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"It sounded to me uncommon like the cry of a wounded man," said McCoy. "Didn't sound like that to me," returned Quintal; "more like Mainmast callin' her husband to dinner." As he spoke, Tetaheite appeared at the edge of the garden with a musket in his hand, the other two natives remaining concealed in the bushes.
The process of interrogation was conducted chiefly by Isabella, alias Mainmast, the wife of Fletcher Christian, and Susannah, the wife of Edward Young; and it was interesting to note how anxious were the native men, Talaloo, Timoa, Ohoo, Nehow, Tetaheite, and Menalee. They were evidently as concerned about the safety of the child as were the white men.
Tetaheite and Menalee then both sprang upon him, but he nearly throttled the one, tripped up the other, and, succeeding by a violent wrench in breaking loose, once more took to his heels. In running, the Otaheitans were no match for him. He gradually left them behind. Then Timoa called out to him to stop.
John Adams, William Brown, and Isaac Martin were working in their own gardens near their respective houses, and Quintal was resting in his hut. So was Edward Young, who, having been at work since early morning, had lain down and fallen into a deep slumber. The three native men, Timoa, Nehow, and Tetaheite, were still away in the woods.
He raised his gun to fire, when a squeaky grunt told him that this was a mother reposing with her family. He contented himself, therefore, with a look at them, and gave vent to a shout that sent them scampering down the hill. Soon after that he came upon a solitary animal and shot it. The report of the musket and the accompanying yell brought the Otaheitan man Tetaheite to his side.
Menalee did not at first seem as much pleased as his comrades had expected, nevertheless, he agreed to go with them. "How shall we kill Mills and McCoy?" asked Timoa, in a low whisper. "Shoot them," answered Menalee; "you have three muskets." "But they also have muskets," objected Tetaheite, "and are good shots. If we miss them, some of us shall be dead men at once."
In this work he was ably assisted by Sally, and also by Young's widow, Susannah. We have mentioned this woman as being one of the youngest of the Otaheitans. She was also one of the most graceful, and, strange to say, though it was she who killed Tetaheite, she was by nature one of the gentlest of them all. The school never became a prison-house to these islanders, either women or children.
Their names were Talaloo, Ohoo, Timoa, Nehow, Tetaheite, and Menalee. Three of these had wives, and one of the wives had a baby girl by a former husband. The European sailors named the infant Sally. She was a round light-brown embodiment of gleeful impudence, and had barely reached the staggering age of infancy when taken on board the Bounty to begin her strange career.
Sometimes the other native men, Tetaheite and Menalee, joined Nehow and Timoa in working in Young's garden, and afterwards went with them into the bush, where they planned the attack which was afterwards made. At last the lowering cloud was fully charged, and the thunderbolt fell. The planting time came round at Pitcairn, and all was busy activity in the little settlement at Bounty Bay.
When Timoa crept forward, Tetaheite was standing near to a large bush, watching with intense interest the ongoings of Christian, Adams, and Young.
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