It will be remembered that he had always found the entering one of their canoes a sure way of disarming suspicion, and he at once complied.  Mr. Atkin afterwards said he thought he caught the word ‘Tabu,’ as if in warning, and saw a basket with yams and other fruits presented; and those acquainted with the customs of the Polynesians — -the race to which these islanders belonged—­say that this is sometimes done that an intended victim may unconsciously touch something tabu, and thus may become a lawful subject for a blow, and someone may have tried to warn him.

There was a delay of about twenty minutes; and then two canoes went with the one containing the Bishop, the two chiefs, Moto and Taula, who had before been so friendly to him, being in them.  The tide was so low that it was necessary to wade over the reef, and drag the canoes across to the deeper lagoon within.  The boat’s crew could not follow; but they could see the Bishop land on the beach, and there lost sight of him.

The boat had been about half-an-hour drifting about in company with the canoes, and there had been some attempt at talk, when suddenly, at about ten yards off, without any warning, a man stood up in one of them, and calling out, ‘Have you anything like this?’ shot off one of the yard-long arrows, and his companions in the other two canoes began shooting as quickly as possible, calling out, as they aimed, ‘This for New Zealand man!  This for Bauro man!  This for Mota man!’ The boat was pulled back rapidly, and was soon out of range, but not before three out of the four had been struck; James only escaped by throwing himself back on the seat, while an arrow had nailed John’s cap to his head, Mr. Atkin had one in his left shoulder, and poor Stephen lay in the bottom of the boat, ‘trussed,’ as Mr. Brooke described it, with six arrows in the chest and shoulders.

It was about two hours since they had left the ship when they reached it again:  and Mr. Atkin said, ’We are all hurt? as they were helped on board; but no sooner had the arrow-head, formed of human bone, and acutely sharp, been extracted, than he insisted on going back to find his Bishop.  He alone knew the way by which the reef could be crossed in the now rising tide, so that his presence was necessary.  Meantime Mr. Brooke extracted as best he might the arrows from poor Stephen.

‘We two Bisope,’ said the poor fellow, meaning that he shared the same fate as the Bishop.

As Joseph Wate, a lad of fifteen, Mr. Atkin’s Malanta godson and pupil, wrote afterwards, ’Joe said to me and Sapi, “We are going to look for the Bishop, are you two afraid?”

’"No, why should I be afraid?”

’"Very well, you two go and get food for yourselves, and bring a beaker full of water for us all, for we shall have to lie on our oars a long time to-day."’

The others who pulled the boat were Charles Sapinamba, a sailor, and Mr. Bongarde, the mate, who carried a pistol, for the first time in the records of the ‘Southern Cross.’