While this was going on, others of the men stood to their arms, guns were cast loose and loaded, and every precaution taken against a surprise.
The reason for all this was that quite a fleet of long canoes, propelled by paddles, suddenly began to glide out from behind one of the islands, each canoe seeming to contain from eighty to a hundred men.
The effect was beautiful, for the long, dark vessels, with their grotesque, quaintly carved prows and sterns, seemed to be like some strange living creatures working along paths of silver, so regularly went the paddles, turning the sea into lines of dazzling light.
The men were armed with spears and tomahawks, and as they came nearer, some could be seen wearing black feathers tipped with white stuck in their hair, while their dark, nearly naked bodies glistened in the sun like bronze.
"Are they coming to attack us, Jem?" said Don, who began to feel a strange thrill of excitement.
"Dessay they"d like to, Mas" Don; but it strikes me they"d think twice about it. Why, we could sail right over those long thin boats of theirs, and send "em all to the bottom."
Just then there was an order from the deck, and more sail was taken in, till the ship hardly moved, as the canoes came dashing up, the men of the foremost singing a mournful kind of chorus as they paddled on.
"Ship ahoy!" suddenly came from the first canoe. "What ship"s that?"
"His Majesty"s sloop-of-war _Golden Danae_," shouted back the first lieutenant from the chains. "Tell your other boats to keep back, or we shall fire."
"No, no, no: don"t do that, sir! They don"t mean fighting," came back from the boat; and a big savage, whose face was blue with tattooing, stood up in the canoe, and then turned and spoke to one of his companions, who rose and shouted to the occupants of the other canoes to cease paddling.
"Speaks good English, sir," said the lieutenant to the captain.
"Yes. Ask them what they want, and if it"s peace."
The lieutenant shouted this communication to the savage in the canoe.
"Want, sir?" came back; "to trade with you for guns and powder, and to come aboard."
"How is it you speak good English?"
"Why, what should an Englishman speak?"
"Then you are not a savage?"
"Now do I look like one?" cried the man indignantly.
"Of course; I forgot--I"m an Englishman on a visit to the country, and I"ve adopted their customs, sir--that"s all."
"Oh, I see," said the lieutenant, laughing; "ornaments and all."
"May they come aboard, sir?"
"Oh, yes; if they leave their arms."
The man communicated this to the occupants of the boat, and there was a good deal of excited conversation for a time.
"That fellow"s a runaway convict for certain, sir," said the lieutenant.
"Shall we get him aboard, and keep him?"
"No. Let him be. Perhaps he will prove very useful."
"The chiefs say it isn"t fair to ask them to come without their arms,"
said the tattooed Englishman. "How are they to know that you will not be treacherous?"
"Tell them this is a king"s ship, and if they behave themselves they have nothing to fear," said the captain. "Stop! Six of them can come aboard armed if they like. You can lead them and interpret."
"I"ll tell them, sir; but I won"t come aboard, thank you. I"m a bit of a savage now, and the crew might make remarks, and we should quarrel."
He turned to the savages, and the captain and lieutenant exchanged glances, while directly after the canoe was run alongside, and half-a-dozen of the people sprang up the side, and were admitted through the boarding netting to begin striding about the deck in the most fearless way.
They were fine, herculean-looking fellows, broad-shouldered and handsome, and every man had his face tattooed in a curious scroll-like pattern, which ended on the sides of his nose.
Their arms were spears and tomahawks, and two carried by a stout thong to the wrist a curiously carved object, which looked like a model of a paddle in pale green stone, carefully polished, but which on closer inspection seemed to be a weapon for using at close quarters.
As they paraded the deck, with their quick eyes grasping everything, they made no scruple about placing their faces close to those of the sailors, and then drawing themselves up with a conscious look of satisfaction and self-esteem, as they compared their physique with that of their visitors.
One of them, a great fellow of about six feet three, and stout and muscular in proportion, stopped suddenly in front of Jem, at whom he seemed to frown, and turned to Don, upon whose chest he laid the back of his hand.
"Pakeha," he said in a deep voice; "Ngati pakeha."
"Tell him he"s another, Mas" Don," said Jem.
The savage turned fiercely upon Jem, gripping Don"s arm the while.
"Pakeha," he said; "Ngati pakeha. Maori pakeha. My pakeha!"
Then to Don--"You my pakeha. Give me powder--gun."
"Don"t you wish you may get it, old chap?" said Jem. "Wants you to give him powder and gun."
The savage nodded approval.
"Yes," he said; "powder-gun--you give."
A call from one of his companions summoned the savage away, and he joined them to partake of some rum and water, which the captain had had prepared on their behalf.
"Won"t you come up and have some rum?" said the lieutenant to the tattooed Englishman in the boat.
"No, thank you; but you may send me down the bottle if you like, sir.
Look here! Shall I show you where you can anchor?"
The lieutenant glanced at his superior officer, and in answer to his nod turned to the man again.
"Can you show us a safe anchorage?"
"I can show you half-a-dozen, all safe," said the man. "When you like, I"ll lead the way."
"A boat shall follow you, and take soundings."
The first cutter was manned with a well-armed crew, and the lieutenant stepped in--Don and Jem being two of the number.