidable craft in those days, making what was called in the English service, an eight-and-twenty gun frigate, a class of cruisers that were then found to be very useful.  It is true, that the first class modern sloop-of-war would blow one of those little frigates out of water, being several hundred tons larger, with armaments, crews and spars in proportion; but an eight-and-twenty gun frigate offered a very formidable force to a community like that of the crater, and no one knew it better than the governor.

The three strangers all sailed like witches.  It was well for the Abraham that she had a port so close under her lee, or the ship would have had her, beyond the smallest doubt.  As it was she caught it, as she rounded the cape, as close in as she could go, the frigate letting slip at her the whole of her starboard broadside, which cut away the schooner’s gaff, jib-stay, and main-topmast, besides killing, a Kannaka, who was in the main-cross-trees at the time.  This last occurrence turned out to be fortunate, in the main, however, since it induced all the Kannakas to believe that the strangers were their enemies, in particular; else why kill one of their number, when there were just as many colonists as Kannakas to shoot at!

As the governor expected, the ship did not venture to follow the Abraham in.  That particular passage, in fact, was utterly unknown to Waally, and those with him, and he could not give such an account of it as would encourage the admiral to stand on.  Determined not to lose time unnecessarily, the latter hauled short off shore, and made sail in chase of the Anne and Martha, which, by this time, were about