Page:The Native Tribes of South Australia (1879).djvu/172

 106 INTRODUCTION OF CHRISTIAN MARRIAGE. When they had accomplished this they suddenly seized Charlotte by force in the absence of her husband, and went off rapidly to an island called Towadjeri, on the Lower Lake, about ten miles from the station. There they defied her husband to get her, and declared he should never have her again, as they would give her to another man. Laelinyeri came to me and told his story in great grief, as was natural. I could see that a crisis had arisen, and sought, by the help of God, to be equal to the occasion. I got our farm overseer and a friend who was staying with him to go with us, and I and Laelinyeri got into the boat, and we four sailed off down the Lake to Towadjeri. When we got there we anchored, and while we were doing so somebody said, "There is Charlotte on the shore, sitting under a bush." I saw that the girl, suspecting that I was coming to fetch her, had slipped away from her captors, and was waiting for me; so I jumped into the dingey (it would only carry two), and bade Laelinyeri put me ashore. When I got there I saw all the Lower Murray tribeabout sixty men drawn up in rank about 200 yards off with their fishing spears (ugly three-pronged weapons) in their hands, and trying to look as fierce and angry as they could; but I believed it was all bounce, and walked up the shore, sending Laelinyeri back to the boat for my two friends and my gun. Then I went up to Charlotte and told her to follow me. This she readily and joyfully did, and I led her to where the dingey was again approaching the shore. Just then old Fisherman sprang out of the ranks and began dancing about and swearing at me in native, and whirling his spear round his head, and calling on the other blacks to come and take the girl out of my hands; but not a man moved. Up came the dingey; my friends jumped ashore, in stepped Charlotte, and her husband took her on board the cutter. I now knew she was pretty safe; so we walked up amongst the blacks, and began to talk in a friendly way to them, not alluding to the subject in dispute. One of the fellows pointed to my gun and said, "What! you going to shoot blackfellow?" I said, "No; I only want to shoot ducks." We stayed half an hour, and