appointed in not meeting with
any blacks, though their traces were plentiful; and we had commenced to
fear that the tribe we had surprised five days before had given warning
of our approach, when Ferdinand reported smoke a couple of miles on our
right. It was about mid-day when this was seen; and having made a
hurried meal off the damper, which I may here state answered its
purpose admirably, we crept towards the fire with the utmost caution.
Our route took us away from the river, and on arriving at the edge of a
small belt of scrub, we could make out that the fire was by the side of
a water-hole, but the two hundred yards between it and ourselves was so
open, that surprising the camp seemed almost impossible. The hour was
in our favour, for the blacks were lying about listlessly, resting
themselves after the fatigues of procuring the food of which they had
just made a meal. They numbered about twenty of both sexes, and were
evidently quite unconscious of our proximity. Detaching the two
troopers to make a detour, and cut them off from the scrub in that
direction, Dunmore, Lizzie, and I remained perfectly motionless for
above an hour, and then, judging that the boys must have reached their
position, we advanced towards the camp swiftly but silently. We got
over a third of the distance before the blacks saw us, and then ensured
a general scrimmage. The women and children jumped into the lagoon,
and the men, snatching up their weapons, threw a volley of spears with
such force and precision that, had we been twenty yards closer, it
would have gone hard with both my companions and myself. As it was,
the missiles nearly all fell short, seeing which the warriors dropped
their arms and took to their heels, running directly for the spot where
Ferdinand and Larry lay in ambush. Both Dunmore and myself fired our
carbines over the heads of the retreating Myalls (wild blacks), which
completed their panic, and one of them, rushing recklessly forward, was
captured by the troopers, and brought by them in triumph to the camp,
amidst the yells and jabbering of the gins and piccaninnies.

After half an hour or so, seeing that no harm was intended to them, the
women came out of the water, and we were very much pleased to find that
they readily understood Lizzie. On being addressed by her, the
warrior, who had hitherto maintained a sullen and defiant attitude,
became conversational, and readily replied to all the questions put to
h