SUSPICIOUS MOVEMENTS. 109 



left the boats, but three of them were on the scrubby 

 slope below, going down to them again. I shouted 

 to them, on which they halted, and 1 hastened down 

 with M'Clatchie and two men to see what they were 

 about. On coming down to the slope, clear of the 

 bushes, we found the three men we had seen before, 

 on our side of the gully, one of whom had a spear, 

 and four men on the other, apparently all with 

 spears. There was much shouting from one party 

 to the other, and one man pointed to and laid hold 

 of me several times, but I did not suppose they 

 would have the audacity to attack a party numeri- 

 cally superior to themselves. When, however, on 

 M'Clatchie's asking the man to let him look at his 

 spear, he gruffly refused, and they began stealthily 

 to retire, one by one, along the edge of the gully, 

 into the bushes which our party were coming 

 through, I began to be half suspicious of their 

 intentions, and saying to M'Clatchie, "there is 

 no harm in being too cautious ;" and telling the 

 men to halt for the stragglers, I walked back to 

 look for Yule. After meeting the rest of the party, 

 and telling those unarmed to get out of the bushes, 

 which were thin straggling trees about eight feet 

 high, I met Yule limping along, and asked him if there 

 was any one behind. " Yes," said he, " one man," 

 whom I immediately saw pushing through the 

 bushes, about fifteen yards from me, and a little on 

 my right, He had his musket under one arm, and 

 the artificial horizon box under the other. At the 



