Volume II Part 3 (1/2)
Upon this announcement of mine he burst into tears, deplored alternately his dying state and the loss of the bundle, and then poured forth a torrent of invectives against me, in the midst of which I quietly went on unfolding the treasured parcel and exposing to view the following articles: Three yards of thick heavy canvas; some duck which he had purloined; a large roll of sewing thread, ditto; a thick pea jacket which I had abandoned at the boats, and had, at his request, given to him; and various other old pieces of canvas and duck; also a great part of the cordage of one of the boats, which he had taken without permission.
When these various articles were produced it was difficult to tell which was the prevailing sentiment in the minds of some of the party--mirth at thus seeing the contents of the mysterious bundle exposed, or indignation that a man should have been so foolish as to endanger his own life and delay our movements for the sake of such a collection of trash. A pair of shoes and one or two useful articles were retained, the remainder were thrown away, and in a few minutes we were again under weigh for the spring of water.
HALT AT WATER PEAK.
Another hour's march brought us to the spring; and those who with me had been marching through a great part of the night gladly laid down to rest; but I soon roused myself again, being urged by the pangs of hunger.
Fortunately I had shot a crow in the morning, and now, gathering a few wild greens that grew about the water, I cooked a breakfast for myself and the native without being obliged to draw upon my little store of flour. This frugal repast having been washed down by a few mouthfuls of water, I resumed my meditations of the previous night.
CRITICAL SITUATION.
The following appeared to be our true position. We were about one hundred and ninety miles from Perth, in a direct line measured through the air.
None of the party had more than six or seven pounds of flour left; whilst I had myself but one pound and a half, and half a pound of arrowroot; the native had nothing left and was wholly dependant on me for his subsistence. Now we had been seven days on our route, and had made but little more than seventy miles, and as the men were much weaker than when they first started it appeared to me to be extremely problematical whether we should ever reach Perth unless some plan different from what we had hitherto pursued was adopted. And even granting that we did eventually make this point, it was evident that we must previously be subjected to wants and necessities of the most cruel and distressing nature.
NEW PLAN OF PROCEEDING.
Yet it was quite manifest from recent events that the majority of the party had not only made up their minds not to accelerate their movements, but had fully resolved to compel me to pursue their system of short marches and long halts. Being fully aware of the danger which threatened them, it remained for me to act with that decision which circ.u.mstances appeared to require, and to proceed by rapid and forced marches to Perth, whence a.s.sistance could be sent out to the remainder. For this purpose it was necessary that all those who accompanied me should be good walkers and resolute men; for if any accident happened to the portion of the party I took with me, arising either from want of energy, want of discipline, or any other causes, that portion of the party which remained behind would have been reduced to the last extremity.
DIVIDE THE PARTY, AND PROCEED WITH THE STRONGEST TO PERTH FOR a.s.sISTANCE.
ARRANGEMENTS AT STARTING.
Having formed this resolution, it became necessary to make a selection of those who were to accompany me. In determining however upon this point I had but little difficulty; for it was evident that those men who during our late toils had shown themselves the most capable of enduring hards.h.i.+ps, privations, and the fatigue of long and rapid marches, were those who were the best suited for the service I now destined them for.
The following was the division I made of the party: I named:
Corporal Auger, Corporal Coles, H. Woods, W. Hackney, Kaiber, the native,
as those who were to accompany me, and left the remainder under the command of Mr. Walker.
EMBARRa.s.sMENT REGARDING THE CHART.
In making my arrangements with Mr. Walker a very serious difficulty arose upon his part, and one from which I immediately augured the worst of consequences. On quitting the boats I brought away with me Captain King's chart of the coast between North-west Cape and Cape Leeuwin, and had hitherto carried it along with my papers and sketches. I wished Mr.
Walker to take this chart with him for the purpose of recognising his position by means of the islands and headlands as he advanced along the coast. No inducements upon my part could however persuade him to take charge of it. It was in vain that I urged on him the well known fact that nothing encourages men in a long journey so much as knowing the exact distance they have travelled and what extent of country they have still left to traverse. It was in vain that I a.s.sured him he would, from his inexperience in calculating distances in the bush, soon get confused in his reckoning; and that the men, finding out his error, would lose all trust and confidence in him, whence would spring want of discipline and disorders of various kinds; he knew that I much valued this chart and had apparently taken it into his head that I wished to disenc.u.mber myself of it and to entail the duty of carrying it on him.
He at length proposed to me to allow him to cut the chart up, in which case he said he would carry on the part he wanted and leave the rest. I would not however part with so valuable a doc.u.ment, for it contained my route up to that point, and the public utility of the expedition mainly depended on the preservation of it. He next requested me to make a copy of it for him; this I a.s.sured him under existing circ.u.mstances it was utterly impossible for me to do with sufficient accuracy to answer the intended purpose, and I therefore would not attempt it. He then applied to Mr. Smith, who coincided in my opinion; but ever willing to oblige he made as accurate a copy as he could, which I in vain represented to Mr.
Walker he would find utterly useless. His unreasonable reluctance however I could not overcome.
POINT OF RENDEZVOUS FIXED.
The next matter to arrange was what place should be fixed on as the point of rendezvous to which a.s.sistance was to be sent to those who were left to follow with Mr. Walker. This was soon arranged. Mr. Smith had previously been with me to a place called Goonmarrarup, on the Moore River about fifty-five miles to the north of Perth; and it was agreed that the party should proceed along the coast as they best could until they made the Moore River, where I would have another party stationed with provisions to meet them; and in order that they might not pa.s.s this river it was settled that the party who went out to meet them should separate into two, one of which would remain at this point on the Moore River, about twelve miles from the sea, whilst the other was to proceed down to it, leaving, besides their tracks, marks to show where they had pa.s.sed; and then, in the event of not finding those they were in search of, this last detachment was to push still further northward to look for them.
As soon as the arrangements were concluded I a.s.sembled the men and publicly repeated these directions to them; and to such as Clotworthy I addressed strong admonitions as to their future conduct. Many of them did not appear to be in the least aware of the critical situation they were placed in; I however entertained great fears for the safety of some of them. Poor Smith was at this time in a very delicate state of health, and his courage and gentleness had so endeared him to me that the sight of his sickly face made me long to be on the march to send out help to him.
For Mr. Walker I had no fear; I have never known anyone endowed with a greater degree of patient endurance; indeed had he not, from a mistaken good nature, been too familiar with the men, no one could have been more admirably adapted for the trying position in which he was placed; and even as events turned out I doubt if anyone could have been found who would have endured more, or would have gone through greater exertions to save those under his command.
The party I left, and who were not required to proceed by forced marches, consisted of:
Mr. Walker, Mr. Smith, Thomas Ruston, C. Woods, T. Stiles, A. Clotworthy.
SEPARATION OF THE PARTY. ADVICE TO THOSE LEFT BEHIND.
Before parting with Mr. Walker and Mr. Smith I again urged them to push steadily onwards and never to idle for an instant; but I do not think that either of them were fully aware of the dangers they had to contend with. Poor Smith, as he squeezed my hand, begged me to send out a horse for him, if one could be procured, and also some tobacco; he said the only thing he dreaded was want of water.