ugh the left shoulder
so effectually that the barbed point projected out at my back. I had
received the wound a moment before the discharge of the carronades, and
had been scarcely conscious of the hurt at the moment; but a man cannot
plunge into the thick of a melee with an arrow through his shoulder and
not know something about it, sooner or later; and the hurt had quickly
become very painful and inflamed. The doctor declared that mine was the
worst case of all, and insisted that I should for that reason be the
first treated; I therefore submitted, with a good grace--for there were
many matters calling for my immediate attention; and in a few minutes
the head of the arrow was carefully cut off, the shaft withdrawn from
the wound, and the wound itself carefully washed and dressed. Then,
with my arm in a sling, and my jacket loosely buttoned round my neck, I
went out on deck to see how matters were proceeding there.

Only seventeen living bodies were found among the prostrate heaps with
which the decks were cumbered. These seventeen, after Burgess had done
what he could for them, we placed in one of the many empty canoes that
still remained alongside the ship, and towed the craft into the river,
where we moored her in such a position that she would be likely to
attract the attention of the natives, and thus lead to an investigation
of her, and the rescue of her cargo of wounded, which was as much as we
could do without exposing ourselves to very grave--and, to my mind,
quite unnecessary risk. This, however, was not done until the return of
daylight enabled us to see what we were about.

The dead having been got rid of, and our own wounded attended to, all
hands turned in to secure a little very necessary rest, the deck being
left in charge of an anchor-watch consisting of Messrs. Acutt, Boyne,
Pearson, and Taylor, who very kindly volunteered to see to the safety of
the ship during the few remaining hours of darkness, pointing out that
it would be perfectly easy for them to rest during the day, while the
crew of the ship were engaged in doing what was necessary to enable us
to make an early start from the spot which had brought so much adventure
into the lives of all, and had been so disastrous to some of our little
community.

At daylight all hands were called, and the first work undertaken was the
removal, as far as possible, of all traces of the preceding night's
conflict. By dint of hard labour we at length s