Lizzie, In Her First Flash Of Pride, As Representing A
Plenipotentiary Armed With Extraordinary Powers, Had Commenced Negotiations
With The
Dignity and slowness of speech adapted to so exalted a personage.
But the shrill chorus which emanated from the audience
Was decidedly
antagonistic to grave deliberation, and the anxious curiosity of the woman
superseding the self imposed role of the diplomatist, our envoy lost the
pompous tone she had first adopted, and a volley of queries and replies was
exchanged so rapidly, and with such appalling shrillness, that we onlookers
ran a great risk of being either deafened, or driven out of our senses. At
the first slackening of the wordy warfare, Dunmore put his questions, and
then Lizzie said -
"Baal there been any white fellow along of here."
"You been sure, Lizzie, ask suppose they been see any big fellow canoe."
Again the same hideous noise now took place, but I will not tire my readers
with too minute a description of a scene with which they must now be pretty
conversant, suffice it to say, that what with the real or pretended
stupidity of the gins, and the imperfect English of our interpreter, we
were more puzzled at the conclusion of the debate than we had been at its
commencement.
"Had they seen a vessel?"
"Oh yes, big fellow, with wings like 'it bird."
"How long ago?"
"Plenty long time ago."
"One moon ago?"
"Yes, one moon ago."
"Sure it was one moon?"
"No, thought it must be one day ago, and plenty smoke sit down along of big
canoe."
Altogether the skein was too tangled for us to attempt to unravel it. They
had seen vessels evidently, both sailing ships and steamers, but whether it
was yesterday, or ten years back, there were no means of ascertaining; but
to make certain that we were not being deceived, we instituted a strict
overhaul of the gunyahs, in hopes of finding something that might give us a
clue to the fate of the missing men. When we broke up our circle for this
purpose, the component parts of the "heap" assumed an upright posture, and
it was remarkable to witness the awe with which they regarded Lizzie. At
first they seemed afraid to approach her, and stood some five yards
distant, watching her whilst she puffed out the smoke from her relighted
pipe, and posed herself in an attitude of becoming superiority, for she saw
clearly enough that the happy moment for making an impression had arrived.
Gradually they drew closer and closer, and at last, three of the eldest
gins going down on all fours, crept slowly up until close in front of her,
when they stopped, and buried their withered old faces in the sand at her
feet. After enjoying their humiliation for a few seconds, she condescended
to speak to them, and very shortly they were all chattering away on the
most amicable terms.
Meanwhile the gunyahs or native huts, and the camp, had been thoroughly
searched, but without bringing to light anything European, except a few
bottles, and a pint pot which had been accidentally left behind by one of
the party on the occasion of Lizzie's abduction. The gunyahs were better
constructed than usual, and consisted of saplings bent in an arch and
covered with tea-tree bark, a great improvement on all the native dwellings
we had hitherto seen, which were generally little better than a rude screen
against the wind. But our time was precious, for we carried but little
provision; and we could not afford to loiter about, even in so pleasant a
spot as this little bay; so, after dispatching a hasty dinner, we started
off afresh, to the immense relief of the gins, and got out of the valley by
another pass, which Lizzie showed us. I must not forget to mention one
ludicrous circumstance, which convulsed us with laughter. The gins showed
such curiosity about Lizzie's pipe, that she handed it round and made them
each take a puff. Their expressions, when the pungent smoke caused them
either to sneeze, cough, or choke, were most laughable; and I have no doubt
that it is still a matter of wonder to them, and a fruitful source of
debate over the camp-fires, what pleasure the white man can find in filling
his mouth with smoke, apparently with no better object than to puff it out
again as soon as possible. Our course now lay due south, and the
travelling was much the same as in the morning, that is to say, as bad and
as fatiguing as it well could be. Lizzie said she could take us to another
bay, where there were sure to be more blacks; and so we trudged patiently
along under her guidance, with the sun blazing down so fiercely that the
carbine-barrels became quite heated. Our new path was very similar to the
last one, seeming to come to an abrupt termination, but really shooting off
at an angle, and leading down to a bay, which opened out to our view about
five o'clock, and did not present nearly so pretty an appearance as the one
we had just left, for the ground seemed swampy, and the beach was a nasty
muddy mangrove-flat. We were also disappointed in not finding any blacks;
but as there is nothing so bad that it has not some redeeming quality, so
this dreary-looking swamp had its advantages, for the trees were loaded
with Torres Straits' pigeons, and sea-crabs were abundant. This would
enable us to lay in an extra day's provisions, and to extend our search, if
necessary, before visiting the 'Daylight', from which vessel we were now
separated by more than twenty miles of unknown country, inclusive of a
mountainous range. We determined not to shoot any pigeons that night, for
they would only keep the less time; and having lit our fire by the side of
a small creek, we had supper, and were soon sleeping the sleep of the
weary, the watch having instructions to call us at an early hour for the
purpose of replenishing our larder before the birds took their departure
for the mainland.
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