CHAPTER V.
PREPARATIONS FOR PURSUIT.
As I lay watching their movements, as well as the darkness permitted, I suddenly remembered that there was a canoe, or little punt, a miserable, leaky, flat-bottomed affair, lying under the bank before me. The reason Stevenson had not used it to paddle down to the bottom of the island (a mile off) was the necessity of constant baling to keep it afloat in going such a distance. Merely to cross and recross the stream she would do well enough, as she would carry two men. I was determined the thieves should not have her for transporting their saddles and swags, and went forward to remove her. I crept along until I came to the huge log of dead timber to which the canoe was attached. Here I was completely in the shade, and sheltered, moreover, by the massive trunk, behind the upper end of which I crouched. I had reached out my hand to loosen the painter, when my eye fell on an object moving along the surface of the water, which was comparatively light. It was the head of a man swimming across for the boat; and I resolved to secure him.
As he approached nearer, I saw it was a black fellow. I was not surprised at this, as I had been informed that the organized gangs of depredators who carried on operations on a large scale between the different colonies generally secured the services of some of these dexterous children of the soil to assist them in travelling through the bush by the remotest and most unfrequented tracks; and, above all, to aid them in swimming the horses across streams when flooded with the winter rains. He did not seem to anticipate any ambush or interruption, for he came boldly though silently on, and, reaching the boat, hauled himself on, and, grasping the rope, lifted himself out of the water by its aid, and in two steps ascended to where it was fastened. I had drawn my pistol from its belt, and the moment he reached out his hand, I pointed it at him, and said quietly, 'If you move, I shoot you!'
Beyond turning his face quickly to the spot whence my voice proceeded, the black made not the slightest motion, but remained in the same attitude, as if suddenly paralyzed by this unexpected rencontre; and I stood up to seize and take him up the bank. I confess I acted like a blockhead; but I was new to such matters then; yet, after the example I had already witnessed that evening of the cunning, dexterity, and agility of the blacks, I ought to have known better.
Instead of keeping him covered with my pistol, and ordering him to come up the bank to me, I descended the steep face of it to him, and, reaching out my left hand, took hold of his wrist to lead him up. The fellow yielded without uttering a syllable, and as if he had not the slightest intention of resisting, and ascended a step or two, thus bringing himself close to and just beneath me. Another step would have placed us on a level, and he was in the act of making it, when, quick as lightning, the rascal, finding himself quite close to me, threw his arm round my body and hurled himself back into the river, head foremost, dragging me with him, and, when under water, instantly making the most desperate efforts to get loose from my grasp. I was a good swimmer, fortunately, and in falling I had let go his wrist and seized him by his bushy head of hair, which I kept a tight hold of. I was desperately enraged at having been so simply done, and when we reached the surface I gave him a blow or two with the pistol. I soon found I was the stronger of the two; but still he struggled viciously.
'What for white fellow kill black drooper?'
'Trooper!' I said; 'what do you mean?'
'Mine belongin' to p'leece!' he roared, while voices from the other side, which the noise and splashing of our struggle had hitherto prevented me from hearing, called out to know what was the matter.
'You blockhead!' I said; 'why didn't you say so at first?' and I scrambled out.