ver
lost any by this means.

At length we gained an open but more desert region. The ground was
stony and uneven, and we had rocky hills to ascend and dark gorges to
pass through. Water was scarce, and we had often to carry sufficient to
supply our wants for a couple of days; while our cattle suffered greatly
from thirst. We could no longer hunt in small parties, for fear of
encountering hostile Indians; but we were able to kill game without
going to any great distance from the camp, as we found several species
of deer inhabiting those wilds.

My uncle's waggon was one day bringing up the rear of the train; and our
water being nearly exhausted, we were pushing forward as fast as the
oxen could move, in the hope of reaching a stream before dark, when one
of the wheels came off, and the waggon, in falling over, suffered
considerable damage. Under other circumstances, the train would have
stopped till our waggon was put to rights; but as most of the oxen were
suffering from thirst, and many of the party had no water remaining, it
was important for them to push forward without delay. We were therefore
compelled to remain by ourselves; but no Indians had as yet been seen in
this part of the country, and we hoped that we should escape without
being attacked.

My uncles were not men to be frightened by difficulties. They and Mike,
with Quambo and I, immediately set to work to do what was necessary. We
unloaded the waggon, and commenced repairing the damage it had received.
This, however, took us some time, and it was quite dark before we got
the wheel on again and the waggon reloaded. Having been more provident
than the rest of the party, we were able to wet our beasts' muzzles, and
still have sufficient water to last ourselves for a few hours.

As we wished to overtake our companions as soon as possible, we
immediately pushed forward, and soon got into a somewhat more level
country than we had lately been passing through; but the ground was very
hard, and in the darkness we could not perceive the tracks made by those
in advance. Had an Indian guide been with us, he would undoubtedly have
discovered them; but we had to trust to our own sagacity, and we had not
gone far when we found that we had got out of the right road. We did
our utmost to regain it, but in vain. Still, believing that we were
going in the proper direction, we proceeded onwards. The stars came out
brightly from the sky, and we shaped our cours