Mr. Gilbert Was
Congratulating Himself Upon Having Succeeded In Learning To Plat; And,
When He Had Nearly Completed A Yard,
He retired with John to their tent.
This was about 7 o'clock; and I stretched myself upon the ground as
Usual, at a little distance from the fire, and fell into a dose, from
which I was suddenly roused by a loud noise, and a call for help from
Calvert and Roper. Natives had suddenly attacked us. They had doubtless
watched our movements during the afternoon, and marked the position of
the different tents; and, as soon as it was dark, sneaked upon us, and
threw a shower of spears at the tents of Calvert, Roper, and Gilbert, and
a few at that of Phillips, and also one or two towards the fire. Charley
and Brown called for caps, which I hastened to find, and, as soon as they
were provided, they discharged their guns into the crowd of the natives,
who instantly fled, leaving Roper and Calvert pierced with several
spears, and severely beaten by their waddies. Several of these spears
were barbed, and could not be extracted without difficulty. I had to
force one through the arm of Roper, to break off the barb; and to cut
another out of the groin of Mr. Calvert. John Murphy had succeeded in
getting out of the tent, and concealing himself behind a tree, whence he
fired at the natives, and severely wounded one of them, before Brown had
discharged his gun. Not seeing Mr. Gilbert, I asked for him, when Charley
told me that our unfortunate companion was no more! He had come out of
his tent with his gun, shot, and powder, and handed them to him, when he
instantly dropped down dead. Upon receiving this afflicting intelligence,
I hastened to the spot, and found Charley's account too true. He was
lying on the ground at a little distance from our fire, and, upon
examining him, I soon found, to my sorrow, that every sign of life had
disappeared. The body was, however, still warm, and I opened the veins of
both arms, as well as the temporal artery, but in vain; the stream of
life had stopped, and he was numbered with the dead.
As soon as we recovered from the panic into which we were thrown by this
fatal event, every precaution was taken to prevent another surprise; we
watched through the night, and extinguished our fires to conceal our
individual position from the natives.
A strong wind blew from the southward, which made the night air
distressingly cold; it seemed as if the wind blew through our bodies.
Under all the circumstances that had happened, we passed an anxious
night, in a state of most painful suspense as to the fate of our still
surviving companions. Mr. Roper had received two or three spear wounds in
the scalp of his head; one spear had passed through his left arm, another
into his cheek below the jugal bone, and penetrated the orbit, and
injured the optic nerve, and another in his loins, besides a heavy blow
on the shoulder.
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