At once there rose so wild a yell

Within that dark and narrow dell,

As all the fiends from heaven that fell

Had pealed the banner-cry of hell.

The party of convicts that had thus so far succeeded in making their escape from the limeburners consisted of six men beside Rashleigh and Roberts the steersman, whose courage, and the skill he had displayed in conducting their boat in safety through the dangers of the reef, had caused him to be much looked up to by his comrades, who seemed by general though tacit consent to consider him as their captain and leader.

Of the others, McClashin was a native of Belfast who had earned considerable ill will among the convicts because he had, in order to save his own life, prosecuted to conviction four other men some time before that had engaged with him in the commission of a robbery, when his associates in crime had been hanged upon his evidence.

Phelim Hennessy was from Tipperary, and had been transported for life to New South Wales in consequence of his having participated in the popular though anything but humane amusement common in Ireland at that time, of “carding a tithe proctor”. This man used often to boast of his achievements prior to his exile in the most exulting terms, speaking of the most sanguinary deeds with a cool gusto that showed the bloodthirsty temperament of the man. He had been violently suspected since he came to the Colony of no less thin three murders, and was at length retransported to Newcastle for a most ruffianly assault upon an overseer.

The remaining four men, whose names were Perkins, Shawl, Hanlan, and Owens, were remarkable in no way as being either better or worse than the usual run of convicts. Of course, they were common thieves, and their knack of illicit appropriation, after having caused their banishment from their native land, had at length, upon some fresh offence, conducted them to the Coal river, from whence to the limeburners the transition was very easy.

Roberts the steersman had been a Nottingham boatman. He was transported for rioting and demolition of machinery. On his arrival at Sydney he had been employed in one of the government boats, but attempting to escape from the Colony, he was retaken and sent to Newcastle for seven years.

The party continued to watch the ocean from the hill upon which they had posted themselves, as related in the last chapter, until evening; and just before it became dark they had the mortification to see the pilot-boat standing out to sea, towing after it the little vessel that had borne them in safety thus far, and upon which they had depended for aiding them to escape altogether from the Colony.

Some of the men were disposed to raise a violent outcry against our adventurer, at whose instance the plan of sinking the boat had been resorted to; but upon his asking them in a cool and contemptuous tone why they had not proposed some better method of disposing their vessel when it was spoken of first, they were silent, except Hennessy, who swore that it had been his opinion all along the best way would have been to fight a passage out of the reef, in spite of the soldiers; and even he was calmed on Roberts observing, “If you think we can beat those that are in the pilot-boat, it’s not too late to have a bellyful of fighting now. Because you may take my word for it, if we go down to the beach and show ourselves, the redcoats will come back quick enough to have a slap at us!”

As even Hennessy, in spite of his boasting, did not quite approve of this plan, no more was said about the boat, but all began to deliberate what they had better now do.

McClashin, supported by Hanlan and Hennessy, was for turning inland to the west until they gained the settled part of Hunter’s river; then, after robbing the settlers about Wallis’s Plains, that they should pursue their route southwards and join some of the other parties of bushrangers who were laying waste the country in the neighbourhood of the Hawkesbury, finishing off by seizing on some vessel from the mouth of that stream and carrying their original intention of going to Timor Coupang into effect.

Upon the other hand, our adventurer, who had acquired from past circumstances an invincible detestation of the life of a bushranger, impressed upon the minds of his present associates the great danger they would incur of apprehension by adopting the last speaker’s project; and after dwelling upon the improbability of all their present party keeping together, even if they survived the perils of so long a journey, Rashleigh proposed as the more feasible plan, that they should persevere even now in marching along the beach, whether the party in the pilot boat had discovered all their concealed stores or not. But if they found any of the tools had been left behind, he submitted they might surely be able to contrive the construction of a double canoe the first cedars they came to, when they could at once proceed on their voyage to the northward without beginning, as preparation for it, a journey of more than five hundred miles, which the course spoken of by McClashin would subject them to, but which Ralph considered as outrageously ridiculous.

