The South Sea Island
men and the young Englishman who were there remembered all their
lives what Patteson had said that evening; partly because these men
themselves had seen him brave such a death as Stephen's again and
again, and, indeed, they had themselves stood in peril by his side
face to face with threatening savages, but even more because of the
adventure that came to them on the next day.
At dawn they sighted land, and by eleven o'clock they were so near
that they could see, shimmering in the heat of the midsummer sun, the
white beach of coral sand and the drooping palms that make all the
island of Nukapu green.[33] Looking out under their hands to the
island, the men aboard _The Southern Cross_ could see four great
canoes, with their sails set, hovering like hawks about the circling
reef which lay between them and the island. On the reef the blue waves
beat and broke into a gleaming line of cool white foam.
The slight breeze was hardly strong enough to help the ship to make
the island. It was as though she knew the danger of that day and would
not carry Patteson and his men into the perils that lay hidden behind
the beauty of that island of Nukapu.
Patteson knew the danger. He knew that, but a little time before their
visit, white men had come in a ship, had let down their boats and
rowed to the men of the island, had pretended to make friends, and
then, shooting some and capturing others, had sped back to the ship,
carrying off the captives to work for them on the island of Fiji.
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