This finding of a corpse at the mouth of the only soak we had seen was hardly encouraging; but still there was a large extent of rocks that we had not yet visited.  Shortly before sunset, as I stood on the summit of the highest rock, I was astonished by the sight of some horses grazing in a little valley beneath.  I could hardly believe that I saw aright; it seemed incredible that horsemen should have reached this drought-begirt spot.  Little time was wasted in idle speculation, and the appearance of our camels soon proved the horses to be flesh and blood, and not mere phantoms of the brain, unless indeed phantoms can snort and plunge!

The owner of the horses soon made his appearance, and, with reluctant resignation, showed us the soak from which his horses were watered.  He and his mates, he said, were sinking for water in a likely spot some half-mile away; in the meantime they used the soak, though it was evident it would not last much longer.  We must have water for our camels, and must use the soak, I said, until their thirst was somewhat relieved, then in our turn we would dig for soaks round the rocks.  In the hottest time of the year our poor patient beasts had been eight days without food, except of the driest description, and eight days without water, struggling and kicking in the salt-bogs.  It was indeed a delight to quench their thirst at last.  All that night we worked without a minute’s rest, digging, scraping, and bailing, and secured enough to keep the camels going.  For the next two days we were engaged in sinking trial holes for soakages; no water, however, rewarded our labours until the night of the second day, when we struck a splendid supply, and for the time being our troubles were over.  Pitching a “fly” to keep off the sun’s rays in the daytime, we were content to do nothing but rest for the whole of the next day.  Here again I was fortunate in shooting an emu, a welcome addition to our provisions.

McIlwraith and his mates (the owners of the horses) had also struck a good supply.  From them we got the news which we already suspected that a new find of gold had been made not five miles from the rocks.  An apparently rich find too!  How strangely things turn out.  Our ill-fortune in failing to find the Erlistoun had forced us into a most unpleasant experience, and yet that ill-fortune was turning into good.  For here we were on the scene of newly-discovered reefs and nuggets, at the new rush, the existence of which we had gravely doubted.  We were the third party on the field, and from Messrs. Rogers and friends I heard the history of its discovery.

CHAPTER V

GOLD AT LAKE DARLOT

About the month of October, 1894, Rogers and party, with their camels, were camped at Cutmore’s (or Doyle’s) Well, and, on studying the map of the Elder Exploring Expedition, they saw that Mr. Wells had marked the country north of Lake Darlot as “probably auriferous.”  This they determined to visit, and, more fortunate than ourselves, were not caught in the intricacies of the salt lake.