Part 21 (1/2)

22ND

The ants were so troublesoht, I had to shi+ft my bed several times Gibson was not at all affected by them, and slept well We were in our saddles iht bring about a change of country, and so it did, but not an advantageous one to us At ten miles from camp the horizon became flatter, the sandhills fell off, and the undulations becaravel, at first very fine At fifty-five miles it became coarser, and at sixtyfirmer, if not actually stony Here we turned the horses out, having cos leaked more than I expected, and our supply of water was di with distance

Here Gibson preferred to keep the big cob to ride, against er and Darkie a few pints of water each, Gibson drove theo, to take their own time and find their oay back to the Circus They both looked terribly hollow and fatigued, and went away very slowly Sixty h such a country as this tells fearfully upon a horse The poor brutes were very unwilling to leave us, as they knee had soion they had before the horses all the water contained in the two large water-bags, except a quart or two for ourselves This allowed theh not a circumstance to what they would have sed They fed a little, while we res ater we hung in the branches of a tree, with the packsaddles, es--I always called this place by that naht, the country being still covered with small stones and thickly clothed with the tall triodia There were thin patches of a and mallee scrub occasionally No view could be obtained to the west; all round us, north, south, east, and west, were alike, the undulations forht miles distant from one another, and e reached the rim or top of one, we obtained exactly the saht miles The country still retained all the appearance of fine, open, dry, grassy downs, and the triodia tops waving in the heated breeze had all the serass The afternoon had been very oppressive, and the horses were greatly disinclined to exert theh my mare went very well It was late by the time we encamped, and the horses wereup to the cas, pannikins, etc The instinct of a horse when in the first stage of thirst in getting hold of any utensil that ever had water in it, is surprising andus by s We had one s in a tree I did not think of this just at the ht up to it and took it in her teeth, forcing out the cork and sending the water up, which ere both dying to drink, in a beautiful jet, which, descending to earth, was irrevocably lost We now had only a pint or two left Gibson was now very sorry he had exchanged Badger for the cob, as he found the cob very dull and heavy to get on; this was not usual, for he was generally awhile my mare was a fine walker

There had been a hot wind fro (23rd) there was a , such as urs, and seers of old, who trembled as they told, events to come; for this was the last day on which I ever saw Gibson It was a lamentable day in the history of this expedition The horizon to the as hid in clouds We left the caht, and as we had caht o before another view could be obtained The next rim was at least ten ht indications of a change

(ILlustRATION: FIRST VIEW OF THE ALFRED AND MARIE RANGE)

We were now ninety miles from the Circus water, and 110 from Fort McKellar The horizon to the as still obstructed by another rise three or four miles away; but to the west-north-west I could see a line of low stony ridges, ten miles off To the south was an isolated little hill, six or seven es, when Gibson coested that the next rise to the west es were fivea view When we reached theht miles from the Circus Here Gibson, as always behind, called out and said his horse was going to die, or knock up, which are synonyion Noe had reached a point where at last a different vieas presented to us, and I believed a change of country was at hand, for the whole western, down to the south-western, horizon was broken by lines of ranges, being most elevated at the south-western end They were all notched and irregular, and I believed formed the eastern extreion to the west The groundstood upon, and for a mile or two past, was almost a stony hill itself, and for the first time in all the distance we had co rain, though we had not seen any place where it could lodge Between us and the hilly horizon to the west the country see valley, and it looked dark, and seemed to have timber in it, and here also the natives had formerly burnt the spinifex, but not recently The hills to the ere twenty-five to thirty ret I was compelled to relinquish a farther atteed for a caazed upon this scene! At this moment I would even ulf that lay between! But it could not be, situated as I was; coain with a larger supply of water--now the sooner I retreated the better These far-off hills were nahnesses the Duke and duchess of Edinburgh Gibson's horse having got so bad had placed us both in a great dilemma; indeed, ours was a most critical position

We turned back upon our tracks, when the cob refused to carry his rider any farther, and tried to lie down We drove him another mile on foot, and down he fell to die Myto return; she had now to carry Gibson's saddle and things, and ent aalking and riding by turns of half an hour

