[Note: this transcription was produced by an automatic OCR engine]

LOLOWAY——MALO-—THE BANKS ISLANDS 267

anchorage where I supposed the launch to be. The
wind had dropped a little, but it was still pouring,
and the walk through the slippery, devastated forest,
up and down steep hills and gullies, across fallen
trees, in a thick, oppressive fog, was strenuous
enough. In the afternoon, hearing that the launch
was somewhere near, we descended to the coast,
where we came upon the captain and the crew. They
had managed to anchor the launch at the outbreak
of the storm, and had camped in an old hut on the
beach; but the huge waves, breaking over the reef,
had created such a current along the beach that the
launch had dragged her anchors, and was now caught
in the worst of the waves and would surely go down
shortly. Unfortunately the captain had sent the
dinghey ashore some time before coming to this bay,
so that there was no means whatever of reaching the
launch. The rising sea had threatened to wash
away the hut, and the captain, leaving the boat to
her fate, had gone camping inland.

I went down to the beach to see for myself how
things stood, and was forced to admit that the man
had not exaggerated. In the midst of the raging surf
the launch rocked to and fro, and threatening waves
rose on every side and often seemed to cover her.
Still she was holding her own, and had evidently
not struck a rock as yet ; and if her cables held out,
hope was not lost. I watched her fight for life for
some time, and she defended herself more gallantly
than I should ever have expected from so clumsy a
craft; but I had little hope. We spent a miserable