I had foreseen this long wait, I read a chapter from “Vanity Fair.”  Presently I got him on his legs and he walked for about thirty yards, then down he went in a heap on the ground; another wait, and more “Vanity Fair.”  Then on again, and down again, and so on hour after hour.  Soon nothing but brutal treatment would make him stir, so I hardened my heart and used a stick without mercy.  What a brute I felt as he turned his great eyes reproachfully upon me!  “Never mind, Misery, old chap, it must be done to save your life!” At last I reached a ridge within one hundred yards of the camp, and here Breaden met me, bringing with him four gallons of water and the welcome news that the others had captured two bucks who had shown a well three miles north.

This water saved Misery’s life, and was just in time.  We reached camp as the camels were reloaded and ready to start for the well under the guidance of the two bucks.  Both of these were fair-sized men, and one stood six feet at least, though from the method of doing the hair in a bunch at the top of the head they appear taller than they really are.  Godfrey and Warri had tracked them right into their camp and surprised a family of numerous gins, young and old, several picaninnies, and three bucks, one of whom was stone blind.  They were preparing their evening meal, and amongst the spoils of the chase there were opossums, whose tracks on one of two large gum-trees not far off we afterwards saw.  I had always associated opossums with good country; however, here they were.  Of the natives, some fled as soon as Godfrey and Warri approached, whilst the men were uncommonly anxious to dispute this unceremonious visit to their camp.  They were on the point of active hostilities when Charlie rode up on Satan, and they then thought better of it.  Even so they were not persuaded to accompany the white men back to camp without considerable difficulty.  The smaller man managed to escape; the other we afterwards christened Sir John, because he was so anxious to make us dig out old dry wells, so that presumably they should be ready for the next rain.  There seemed to us to exist a certain similarity between his views and those of the Government, which is ever ready to make use of the pioneer’s labours where it might be justly expected to expend its own.

This fellow was most entertaining, and took a great interest in all our belongings.  I, coming last, seemed to excite keen delight, though he was naturally a little shy of his captors; he patted me on the chest, felt my shirt and arms, and was greatly taken by a tattoo on one of them.  Grinning like any two Cheshire cats, he showed his approval by “clicking” his tongue with a side shake of the head, at the same time snapping his thumb and finger.  Breaden, too, came in for Sir John’s approval, and was similarly patted and pulled about.