102 A NATURALIST IN TASMANIA ch. 



a splendid steady mare with a most dainty way 

 of picking her steps over boulders and logs, had 

 remained behind, so Davie jumped on her, and 

 galloped her barebacked down the track in search 

 of the runaway. I returned to the lake, meditating 

 as philosophically as I could on the uncertainty 

 of human affairs, had a rapid bathe in the icy cold 

 water, and then went back to the hut and cooked 

 some tea. It became rapidly dark, and after 

 waiting for more than two hours I began to be 

 anxious at the possibility of our being stranded 

 with only one horse so far away from any possible 

 assistance, so that it was with a feeling of con- 

 siderable relief that I heard the sound of horses 

 coming down the track. Davie had headed off 

 the horse just in front of the bridge over the 

 Derwent, but had experienced a good deal of 

 difficulty in recapturing him, and if once he had 

 got over the bridge it would have been hopeless 

 to pursue him that night at any rate, so that 

 we doubtless had a lucky escape. We led the 

 horses right through the hut, and stabled them 

 in a little yard at the back, where we kept them 

 safe for the rest of our stay. The drive back 

 along the Linda track to Bothwell occupied two 

 and a half days, the last day's drive, after we had 

 descended the tiers, taking us through open sand- 

 stone country where, in the neighbourhood of the 

 Ouse and Hamilton, the soil is enriched by fresh- 

 water Tertiary deposits, affording some of the finest 

 pastures in Tasmania. 



