282 
DEPARTURE OF NATIVES. 
article. In the afternoon, the stranger came up to 
the camp again, and I at once taxed him with the 
theft ; this he vehemently denied, telling me it was 
lost in the sand, and pretending to look anxiously 
for it ; he appeared, however, restless and uneasy, 
and soon after taking up his spears went away with 
two others. My own native boy happened to be 
coming over the sand-hills at the time, but 
unobserved by them, and as they crossed the ridge 
he saw the man I had accused stop to pick some- 
thing up, and immediately called out to me; upon 
this I took my gun, and ascending the hill, saw the 
native throw down the knife, which my own boy 
then picked up ; the other natives had now come up, 
and seemed very anxious to prevent any hostilities, 
and to the chief of those who had been so friendly 
with us, I explained as well as I could the nature of 
the misunderstanding, and requested him to order 
the dishonest native away, upon which he spoke to 
them in his own language, and all took up their 
spears and went away, except himself and one other. 
These two men remained with us until dark, but as 
the evening appeared likely to be wet, they left us 
also, when we lay down for the night. 
January 9. — The morning set in cold, dark and 
rainy, and as much wet had fallen during the night, 
we had been thoroughly drenched through, our fire 
had been extinguished, and it was long before 
we could get it lit again, and even then we could 
hardly keep it in ; the few bushes among the sand 
