328 
LEAVE THE SHEEP. 
great ; the state of doubt and uncertainty I was in 
was almost insupportable, and I began to fear that 
neither sheep nor horses would ever reach the 
water, even should we suceeed in doing so ourselves, 
which now appeared to be very doubtful. At noon 
I considered we had come one hundred and ten miles 
from the last water, and still the country remained 
the same. The cliffs indeed appeared to be gradually 
declining a little in elevation to the westward, but 
there was nothing to indicate their speedy termi- 
nation. Our sheep still travelled, but they were get- 
ting so tired, and their pace was so slow, that I 
thought it would be better to leave them behind, and 
by moving more rapidly with the horses endeavour 
at least to save their lives. Foreseeing that such a 
contingency as this might occur, I had given the 
overseer strict orders to keep the tracks of my 
horses, that if I should be compelled to abandon the 
sheep he might find them and bring them on with 
his party. 
Having decided upon this plan we set to work 
and made a strong high yard of such shrubs as we 
could find, and in this we shut up the sheep. I then 
wrote a note for the overseer, directing him to bury 
the loads of the horses, and hastening on with the 
animals alone endeavour to save their lives. To 
attract attention I raised a long stick above the 
sheep-yard, and tied to it a red handkerchief, which 
could be seen a long way off*. At one we again pro- 
ceeded, and were able to advance more rapidly than 
