PERILS OF PIONEERING. 163 



The apparition of so strange a looking object as my- 

 self startled the cattle, and they scampered off, their 

 bells wildly sounding through the stillness of the bush. 

 I determined to follow this team, no matter where they 

 went, and I kept close to their heels over hill and dale, 

 and was soon repaid by coming up to a camp of bul- 

 lock drivers, who turned out bewildered at the unusual 

 sight, concluding I was a madman. It took me some 

 time to convey to them our situation, and they always 

 affirmed I was light-headed when I arrived at their 

 camp; for I told them, among other things, that we 

 were all drowned, when they replied that they thought 

 me a pretty lively specimen of a drowned man. 



My first thought was to return to my wife, but these 

 rough sons of the forest suggested that some clothing 

 would be an improvement to me, so one produced a 

 pair of moleskin trousers, another a sou'-wester, while 

 a third found a pair of boots. These articles of civili- 

 zation revealed to me my condition ; my legs had been 

 wounded, probably by snags in the river, and my feet 

 were so cut and swollen that boots were simply instru- 

 ments of torture. 



My new acquaintances bewailed the low state of their 

 larder, consisting of one damper (a kind of thick pan- 

 cake), with no hope of getting more provisions till the 

 flood went down. A slice of this bush fare was handed 



