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lay spread below me in primaeval silence, save every 

 now and then for the distant wolf -like bark of a dingo. 

 With my saddle under my head I was soon asleep, 

 and slept soundly until the morning", when I awoke 

 desperately hungry. I caught both the horses, saddled 

 up, and began to cast about where to go next. I 

 reasoned with myself that it was best to find my way 

 back to the head station rather than plunge farther 

 into unknown regions ; but, above all, it was neces- 

 sary to reach water, so I followed down the first gully 

 I could find. 



This I did for a few hours, ,but began to think 

 I must be on the western watershed, and thus travelling 

 away from the station instead of towards it. So I 

 resolved to try and find my old track and return to 

 Ravensworth on it ; and, knowing that, in a general 

 way, the camp where we had pitched our quarters bore 

 about north-west from the head station, I tried to ride 

 south-east now. This, as long as the sun was low, 

 was easy enough, but as it got vertical it was by no 

 means easy to keep on the bearing ; and I had no 

 watch on me the best compass in the world when 

 you know its use. I was beginning to feel tired for 

 want of food and water, but still rambled on through 

 the same eternal scrub and open patches, the same 

 everlasting gum-trees, shrivelling in the blazing sun, 

 and looking like mangy olives. 



On and on, on and on, the led horse frequently going 

 one side of a tree, myself the other, necessitating turn- 

 ing my horse and getting 4 him in line again weari- 

 some when every ounce of strength seems ebbing away. 

 I had now got down into what seemed an interminable 

 plain, thinly wooded and almost bare of grass, the 



