e of his own. We waited some time for the return of
Mudge and the rest; but they at length came back, saying that they had
not been discovered, and that the skeletons were still dancing away as
furiously as ever.

My father determined that a double watch should be kept during the
night. To set the example, he took the first, with Burton and one of
the men; and I relieved him after a couple of hours. During the whole
time I heard the drums beating in the distance, and I had no doubt that
the natives were keeping up their corroborree, which I suppose afforded
them as much amusement as a ball in England does the young ladies and
gentlemen who attend it. Mudge, who followed me, said that he also
heard the sounds during the whole of his watch; indeed, the natives must
have kept up their festivities, if so they could be called, till the
"laughing jackass"--which performs the duty of a cock in Australia, by
chattering vociferously just before sunrise--warned them to seek repose.

As we were anxious to avoid the natives, we started at daybreak, and
marched nearly four miles before we halted for breakfast, munching only
a little biscuit to stay our appetites. Pullingo led the way as usual,
making us suppose that he had no connection with those who had been
engaged in the corroborree. My father, however, did not entirely trust
him: taking out his compass, he examined it frequently, to ascertain
that he was conducting us on a direct course. We might, indeed, have
dispensed with his guidance, had he not been of so much service in
showing us where springs of water were to be found, as also in pointing
out the trees on which parrots, pigeons, and other birds perched at
night.

After breakfast we rested for a short time, and then again pushed
forward, hoping to keep well ahead of our black neighbours of the
previous night. As it was impossible for my mother and Edith to make so
long a journey as on the previous day, we halted early in the afternoon,
in a wooded region very similar to that in which we had encamped on
former nights, on the southern side of a stream which we had just before
passed. I call it a stream, because water ran through it; but it
consisted merely of a numerous succession of holes more or less deep,
connected by a tiny rivulet, over which we could step without the
slightest difficulty. We could see that in the rainy season the water
had risen many feet, when it must have assumed the character of a
tor