Attack by Natives. 107 
on continuing my journey, about a mile from my camp I 
found the temporary bark shelters, where a considerable 
number of natives had passed the night, with smoke still 
rising from the ashes of their fires. There can be little doubt 
that some of these people had been prowling about in the 
early morning, and perhaps, approached me with anything 
but friendly intention; if so, the keen ear of the dog had 
enabled him to detect so faint a sound, quite inaudible to me, 
as the footstep of a barefooted man, and to discriminate 
between this and the sounds made by animals, with which 
he never concerned himself further than merely to notice 
them, but gave no warning sign. 
During one particular week of my bush life I could not 
aver that I had slept uninterruptedly for two hours. All 
around the neighbourhood the blacks had been spearing 
cattle and raiding on sheep. Their numbers and the short- 
handed condition of all the sheep runs emboldened them to 
an unusual extent. At one of the far outlying huts they 
had murdered an old shepherd, and made havoc of his flock. 
To this hut I was sent with a flock of strong wethers, as all 
the grass nearer home was needed for the lambing season 
then close at hand. Extreme caution when out with the 
sheep was necessary, but in the monotony of the occupation 
—the ration carrier being the only white man likely to be 
seen in the course of a week, or, possibly, a stray stockman 
on his rounds—the feeling of insecurity gradually wore off. 
One hot day, while the sheep were taking their siesta at 
noon, I sat down at the foot of a tree with the double barrelled 
gun across my lap and the dog beside me, and fell asleep. 
Men naturally sleep lightly when they know that they may 
wake only to find a spear in them, and an angry growl from 
the dog brought me to my senses. Jumping to my feet, 
and, following the direction of his eye, I noticed a slight 
movement of the grass at some little distance, Concluding 
it to be a dingo making for the sheep I fired a charge of 
heavy shot at the spot, and, much to my astonishment, a 
