KILL THE LAST SHEEP. 
391 
had, it seemed, also been enticed to join them, for he 
was getting up with the intention of following, when 
I called him back and detained him in the camp, as 
he was too young to know what he was doing, and 
had only been led astray by the others. I had 
intended to have moved on myself to-day, but the 
departure of the natives made me change my inten- 
tion, for I deemed it desirable that they should have 
at least three or four days start of us. Finding that 
the single sheep we had left would now be the cause of 
a good deal of trouble, I had it killed this afternoon, 
that we might have the full advantage of it whilst we 
had plenty of water, and might be enabled to hoard 
our bread a little. We had still a little of the horse- 
flesh left, and made a point of using it all up before 
the mutton was allowed to be touched. 
The morning of the *23rd broke cool and cloudy, 
with showers gathering from seawards ; the wind 
was south-west, and the sky wild and lowering in that 
direction. During the forenoon light rain fell, but 
scarcely more than sufficient to moisten the grass ; 
it would, however, probably afford our deserters a 
drink upon the cliffs. Towards evening the sky 
cleared, and the weather became frosty. 
On the following day we still remained in camp? 
hoping for rain ; — a single heavy shower would so 
completely have freed us from the danger of attempt- 
ing to force a passage through the great extent of 
arid country before us, that I was unwilling to move 
on until the very last moment. Our rations were 