All the party now wished to hear what Roberts would say, and it was obvious that he would command the majority of voices in favour of the plan he might be inclined to pursue.

They did not wait long, for he said, “Our way lies north. And if only one man will go with me, I’ll take the beach for it. But I think those that want to go any other way are fools for their pains, as they are sure to be grabbed by some means before they get half the distance that’s talked about. No, no . . . Here we are, so far on our journey. We have the sea before us, and we can’t starve while there’s a fish in it; and besides, I’ve heard there’s plenty of wrecked ships along this shore. Who knows but we may make or find a better boat than the one we’ve lost!”

This settled the question, for the men who had not offered any opinion now sided with their captain and Ralph, so that they were five to three of those who wished to turn west. And after having in vain tried to bring Roberts over to their way of thinking, McClashin and his companions were fain to submit to the majority, though they did so with a very bad grace.

They reposed on the ground they had occupied during the day, nearly eaten alive by mosquitoes, which Rashleigh had never before felt so troublesome since he had been in the Colony; and by dawn the next morning they were in motion, anxious to see whether anything had been left of all they had hidden in the sand the day before.

Upon their arrival at the beach they soon found out that all except the boat remained in statu quo, although the thicket was much trampled down; and other indications presented themselves that the soldiers had instituted a rigorous search in every spot but the right one near the place where they discovered the boat. Every man now set himself busily to work to prepare a knapsack and other conveniences for carrying provisions, etc.; all the food, their arms, the tools and a couple of sails, with a quantity of cordage, being equitably apportioned, so that each man bore a fair proportion of the public burden. The only things they did not carry with them were the water-cask and a barrel of salted meat, which they left buried in the sand, being determined if they could succeed in manufacturing a canoe within any reasonable distance, they would return to fetch these articles as supplies for their proposed voyage.

It was noon before they had completed all their preparations, so they got ready some food. After having eaten this, they departed, each man bearing a burden, besides his clothes and arms, of nearly fifty pounds weight, which made their progress necessarily slow. The nature of their path, too, which lay along the sandy beach, would have tended to fatigue men much stronger than these emaciated beings just escaped from an abode of horrors “the like of which no eye bath seen, no heart conceived, and of which no tongue can adequately tell”.

At sunset they had not gained more than six miles towards their long march, but were much inspirited by seeing on a distant hill, a very short space inland, what one or two of the men confidently declared were cedar trees; and they came to a halt, flattering themselves that perhaps one more day’s toil would place them near this timber, which they now wished most anxiously for in order that they might try their hands at the proposed experiment of canoe-making.

Just before they ceased their march, Rashleigh had placed his burden upon the ground to rearrange it, and ere he completed doing so to his satisfaction, the others had got a trifling distance ahead of him. When he was about to reassume his load, chancing to look into the bush beside the beach, he fancied he saw a native black. Upon this he gazed more steadfastly, and though the sable son of nature slunk more deeply into the covert, yet Ralph was certain of his proximity, and argued no goodwill from him, as he was so apparently unwilling to be seen.

Roberts, to whom he mentioned this circumstance, fully agreed with him as to its being a prognostication of danger, and when the arrangements were made for the night, the party camped in as open a place as they could select, where no neighbouring thicket might afford harbourage for a lurking foe. Good fires were also made, and one of the men agreed to watch for a time, when he was to be relieved by another, thus maintaining a vigilant guard throughout the hours of darkness.

Nor were these preparations needless, for long after all the band of weary fugitives, except their sentinel, were buried in slumber, the man on watch observed a number of dark bodies wriggling over the sandy spot that encompassed their temporary camp, which he at first conceived to be some kind of wild animals; but on their nearer approach the glare of the fire betrayed their real forms. They were black warriors, who, with savage treachery and cunning, hoped thus to surprise the sleeping white men; but the latter, being awakened by their fortunately vigilant guard, yet kept them............