146 A HARD day's WORK. 



the Makololos were swimming at my side. I sung 

 out to Mr. Young that we would return till she had 

 drifted sufficiently close for us to reach her, but he re- 

 plied that he was taking up the anchor, and going to 

 let her run in, so we stood our ground. When she 

 came within reach the anchor was again dropped, and 

 though it then held her, it was deemed advisable to 

 clear her out and beach her again, especially as the 

 barometer was falling fast and the wind increasing. 

 Reid was soon in the water along with us ; indeed, 

 whenever or wherever there was hard work to be 

 done, he was always there. In about an hour she was 

 clear and beached, and during this time I was scarcely 

 a minute out of the water. It was a hard termina- 

 tion to what had already been a hard day's work. 

 Extra grog was served out when the work was done, 

 and I lay down tired and weary on the beach, rolled up 

 in my blankets and waterproof sheet, and slept soundly 

 till daylight. 



This gale continued all next day, and compelled us 

 to remain where we were. I spent the afternoon 

 cleaning up guns, &c. About midnight the storm 

 abated, and at 7 a.m. it was tolerably fine, though 

 there was still a stiff breeze and heavy swell. As the 

 barometer had gone up considerably, and the wind 

 was becoming gradually lighter, we determined to 

 start, and by the time everything was ready there was 

 but little wind. We sailed about 9.30., or ten o'clock. 

 About noon the wind shifted to east by north, and a 

 nice breeze bore us along towards the marsh. We 

 were anxious to find the mouth of tlie River Lekue as 

 marked on Livingstone's map, but just after entering 



