h, where we had made our second well, at 6 p.m., but it was dry and
the bottom cracked and baked.

I would gladly have given my poor horses a longer rest than prudence
would have justified, but we had not time for rest. At 8 we again
mounted, and went slowly on; and when darkness closed around us lit a
small lamp, and one of us walking in front led the way for the others to
follow; thus tracking our way over those dreary regions all night long,
we neared our last remaining well, 36 miles distant from the creek, just
as morning dawned. Objects were still obscure as we approached the spot
where our hopes rested, for our horses could hardly drag one foot after
the other. Mr. Stuart was in front, and called to me that he saw the
little trees under whose shade we had slept; soon after he said he saw
something glittering where the well was, and immediately after shouted
out, "Water, water." It is impossible for me to record all this without a
feeling of more than thankfulness to the Almighty Power that guided us.
At this place we were still 180 miles from Fort Grey; and if we had not
found this supply, it is more than probable the fate of our horses would
have sealed our own. As it was we joyfully unsaddled, and, after
watering, turned them out to feed. Singular it was that the well on which
we had least dependence, and from which we had been longest absent,
should thus have held out--but so it was. At 9 we resumed our journey,
there being about half a gallon a-piece for the horses just before we
started; but although this, and the short rest they had, had relieved
them, they got on slowly; and it was not until after midnight of the
27th, a.m. indeed of the 28th, that we reached the creek, with two short
of our complement of horses, the Roan and the Colt both having dropped on
the plains, but fortunately at no great distance, so that we recovered
them in the course of the day.

It will naturally be supposed that, arrived at a place of safety, we here
rested for a while; but my mind was no sooner relieved from one cause for
anxiety, than it was filled with another. If I except the thunder-storm
which had enabled me to undertake my late journey from the creek, no rain
had fallen, the weather had suddenly become oppressively hot, with a sky
as clear as ether. I had still the mountain range to the N.E. to examine,
and the upper branches of the creek, and in this necessary survey I knew
no time was to be lost. Indeed I doubted if