Thus matters moved along, the noise and fun increasing, until the hour of twelve, at which time the guard were to return to head-quarters, make their report, and be relieved. As the bell tolled forth the hour, they seemed to regain possession of their senses; visions of the guard-house floated across their minds, and they well knew it was their doom unless they immediately departed. But now all was confusion: “Where is my musket?” was the general cry; but no muskets were to be found. They raved and swore, but all to no purpose; no one could tell what had become of them. On hearing the sound of the first relief bell, they rushed for the door pell-mell, and found their officer had already taken his departure. They waited no longer, but ran down the streets at full speed. As soon as they were out of sight, Tom took the muskets, carried them to the river, and, wading to a considerable depth, _safely deposited_ the “government arms,” and then returned to the house, where the dance was kept up without farther interruption. The next morning all hands took leave of the goodly city of Guam, and returned to their respective ships. One evening before our departure a delegation from each ship in port visited the fort near the anchorage. We found it a solid piece of masonry, mounting six guns of eighteen pounds calibre. It is entirely surrounded by water, and guarded by a few soldiers. About 2 A.M. the several delegations returned, and at daylight a _small army_ was seen approaching. Wondering what could be the cause of this, we were all on the _qui vive_ for news. We soon learned that they had come to _retake the fort_! It appears that the whalemen had gone for a lark, and had driven the soldiers ashore from the fort, taken possession of it, unshipped the guns, and turned things around to their own liking—spilling things generally. The conquering army approached the premises very cautiously, and, after considerable manœuvring, entered, but found the premises vacant, thus obtaining a great and bloodless victory. No doubt they considered it a great achievement, and had it proclaimed as such among their countrymen. Every thing being now “shipshape and Bristol fashion,” we took our departure for the Japan ground, determined to give battle to the sperm whale _this_ season as we had never before done, knowing that every whale that we now captured shortened our voyage materially. CHAPTER XXIII.