There were, of course, the usual rumours, with and without foundation, of the appearance of the Aborigines. Some sentries had heard one dark night the rush of many in the scrub, but could not discern their forms. Several rushes were heard, and the firesticks of the people were seen in the gloom. A man laid down his musket, while he stooped for some firewood, and received a spear in his leg. He seized a firestick, and threw it at the enemy. Another spear penetrated his shoulder, when, without thinking anything of his musket, he shouted lustily for help. The approach of other sentries scattered the half-dozen Blacks.
Mr. William Robertson, a well-known and wealthy settler, quite shocked the Governor in describing the Line as worse than an Act of Parliament; for, while a coach-and-six could be driven through the latter, a waggon-and-eight might quietly pass the former. A force of Europeans could easily have got through the ill-regulated Line, much more the cunning foresters. Two or three instances were well known, after the completion of the movement, of Natives having burst by the sentries themselves. As the men could not possibly keep their lines, as many were too frightened to maintain the regulated distance from a neighbour, and as others loved companionship too well to smoke alone, the distance was not observed, even when practicable, and large gaps were left.
Jorgenson has an illustration of this irregularity in his account of the progress of his Oatlands corps. "We were," said he, "when properly formed, to steer S.E. for two days, and then S. for three days, and Mr. Pedder added verbally that he supposed, when steering S., each would have to do the best he could. Nearly at noon, when the sentries had begun to make their dinners. Captain Mahon suddenly came marching on with his section nearly in a compact body, and the Oatlands Civil forces had to throw away their tea, &c., pack up, and hurry on in great confusion, most of them being unacquainted with the particular manoeuvre intended." When our own highly-disciplined regiments could cross each other's path in the ascent of the heights of Alma, it ought not to astonish one that such disorganised masses should run foul of one another.
The Government Orders were precise about preserving a certain distance. On October 17th, the Colonel again urged attention
