The bravery of one of these assailants well deserves to be particularly mentioned; for, having returned to carry off his companion, amidst the fire of our whole party, a wound which he received made him quit the body and retire; but, in a few minutes, he again appeared, and being again wounded, he was obliged a second time to retreat.  At this moment I arrived at the morai, and saw him return the third time, bleeding and faint; and being informed of what had happened, I forbade the soldiers to fire, and he was suffered to carry off his friend; which he was just able to perform, and then fell down himself, and expired.

About this time a strong reinforcement from both ships having landed, the natives retreated behind their walls; which, giving me access to our friendly priests, I sent one of them to endeavour to bring their countrymen to some terms, and to propose to them, that if they would desist from throwing stones, I would not permit our men to fire.  This truce was agreed to; and we were suffered to launch the mast, and carry off the sails, and our astronomical apparatus, unmolested.  As soon as we had quitted the morai, they took possession of it, and some of them threw a few stones, but without doing us any mischief.

It was half an hour past eleven o’clock when I got on board the Discovery, where I found no decisive plan had been adopted for our future proceedings.  The restitution of the boat, and the recovery of the body of Captain Cook, were the objects which, on all hands, we agreed to insist on; and it was my opinion that some vigorous steps should be taken, in case the demand of them was not immediately complied with.

Though my feelings, on the death of a beloved and honoured friend, may be suspected to have had some share in this opinion, yet there were certainly other reasons, and those of the most serious kind, that had considerable weight with me.  The confidence which their success in killing our chief, and forcing us to quit the shore, must naturally have inspired; and the advantage, however trifling, which they had obtained over us the preceding day, would, I had no doubt, encourage them to make some further dangerous attempts; and the more especially, as they had little reason, from what they had hitherto seen, to dread the effects of our fire-arms.  Indeed, contrary to the expectations of every one, this sort of weapon had produced no signs of terror in them.  On our side, such was the condition of the ships, and the state of discipline amongst us, that had a vigorous attack been made on us in the night, it would have been impossible to answer for the consequences.

In these apprehensions, I was supported by the opinion of most of the officers on board; and nothing seemed to me so likely to encourage the natives to make the attempt, as the appearance of our being inclined to an accommodation, which they could only attribute to weakness or fear.