A Thousand Miles in a MachiUa 



to Broken Hill but, alas! the large herd of sassaby 

 that had been feeding there on the arrival of the 

 caravan had moved off. 



The question now arose, what was best to be 

 done ? to go on to the Lulimala or not ? Had the 

 time at our disposal been ample, we should un- 

 doubtedly have stopped where we were. It was a 

 pleasant site for a camp, and there was every 

 prospect of seeing game ; but alas ! time was im- 

 portant it was the i6th our march had only 

 occupied two hours. If there was a reasonable 

 prospect of finding water on the road, we must go 

 on. But how was it possible to ascertain the truth ? 



As it was evidently hopeless for either John or 

 ourselves to attempt to get reliable information out 



of the guide, it struck A that perhaps the 



machilla capitao, and two of Kopa's men might be 

 able to find out something, so they were told to see 

 what they could do. They held a consultation, and 

 reported favourably for a move, saying that there 

 was a water-hole, which probably still held water, 

 about the same distance ahead as we had already 

 covered, so a start was made, and, sure enough, 

 after another two hours we reached the place to 

 find it dry. Men were set to dig, but with no 

 result; it was useless. Here was another quandary. 

 Should we go backward or forward ? The return 

 march would take another two hours without water. 

 If we went on it would take at least three ; but a 

 retreat is always disagreeable, and sometimes de- 

 moralizing, therefore A gave the order to 



advance, and on we went accordingly. 



192 



