ol. Six troopers, O'Connor and myself,
started--all being fully armed. I took them to where the blacks had
killed two horses; the boys then followed the track by instinct, as I
thought. The rain had washed out all signs to me. When crossing a high
ridge, so bare and hard that our horses left no tracks, two of the
trackers were riding ahead, the others driving the pack horses behind. I
said to O'Connor, "I don't believe they are on the tracks." "Well," he
said, "I can't see any, I will call them back." He called out "Sambo!"
which was the name of the Corporal, "Where track?" Sambo pointed to a
blade of spinifex. I asked "Where?" He answered, "There." So I got off
my horse, and there was a tiny speck of blood which had dropped on the
root, and had not been washed off by the rain. It turned out the Myalls
had been carrying the flesh of my horses, and the blood had dropped here
and there.

We came to where the blacks had had a great feast on the bank of the
Kennedy River. At this spot it was rather wide, with a sandy bed, the
water running over it about two feet deep. I found the shoes, tail, and
mane of my favourite horse on the bank. We held a consultation, and it
was decided to send two of the boys with the pack horses back some
distance from the river, and then to travel parallel with it, as the
country close to this river was very broken. The rest of the party were
to follow the river down towards Princess Charlotte's Bay. We had a boy
out on each side to see if the Myalls had left the river bed. They knew
we could not track them in the water. We followed the river down for two
days, and I shall not forget the torture of walking bare-footed on
coarse sand with water running over it. I tried walking in the water
with my boots on, but the sand came into my boots and made my feet quite
sore. O'Connor was in the same plight as myself.

On the afternoon of the third day, the boys saw smoke rising about a
mile ahead. We immediately left the river and put up our tents for a
camp, short hobbling the horses with no bells on, but could not boil the
billy, as smoke from the fire would be seen. The moon rose about
midnight, and as the rain had ceased, we decided to start about 2 a.m.,
leaving our horses and belongings in camp.

It was a rather weird procession as we made our way along the river.
Five naked black troopers in single file in the lead, their only dress a
cartridge belt round the waist and cap on head. They were most