354 
GLOOMY PROSPECTS. 
had fallen to refresh them, and they were reduced 
to a most pitiable condition, still they travelled 
onwards, with a spirit and endurance truly surpris- 
ing. Whenever we halted, they followed us about 
like dogs wherever we went, appearing to look to us 
only for aid, and exhibiting that confidence in us 
which I trust we all reposed in the Almighty, for 
most truly did we feel, that in His mercy and 
protection alone our safety could now ever be 
hoped for. 
About ten o’clock the tide became too high for us 
to keep the beach, and we were compelled to halt for 
some hours. Our horses were nearly all exhausted, 
and I dreaded that when we next moved on many 
of them would be unable to proceed far, and that, 
one by one, they would all perish, overcome by 
sufferings which those, who have not witnessed such 
scenes, can have no conception of. We should then 
have been entirely dependent upon our own strength 
and exertions, nearly midway between Adelaide and 
King George’s Sound, with a fearful country on 
either side of us, with a very small supply of provi- 
sions, and without water. 
The position we were in, frequently forced sad 
forebodings with respect to the future, and though 
I by no means contemplated with apathy the pro- 
bable fate that might await us, yet I was never for 
a moment undecided as to the plan it would be ne- 
cessary to adopt, in such a desperate extremity — at all 
hazards, I was determined to proceed onwards. 
