The hawser was safe for the present; another minute and it was hauled taut and taken to the windlass, the tension bringing it above the surface. A boat's crew, well armed, remained on the point to protect that end; and in order to divide it at any point, the person attempting it must raise his head out of water and expose himself to almost certain death; for keen eyes were sighting loaded muskets both from the taffrail and the beach. We hove a severe strain at the windlass, but it was evident we could not start her yet; we must wait the rise of the tide, and, in the mean time, our chief attention must be devoted to the protection of our hawser. If our enemies could divide this, they would gain time and assemble a large force so as to overpower and massacre the whole of us. The division from the north side of the island were apparently all in sight now, and were forming a junction with their comrades, the whole force amounting to about forty canoes with two hundred fighting men, their arms being clubs and spears of wood, set thickly with rows of shark's teeth. We made no attempt to prevent the junction of the two fleets, for we did not mean to waste a charge of powder, but reserve it for an emergency. If we could protect our hawser and get another hour or two of flood tide, we did not fear a legion of them when under way; and this we hoped to effect before the arrival of the fleet from Woodle's island, which numbered some thirty canoes more. The women and children of the island, with a few old men whose fighting days were gone by, had all assembled on the beach at a short distance from the ship, anxiously waiting the progress of events. They kept up a terrible yelling and shouting to the warriors in the canoes, apparently urging them on to attack us. After a time, becoming emboldened by impunity, a party of them ran down on the rocks ahead of the ship, and saluted us with a volley of stones, some of which came in over the bows, falling among us. To get rid of this annoyance the six-pounder, with only a charge of powder and wad was now trained in that direction and fired over their heads. The effect was all we could have desired; the rabble retreated to what they considered a safe distance, and ventured no more within range. From time to time we tried a little additional strain on the hawser, and at length had the satisfaction of feeling the ship tremble and waver a little under our efforts. On sounding now we found thirteen feet as far forward as the fore-swifter, and it was evident we hung by only a few feet of the keel from the cutwater aft.