Page:The aborigines of Australia.djvu/122

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CAPTURE OF BINNELONG AND COLE- BE.
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carrying him through the water in their arms, threw him into the boat, where he was held till the party had rowed beyond the reach of the spears or other missiles of the captive's companions on shore. He was then tied in the bottom of the boat, and thus conveyed to the Governor's residence, all the time crying piteously, and calling in vain for assistance to his brethren on the beach. These latter had fled panic- stricken into the bush on first observing the aggressive intentions of the party of whites, but returned on seeing that the latter were content with the possession of one of their number, and continued to follow the boat along the shore, and to respond to the calls of the captive so long as they were audible and while the treacherous craft remained in sight. The aboriginal who had thus been so unceremoniously and suddenly carried from the midst of his companions and countrymen, and hurried a captive into the society of strange and unsympathizing men, was the afterwards redoubtable Binnelong. On being carried before the Governor, the latter ordered, as one of the writers of the day expresses it, that he should be "ornamented with an iron shackle, placed round one leg, to prevent escape." A little further on, however, the reader is given to understand that to the shackle was attached a rope, at one end of which was an individual holding it in his hand, whose duty it was to accompany the future interpreter throughout the limited peregrinations permitted to him, and thus effectually guard against his flight. It now