第23章

Instant confusion on both sides took place.Baneelon and Colbee disappeared and several spears were thrown from different quarters,though without effect.

Our party retreated as fast as they could,calling to those who were left in the boat,to hasten up with firearms.A situation more distressing than that of the governor,during the time that this lasted,cannot readily be conceived:the pole of the spear,not less than ten feet in length,sticking out before him,and impeding his flight,the butt frequently striking the ground,and lacerating the wound.In vain did Mr.Waterhouse try to break it;and the barb,which appeared on the other side,forbade extraction,until that could be performed.At length it was broken,and his excellency reached the boat,by which time the seamen with the muskets had got up,and were endeavouring to fire them,but one only would go off,and there is no room to believe that it was attended with any execution.

When the governor got home,the wound was examined.It had bled a good deal in the boat,and it was doubtful whether the subclavian artery might not be divided.On moving the spear,it was found,however,that it might be safely extracted,which was accordingly performed.

Apprehension for the safety of the party who had gone to Broken Bay,now took place.Lieutenant Long,with a detachment of marines,was immediately sent to escort them back,lest any ambush might be laid by the natives to cut them off.When Mr.Long reached Manly Cove,the sun had set;however,he pursued his way in the dark,scrambling over rocks and thickets,as well as he could,until two o'clock on the following morning,when he overtook them at a place where they had halted to sleep,about half-way between the two harbours.

At day-break they all returned,and were surprised to find tracks in the sand of the feet of the Indians,almost the whole way from the place where they had slept to the Cove.By this it should seem as if these last had secretly followed them,probably with hostile intentions but,on discovering their strength,and that they were on their guard,had abandoned their design.

On reaching Manly Cove,three Indians were observed standing on a rock,with whom they entered into conversation.The Indians informed them,that the man who had wounded the governor belonged to a tribe residing at Broken Bay,and they seemed highly to condemn what he had done.

Our gentlemen asked them for a spear,which they immediately gave.

The boat's crew said that Baneelon and Colbee had just departed,after a friendly intercourse.Like the others,they had pretended highly to disapprove the conduct of the man who had thrown the spear,vowing to execute vengeance upon him.

From this time,until the 14th,no communication passed between the natives and us.On that day,the chaplain and lieutenant Dawes,having Abaroo with them in a boat,learned from two Indians that Wileemarin was the name of the person who had wounded the governor.These two people inquired kindly how his excellency did,and seemed pleased to hear that he was likely to recover.They said that they were inhabitants of Rose Hill,and expressed great dissatisfaction at the number of white men who had settled in their former territories.In consequence of which declaration,the detachment at that post was reinforced on the following day.

A hazardous enterprise (but when liberty is the stake,what enterprise is too hazardous for its attainment!)was undertaken in this month by five convicts at Rose Hill,who,in the night,seized a small punt there,and proceeded in her to the South Head,whence they seized and carried off a boat,appropriated to the use of the lookout house,and put to sea in her,doubtless with a view of reaching any port they could arrive at,and asserting their freedom.They had all come out in the last fleet;and for some time previous to their elopement,had been collecting fishing tackle,and hoarding up provisions,to enable them to put their scheme into execution.

[They have never since been heard of.Before they went away,they tried in vain to procure firearms.If they were not swallowed by the sea,probably they were cut off by the natives,on some part of the coast where their necessities obliged them to land.]