They had offered to
make the Hawaiian boy a great chief among them if he would steal more
ammunition for the Indians, wet all the priming of the white men's
arms, and join the conspiracy to let the savages get possession of fort
and ship. In the history of American pathfinding, no explorer was ever
in greater {234} danger. Less than a score of whites against two
thousand armed warriors! Scarcely any ammunition had been brought in
from the _Columbia_. All the swivels of the dismantled ship were lying
on the bank. Gray instantly took advantage of high tide to get the
ship on her sea legs, and out from the bank. Swivels were trundled
with all speed back to the decks. For that night a guard watched the
fort; but the next night, when the assault was expected, all hands were
on board, provisions had been stowed in the hold, and small arms were
loaded. The men were still to mid-waist in water, scraping barnacles
from the keel, when a whoop sounded from the shore; but the change in
the ship's position evidently upset the plans of the savages, for they
withdrew.
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