THE FORLORN HOPE 231 



Mr. Kennedy was too weak, and would not leave the horses. We went on this day 

 till towards evening [$th December]; raining hard, and the blacks followed us all the 

 day, some behind, some planted before ; in fact, BLACKS ALL AROUND following us. 

 Now we went on into a little bit of a scrub, and I told Mr. Kennedy to look behind 

 always ; sometimes he would do so, and sometimes he would not look behind to look 

 out for the blacks. Then a good many black fellows came behind in the scrub, and 

 threw plenty of SPEARS, and HIT MR. KENNEDY in the back first. Mr. Kennedy said 

 to me, " Oh ! Jackey-Jackey ! shoot 'em, shoot 'em." Then I pulled out my gun and 

 fired, and hit one fellow all over the face with buck shot ; he tumbled down, and 

 got up again and again, and wheeled right round, and two black fellows picked him up 

 and carried him away. They went away then a little way, and came back again, 

 THROWING SPEARS all around, more than they did before ; very large spears. I pulled 

 out the spear at once from Mr. Kennedy's back, and cut out the jag with Mr. 

 Kennedy's knife ; then Mr. Kennedy got his gun and snapped, but the gun would 

 not go off. The blacks sneaked all along by the trees, and speared Mr. Kennedy 

 again in the right leg, above the knee a little, and I GOT SPEARED over the eye, and 

 the blacks were now throwing their spears all ways, never giving over, and shortly 

 again speared Mr. Kennedy in the right side ; there were large jags to the spears, 

 and I cut them out and put them into my pocket. At the same time we got speared, 

 the HORSES GOT SPEARED too ; and jumped and bucked all about, and got into the 

 swamp. I now told Mr. Kennedy to sit down, while I looked after the saddle-bags, 

 which I did ; and when I came back again, I saw blacks along with Mr. Kennedy ; 

 I then asked him if he saw the blacks with him ; he was STUPID WITH THE SPEAR WOUNDS, 

 and said " No " ; then I asked where was his watch. I saw the blacks taking away 

 watch and hat as I was returning to Mr. Kennedy ; then I carried Mr. Kennedy into 

 the scrub ; he said, " Don't carry me a good way " ; then Mr. Kennedy looked this 

 way, very bad (Jackey rolling his eyes). I said to him, " Don't look far away," as I 

 thought he would be frightened ; I asked him often, " Are you well now," and he said, 

 " I don't care for the spear wound in my leg, Jackey, but for the other two spear 

 wounds in my side and back," and said, " I am bad inside, Jackey." I told him 

 black fellow always die when he got spear in there (the back) ; he said, " I am out of 

 wind, Jackey " ; and I asked him, " Mr. Kennedy, are you going to leave me ? " 

 and he said, " Yes, my boy, I am going to leave you " ; he said, " I am very bad, 

 Jackey ; you TAKE THE BOOKS, Jackey, to the Captain, BUT NOT THE BIG ONES, 1 the 

 Governor will give anything for them." I then tied up the papers ; he then said, 

 " Jackey, give me paper and I will write " ; I gave him paper and pencil and he tried 

 to write, and he then fell back and died 2 [$tb December, dusk] ; and I caught him 

 as he fell back and held him, and I then turned round myself and cried ; I was 

 crying a good while until I got well ; that was about an hour, and then I BURIED HIM ; 

 I digged up the ground with a tomahawk, and covered him over with logs, then grass, 

 and my shirt and trousers. 



That night I left him near dark ; I would go through the scrub, and the BLACKS 

 THREW SPEARS at me, a good many, and I went back again into the scrub ; then I went 

 down the creek which runs into ESCAPE RIVER, and I walked along the water in the 

 creek very easy, with my head only above water, to avoid the blacks, and get out 

 of their way ; in this way I went half a mile ; then I got out of the creek, and got 

 clear of them, and walked on all night nearly, and slept in the bush without a fire ; 

 I went on next morning and felt very bad, and I spelled for two days [6th and Jib 

 December} ; I lived upon nothing but salt water ; next day I went on and camped 

 I mile away from where I left [Sth December, camp], and ate one of the pandanus fruits ; 



1 There were two or more books, larger than the others, to which Kennedy attached 

 great importance even in his dying moments. It may be taken for certain that they 

 were the diary of the whole trip from Rockingham Bay. It is impossible to conjecture 

 the nature of the smaller books. 



2 The deplorable events of this day, culminating in Kennedy's death, took place 

 on the right bank of the Escape River, the ground which I covered on igth March, 1880, 

 between Camps 62 and 63. 



