could discover, also to visit the Circus so as to
report upon it. Jimmy and I remained and erected
some more woodwork—that is to say, rails
and uprights—for the fort. We walked
over to re-inspect—Jimmy had not seen them—two
glens and springs lying within a couple of miles to
the east of us, the first being about three-quarters
of a mile off. I now named it Tyndall’s
Springs. Here a fine stream of running water
descends much further down the channel than at any
other spring in the range, though it spreads into
no open sheets of water as at the depot; there was
over a mile of running water. The channel is thickly
set with fine tall bulrushes. There is a very
fine shady clump of gum-trees here, close to the base
of the range. The next spring, about a mile farther
east, I called Groener’s Springs; it had not
such a strong flow of water, but the trees in the
clump at the head of it were much larger and more
numerous than at the last. Some of the trees,
as was the case at Fort McKellar, were of very considerable
size. Late at night Mr. Tietkens and Gibson returned,
and reported that, although they had discovered a
new rock-hole with seven or eight feet of water in
it, it was utterly useless; for no horses could get
within three-quarters of a mile of it, and they had
been unable to water their horses, having had to do
so at the Circus. They said the water there was
holding out well; but Gibson said it had diminished
a good deal since he and I were there a week ago.
On the 19th April I told the party it was useless
to delay longer, and that I had made up my mind to
try what impression a hundred miles would make on the
country to the west. I had waited and waited for
a change, not to say rain, and it seemed as far off
as though the month were November, instead of April.
I might still keep on waiting, until every ounce of
our now very limited supply of rations was gone.
We were now, and had been since Billy was killed,
living entirely on smoked horse; we only had a few
pounds of flour left, which I kept in case of sickness;
the sugar was gone; only a few sticks of tobacco for
Mr. Tietkens and Gibson—Jimmy and I not
smoking—remained. I had been disappointed
at the Charlotte Waters at starting, by not being
able to get my old horse, and had started from the
Alberga, lacking him and the 200 pounds of flour he
would have carried—a deficiency which considerably
shortened my intended supply. A comparatively
enormous quantity of flour had been lost by the continual
rippings of bags in the scrubs farther south, and
also a general loss in weight of nearly ten per cent.,
from continual handling of the bags, and evaporation.
We had supplemented our supplies in a measure at Fort
Mueller and the Pass, with pigeons and wallabies,
as long as our ammunition lasted, and now it was done.
When I made known my intention, Gibson immediately
volunteered to accompany me, and complained of having
previously been left so often and so long in the camp.
I much preferred Mr. Tietkens, as I felt sure the
task we were about to undertake was no ordinary one,
and I knew Mr. Tietkens was to be depended upon to
the last under any circumstances, but, to please Gibson,
he waived his right, and, though I said nothing, I
was not at all pleased.