seized and held as hostages. However, they kept a sharp lookout, and when Robson's punitive expedition prepared to land the fact was soon known along the coast.
Just before the men from the Hunter left the ship a fleet of canoes arrived from Bau. They had come at the behest of Ratu Naulivou to escort back the white gunners who had been absent from Bau for the greater part of the year. The Bau warriors were soon induced to take part in the forthcoming fight and a hundred of them landed with the crew of the Hunter and Savage's musketeers.
There was no opposition to the landing and only a few men appeared in the distance as the war party neared the first village. Thinking that they had gained an easy victory and that the defenders had fled into the hills, the warriors fired the first village. The next moment they were all startled by a vakacaucau, the war cry of the Wailea folk, indicating that they had killed an enemy. The cry came from behind the attackers and between their present position and the boats. They were cut off from their boats and out of range of the ship's guns.
The vakacaucau launched an attack on all sides, and confused fighting broke out. Dillon saw the mate Norman, in charge of the expedition, speared through the chest and one of Savage's men, Graham, killed. He then took command and tried to fight his way out of the trap. He succeeded in getting into open ground but at a terrible cost, most of his men being cut down. With only five other survivors, one of whom was Savage, he gained the top of a rock pinnacle that gave an all-round field of fire. There the six men held the Waileans at bay.
At the base of the rock the Wailea warriors were yelling and milling around, while a little further away, but still in full view of Dillon and Savage, the bodies of their friends were being prepared for the ovens.
After the excitement had died down the Fijians realized that the men on the rock could not escape. Savage began talking to the enraged warriors below, reminding them that eight prisoners had been taken by the ship in earlier fighting and were still held on board, among them a brother of the bete, ot priest. Savage warned that if they were killed the prisoners would immediately be put to death. The warriors shouted back their derison at this, but the bete pushed his way forward, obviously anxious about the fate of his brother. An offer was made to exchange one man at a time and all turned to the seaman named Dafny to suggest that he should be the one to test the verity of the Fijians' offer. He was injured and unarmed, having lost his musket in the scramble up the rock.
Dafny, after some understandable argument on his part, made his way down the rock and, closely escorted by the bete, who had to push aside several of the yelling and threatening warriors, stumbled to the shore. From their position high on the rock the others were able to see his head moving among the densely packed crowd below. Then Dafny himself was visible as he came to the beach and was helped into a canoe. They also saw the canoe reach the side of the ship swinging at anchor a mile offshore, and watched the injured seaman being helped over the rail.
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