Captain Morgan
stopped to throw out the anchor of his little boat and then stepped
out and went ashore, leaving his crew of four brown islanders resting
on their oars.
Williams and his two companions scrambled up the stony beach over
the grey stones and boulders alongside the tumbling brook for over a
hundred yards. Turning to the right they were lost to sight from the
water-edge. Captain Morgan was just following them when he heard a
terrified yell from the crew in the boat.
Williams and his friends had gone into the bush, Harris in front,
Cunningham next, and Williams last. Suddenly Harris, who had
disappeared in the bush, rushed out followed by yelling savages with
clubs. Harris rushed down the bank of the brook, stumbled, and fell
in. The water dashed over him, and the Erromangans, with the red fury
of slaughter in their eyes, leapt in and beat in his skull with clubs.
Cunningham, with a native at his heels with lifted club, stooped,
picked up a great pebble and hurled it full at the savage who was
pursuing him. The man was stunned. Turning again, Cunningham leapt
safely into the boat.
Williams, leaving the brook, had rushed down the beach to leap into
the sea. Reaching the edge of the water, where the beach falls steeply
into the sea, he slipped on a pebble and fell into the water.
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