The cob, no doubt, died where he fell; not a second thought could be bestowed on his I alking, and having concluded in my mind what course to pursue, I called to Gibson to halt till I walked up to hi had made us so, and we had scarcely a pint of water left between us However, of e had we each took a mouthful, which finished the supply, and I then said--for I couldn't speak before--”Look here, Gibson, you see we are in a most terrible fix with only one horse, therefore only one can ride, and one must remain behind I shall reet water soon she will die; therefore ride right on; get to the Kegs, if possible, to-night, and give her water Now the cob is dead there'll be all the et over a few ht the Rawlinson, at twenty-five s Stick to the tracks, and never leave the forup your own bags, and, re et fresh horses and s, and return as soon as you possibly can I shall of course endeavour to get down the tracks also”

(ILlustRATION: THE LAST EVER SEEN OF GIBSON)

He then said if he had a coht I knew he didn't understand anything about compasses, as I had often tried to explain theory's Patent, of a totally different construction from ordinary instruments of the kind, and I was very loth to part with it, as it was the only one I had However, he was so anxious for it that I gave it him, and he departed I sent one final shout after hiht,” and the ht almost immediately That was the last ever seen of Gibson

I walked slowly on, and the further I walked the o to reach the Kegs, which I could not reach until late to-, and I did not feel sure that I could keep on at that The afternoon was very hot I continued following the tracks until the ht was reasonably cool, but I was parched and choking for water How I longed again for s, and that he and the h towardsit became almost cold Hoished this planet would for once accelerate its movements and turn upon its axis in twelve instead of twenty-four hours, or rather that it would complete its revolution in six hours

APRIL 24TH TO 1ST MAY

(ILlustRATION: ALONE IN THE DESERT)

So soon as it was light I was again upon the horse tracks, and reached the Kegs about the middle of the day Gibson had been here, and watered the allons of water in one keg, and it et a drink I could have drunk my whole supply in half an hour, but was compelled to economy, for I could not tell how many days would elapse before assistance could coht beas, all the food I could find was eleven sticks of dirty, sandy, s about an ounce and a half each, at the bottoered to find that I had little ht of meat to last me until assistance came However, I was compelled to eat some at once, and devoured two sticks raw, as I had no water to spare to boil them in

After this I sat in what shade the trees afforded, and reflected on the precariousness of hty froer could hardly return before six days, and I began to think it highly probable that I should be dead of hunger and thirst long before anybody could possibly arrive I looked at the keg; it was an aard thing to carry e else to carry water in, as Gibson had taken all the sallons of water to soak the canvas before they began to tighten enough to hold water

The keg when ehed fifteen pounds, and now it had twenty pounds of water in it I could not carry it without a blanket for a pad for e-pouch, knife, and one or two other sht of about fifty pounds when I put the keg on my back I only had fourteen ested all points of my situation, I concluded that if I did not help myself Providence wouldn't help , and could only travel so slowly that I thought it scarcely worth while to travel at all I becaed to drink up every drop of water I had in the keg, but it was the elixir of death I was burdened with, and to drink it was to die, so I restrained ot about three s, and to do that I travelled ht The next few days I can only pass over as they seemed to pass with ot over about five ion it may seem absurd that a man could not travel faster than that All I can say is, there may be men who could do so, but most er and thirst, for by the third or fourth day--I couldn't tell which--one I had to re the day, and I could only travel by night

When I lay down in the shade in theI lost all consciousness, and when I recovered my senses I could not tell whether one day or two or three had passed At one place I aht hours At a certain place on the road--that is to say, on the horse tracks--at about fifteen s--at twenty-five hted--I saw that the tracks of the two loose horses we had turned back from there had left the main line of tracks, which ran east and west, and had turned about east-south-east, and the tracks of the Fair Maid of Perth, I was grieved to see, had gone on them also I felt sure Gibson would soon find his error, and return to the ate this any farther in my present position I followed them about aat every step to see if Gibson's horse tracks returned into them

