would eat, with
the exception of Traveller, and he certainly made good use of his time.
The others collected round me as I sat under a tree, with their heads
over mine, and my own horse pulled my hat off my head to engage my
attention. Poor brute! I would have given much at that moment to have
relieved him, but I could not. We were all of us in the same distress,
and if we had not ultimately found water must all have perished together.
Finding that they would not eat, we saddled and proceeded onwards, I
should say backwards--and at 10 p.m. we were on the sand ridges. At the
head of the valley Traveller fell dead, and I feared every moment that we
should lose the Colt. At one I stopped to rest the horses till dawn, and
then remounted, but Morgan and Mack got slowly on, so that I thought it
better to precede them, and if possible to take some water back to
moisten the mouth of their horses, and I accordingly went in advance with
Mr. Stuart. I thought we should never have got through the dead box-tree
forest I have mentioned, however we did so about 11 a.m., and made
straight for the spot where we expected to relieve both ourselves and our
horses, but the water was gone. Mr. Stuart poked his fingers into the mud
and moistened his lips with the water that filled the holes he had made,
but that was all. We were yet searching for water when Morgan and Mack
appeared, but without the colt; fortunately they had descended into the
valley higher up, and had found a little pool, which they had emptied,
under an impression that we had found plenty; and were astonished at
hearing that none any longer remained. In this situation, and with the
apparent certain prospect of losing my own and Mr. Browne's horse, and
the colt which was still alive when the men left him, not more than a
mile in the rear, we continued our search for water, but it would have
been to no purpose. Suddenly a pigeon topped the sand hill--it being the
first bird we had seen--a solitary bird--passing us like lightning, it
pitched for a moment, and for a moment only, on the plain, about a
quarter of a mile from us, and then flew away. It could only have wetted
its bill, but Mr. Stuart had marked the spot, and there was water.
Perhaps I ought to dwell for a moment on this singular occurrence, but I
leave it to make its own impression on the reader's feelings. I was
enabled to send back to the colt, and we managed to save him, and as
there was a sufficiency of water for