240 
CIRCUMSTANCES ATTENDING 
had fastened his compass on his head for him, he plunged 
into the water, and with difficulty gained the opposite side ; 
to effect which took him nine minutes and fifty-eight se- 
conds. His anxious comrades saw him ascend the hillock, 
and take several bearings ; he then descended the farther 
side, and was never seen by them again. 
Fora considerable time Mr. Kent remained stationai’y, in 
momentary expectation of his return ; but at length, taking 
the two soldiers with him, he proceeded along the shore in 
search of wood for a fire. At about a quarter of a mile, the 
soldiers stopped and expressed their wish to return, as their 
minds misgave them, and they feared that Captain Barkei 
had met with some accident. While conversing, they heard 
a distant shout, or cry, which Mr. Kent thought resembled 
the call of the natives, but which the soldiers positively 
declared to be the voice of a white man. On their return 
to their companions, they asked if any sounds had caught 
their ears, to which they replied in the negative. The 
wind was blowing from the E.S. E., in which direction 
Captain Barker had gone ; and, to me, the fact of the 
nearer party not having heard that which must have been 
his cries for assistance, is satisfactorily accounted for, as, 
being immediately under the hill, the sounds must have 
passed over their heads to be heard more distinctly at the 
distance at which Mr. Kent and the soldiers stood. It is 
more than probable, that while his men were expressing 
their anxiety about him, the fearful tragedy was enacting 
which it has become my painful task to detail. 
