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“It’s a desperate venture for all of them,” Stewart continued. “There are Ellison, Hillbrandt, Burkitt, Millward, and Sumner to be left at some island yet to be decided upon. God knows what their fate will be! They have firearms and think they will be able to defend themselves until they can establish friendly relations with the people. But what can five men do against hundreds of savages? We know what the islanders to the westward are like; our experiences at Namuka taught us that. They are as good as dead, in my opinion.”

“They will have a fighting chance at least,” I said. “In any event it will be better than being taken home to be hung.”

“Yes, they were wise to go, no doubt. What chance do you think Morrison has of reaching Batavia?”

We discussed the matter at length. Morrison was an excellent navigator, and five men were ample to work the little schooner. They were provided with a compass and one of Captain Bligh’s charts of the passage through Endeavour Straits; but looked at in the most hopeful light, it seemed doubtful indeed that the Resolution would ever reach Batavia. Stewart told me that the schooner had first gone to the district of Papara, on the southern side of Tahiti, to pick up McIntosh, Hillbrandt, and Millward. It was possible, he thought, that the schooner might still be there.