English passengers by Matthew Kneale Page B

suspected the chairman’s thoughts were less concerned with principles of justice than the needs of the settlement, there being already barely enough men to kep all in order. Mr. Pierce, though, showed little interest in
such practicalities. He grew red in the face and began shouting quite needlessly, stammering that this was, ‘‘evil permitted, which is no better than evil done.’’ Such language was hardly respectful, and yet Mr. Charles took it calmly enough, reminding him that it was several weeks before the next boat from Hobart was due, and suggesting that we all attempt to forget the matter until then.
    In the event, this proved hardly possible, as only a few days later matters took quite another turn, when one of the stockkeepers observed a group of blacks deliberately killing some of the sheep. He tried to scare them away, only to himself receive a slight spear wound to the leg. Thirty-five animals were butchered that day, while by the end of that week we had lost a further sixty-four. Our entire herd numbered fewer than five hundred, all of which had been brought hither with the greatest difficulty and expense. What was more, we were expecting the ship
Champion
to arrive direct from England within the next two months, bringing animals of a type not yet to be found in Van Diemen’s Land, and which were intended as breeding stock. Their loss was not to be contemplated.
    The days which followed were tense indeed. Mr. Charles was often to be seen strolling through the settlement, his fine, noble brow furrowed with worry. He took what measures he could. All were instructed to carry arms at all times, and two men were posted to guard the settlement day and night. The animals and stockkeepers were all moved northwards, closer to the settlement, so that they could be more easily safeguarded: an arrangement that could of necessity only be temporary, the grassland being of limited extent. Such precautions would seem nothing less than essential and yet, I am sad to say, there remained one officer who insisted, and loudly so, that they were wholly misguided: Mr. Pierce. It was as if the man deliberately sought ever greater extremity of opinion, until he could be satisfied by nothing short of plain wrongheadedness. He even opposed the requirement that weapons be carried at all times, his justification being that this was in itself a form of provocation. His suggestion was that we should instead endeavour to communicate with the natives, and persuade them of our regret at what had occurred, while he even offered to go himself, and try and use the few words of their language he had learned. Mr. Charles was not persuaded, needless to say, having the wisdom to see that such behaviour would win nothing more peaceable than a shower of spears.
    Presently all seemed to grow quieter once again. A week went by without
any further incidents, or even sightings of the natives, then another, and I began to hope that Mr. Charles’s prompt measures had been effective. In time Mr. Pierce and myself even resumed our tours of inspection, which were now much shortened, the animals being brought nearer. As we walked, Mr. Pierce was forever complaining of his gun, as if to carry it were some form of unjust punishment.
    ‘‘Useless damnable thing, ’’ he would grumble, rapidly blinking in that curious way of his. ‘‘I’d happily fling it away. But that would hardly do, now would it? No, good Mr. Charles would never like that at all. ’’ With this he would look at me in a signifying sort of way, as if to include me in his dissatisfaction. Though he never expected me to join in his tirades, still they left me feeling most awkward, as if to listen at all was somehow to condone his words.
    Then one morning we saw that some sheep had strayed beyond the new fence, back into the lands from which they had been moved. It was hardly a disaster. The number of animals was not great, and we soon found the breakage in the fence through which they