But We Were Too Late To Capture Any Of The Men, For I Need Hardly Tell The
Reader That Never
Had we intended to make use of the curt arguments that
Lizzie had relied upon for cutting off the abrupt
Exit of her quondam
friends; it would be quite time enough to commence a system of reprisals
when it was ascertained that the blacks had actually been guilty of any
atrocity. At present it was mere surmise on our part, and putting
altogether on one side the natural reluctance to shed blood, an aggressive
policy would have been an unwise one, engendering, as it infallibly would,
a bad feeling against any other luckless mariners whom the winds and the
waves might in time to come cast upon the inhospitable shores of
Hinchinbrook Island.
The sudden report of Jack's carbine, which occasioned a momentary halt, and
the few seconds required to burst through the scrub, afforded sufficient
time for the male portion of the encampment to make their escape at speed,
in different directions, some taking to the water, where they were picked
up by the fishermen in the canoes; others diving into the nearest cover,
and being lost to sight without hope of recovery. The women and children
followed the tactics usual on such occasions, and flung themselves into a
heap, similar in colour and contour to that described in a previous
chapter, when we searched the Herbert River. The same thing took place
again exactly; we sat down in a circle round them, waiting for the
deafening "yabbering" to die away, which "yabbering" burst forth in all its
pristine discord, whenever one of the party made the slightest movement.
Time and patience, however, had the desired effect, restoring tone to their
not over sensitive systems, and at the expiration of half an hour, we could
distinguish sharp, bead-like black eyes peering at us out of the mass,
which had now sunk into silence, but burst out again louder than ever, when
Lizzie made her appearance from one of the gunyahs - perhaps the paternal
roof, who knows? - where she had retired, swelling with indignation, and
as sulky as a whole team of mules. Finding that no one took any notice of
her, and half an hour's reflection having, I suppose, convinced her, that
if she wanted to make a display before her relations, now was the time, her
ladyship came slowly up to the circle, and commenced an attack on poor
Dunmore, as she knew him best. To transcribe her words would be
impossible, for she put in a native sentence whenever she found herself at
a loss for an English one, but the burden of her plaint was this: -
"Plenty d - d fooly fellow, white fellow" - a string of Hinchinbrook
vernacular - "Baal you been shoot 'em like 'it dingo" - more
Hinchinbrook, but evidently, from the accompanying gestures, indicative of
intense disgust - "Baal mine take any more along of black fellow camp" -
half sobs - "Baal mine care suppose you fellow all go like 'it - "
And she summarily consigned us to the bottomless pit, as the only place at
all suited for such stupid idiots who could refrain from shooting blacks
when so grand an opportunity presented itself. Her eyes flashed fire as
she delivered herself of her woes, and at the concluding sentence she
stamped her little foot, and flinging a short waddy she held, with
remarkable dexterity and no mean force, into the midst of the sable mass,
she turned round to depart with the dignity of a tragedy queen, when
Dunmore jumped up, caught her, and holding her wrist, walked off a little
way from us.
"You like 'it one fine fellow red shirt, Lizzie? Mine give you one with
'plenty long tail'. Baal any other gin along of camp have shirt like 'it
you; and when piccaninny sit down" (for there was a prospect of her
presenting Ferdinand with a little pledge of affection), "mine give that
fellow two budgeree flour-bag shirts, suppose only you good fellow girl
Lizzie."
Evidently, Dunmore knew the way to the young lady's heart - we nicknamed
him "Faust" afterwards - for at the mention of the red shirt, with the
lengthy tails, her eyes lost their fierceness, and the allusion to the
piccaninny completed his victory, and changing at once from one extreme to
the other, as only a black or a child can, Miss Lizzie took her seat in the
circle, lighted her pipe, commenced nodding to, and chatting most affably
with, her relatives, and looking so kind, that it seemed impossible to
believe that an intense longing for bloodshed and cruelty had so shortly
before lurked in the breast of the pretty, smiling little savage who was
now beside us.
During the task of pacifying Lizzie, the "heap" had again sunk into
comparative silence, and only a confused murmur was audible from its
depths. Allowing no time to be lost, Dunmore said to Lizzie - who was
puffing out huge mouthfuls of smoke, greatly to the astonishment of the
other gins, who looked as if they expected to see her suddenly blaze up -
"Lizzie, you ask, suppose they been see any white fellow on island? White
fellow in plenty big canoe. That fellow canoe been come like 'it shore.
You tell them, 'Baal white fellow hurt you, suppose you been show, where
brother belonging to him sit down.' You tell them that, Lizzie."
Lizzie proceeded with the greatest gravity, and evidently with an
overwhelming sense of self-importance, to put the required questions,
whilst we anxiously awaited her replies.
"Well, what they been say?" exclaimed Dunmore at last, when there was a
momentary break in the conversation.
I should imagine that the vernacular of the Hinchinbrook Islanders was not
pre-eminently adapted for the noble intricacies of diplomatic intrigue. In
the first place it contains but few words, and none representing any number
higher than five, so that even the courtly nobleman now presiding over
Foreign Affairs, would find the smooth flow of his amenities subjected to
rude shocks; and as for expressing any large number either in words or
figures - say, for instance, the Alabama indemnity of three millions - to
do so, would tax to the utmost the genius of the late Chancellor of the
Exchequer.
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