They never did, nor did the loose horse tracks either Generally speaking, whenever I saw a shady desert oak-tree there was an enor ants' nest under it, and I was prevented froht was the 27th I al any farther, for the exertion in this dreadful region, where the triodia was alroas quite overpowering, and being starved, I felt quite light-headed After sitting down, on every occasion when I tried to get up again, my head would swi in a chronic state of burning thirst, ht was dreadful in the extreme A bare and level sandy waste would have been Paradise to walk over cohs, both before and behind, were so punctured with spines, it was agony only to exist; the slightest movement and in went more spines, where they broke off in the clothes and flesh, causing the whole of the body that was punctured to gather intoMy clothes, especially inside my trousers, were a perfect reat hope and consolation noas that I ht soon meet the relief party But where was the relief party? Echo could only anshere? About the 29th I had e, and was still over twenty ine what twenty ht I plodded on, desolate indeed, but all undaunted, on this lone, unhallowed shore At last I reached the Circus, just at the dawn of day Oh, how I drank! how I reeled! how hungry I was! how thankful I was that I had so far at least escaped fro wilderness, for I was once h still twenty n of the tracks, of any one having been here since I left it The water was all but gone The solitary eagle still was there I wondered what could have become of Gibson; he certainly had never co so?

I was in such a miserable state of mind and body, that I refrained from more vexatious speculations as to what had delayed hi, until about ten am, when I crawled away over the stones down froo at a snail's pace Just as I got clear of the bank of the creek, I heard a faint squeak, and looking about I saw, and i wallaby, whose marsupial hed about two ounces, and was scarcely furnished yet with fur The instant I saw it, like an eagle I pounced upon it and ate it, living, raw, dying--fur, skin, bones, skull, and all The delicious taste of that creature I shall never forget I only wished I had its mother and father to serve in the saht, I had only accomplished eleven e of Tarns, again choking for water While lying down here, I thought I heard the sound of the foot-falls of a galloping horse going caue ideas of Gibson on the Fair Maid--or she without him--entered my head I stood up, and listened, but the sound had died away upon the ht air On the 1st of May, as I afterwards found, at one o'clock in the e of Tarns long before daylight, and could again indulge in as much water as I desired; but it was exhaustion I suffered froine hat intense feelings of relief I stepped over the little bridge across the water, staggered into the caht, and woke Mr Tietkens, who stared at h I had been one, new risen froive me some food I was of course prepared to hear that Gibson had never reached the camp; indeed I could see but two people in their blankets the moment I entered the fort, and by that I knew he could not be there None of the horses had co creatures--two men and four horses--that had returned, or were now ever likely to return, from that desert, for it was now, as I found, nine days since I last saw Gibson

Mr Tietkens toldmy absence, and had only returned an hour or two before from the Circus

This accounted for the sounds I heard He said he had planted some smoked horsesticks, and marked a tree This was a few hours after I had left it in theHe said he saw my foot-marks, but could not conclude that I could be on foot alone, and he thought the tracksone another soe We were both equally horrified at Gibson's hted to seeabout he knowed he worn't no good in the bush, but as long as I had returned, etc, etc

I told them both just what had occurred out there; how Gibson and I had parted company, and we could only conclude that hebefore have returned The mare certainly would have carried him to the Circus, and then he one wrong, had lost himself, and must now be dead I was too much exhausted and too prostrate to move from the camp to search for him to-day, but deter ready, while I remained in a state of semi-stupor I was cramped with pains in all my joints, pains in the sto a long-eles formed the topic of conversation for loom over our spirits Here ere, isolated from civilisation, out of humanity's reach, hundreds of miles away froone from us It was impossible for him to be still in existence in that fearful desert, as no man would or could stay there alive: he must be dead, or he would have returned as I did, only much sooner, for the mare he had, would carry him as far in a day as I could walk in a week in this country

The days had not lately been excessively hot, Mr Tietkens said 96 to 98 degrees had been the average, but to-day it was only 90 degrees