Page:Royal Naval Biography Marshall v3p1.djvu/94

  “On coming up, we recognized with horror the bodies of our two unfortunate companions, lying about 100 yards apart; that of the corporal (James Butler) was pierced by an arrow in the back; and three others had entered the body of the private marine (Thomas Bouthland): they were laid out straight, with the feet towards the river, and backs upwards, their heads were off, and no vestige of garments left; several broken arrows were lying about, and a quantity of bread, which must have been emptied out of the knapsacks; very little blood was visible. This melancholy event naturally much affected all the party; but these feelings soon gave way to sensations of revenge. Although I was fully aware of the possibility of finding out the route they had taken, yet prudence called on me to adopt another line of conduct; that all our movements had been watched I could have no doubt; and my mind became seriously alarmed for the safety of those who had been left with the sledges; I conceived it, therefore, of the utmost consequence to lose not a moment in joining our other men. Having given to the people with me some little refreshment, I caused them to be formed into a line of march, those having fire-arms being in the front and rear, those with cutlasses remaining in the centre, and all were charged to keep as close together as the intricacies would permit. On opening the first point of the river-head, one of the men said he observed an Indian look round the second point, and fall back; on coming up, we perceived that two men had certainly been there, and had retreated; we afterwards saw them at times, at a good distance before us; the tracks shewed that they had shoes on. This caused considerable perplexity; the guides, and indeed all the party, were of opinion that the Indians had been to the sledges, and that those two were returning down the river to draw us into a trammel, for they supposed a body of them to be conveniently posted to lake advantage of us in some difficult pass. These conjectures were probable; they strongly urged my taking to the woods, as being more safe. Although this was certainly true, it would have been attended with great loss of time, as, from the depth and softness of the snow, we could not possibly perform it under two days; but as the immediate joining my people was paramount to every other consideration, for our conjectures might be erroneous, and as I was, in this instance, fain to suspect that curiosity had predominated over the obligations of duty, I continued on by the river side. At noon, we arrived at the fire-place, and finding all well I experienced great relief, after four hours spent in unutterable anxiety for their fate. The two men who had been straggling were easily discovered by the sweat which still rolled down their faces. Nothing now remained for us but to make the best of our way down the river; especially as a thaw had set in, and the ice was speedily breaking np. We therefore set forward, and after a most painful journey, chiefly through soft snow or water, succeeded in reaching the Adonis on the 30th January.

“The lake on which the Indians were found does not appear to have