nger and exhausted nature; and if searched for at
daybreak, before having had time to wander, he is generally found in a
convenient proximity to "the camp." Such was the case in the present
instance.

When the horses were saddled and ready for a start, the party mounted,
and the cavalcade moved off. The country they intended to visit was
situated on the main river, some considerable distance further down its
course; but, owing to the numerous creeks that mingled their waters with
the main stream, it was impossible for them to follow the bank of the
river without meeting with many interruptions and impediments. They
therefore traced up the creek; and, by means of their compass, they
shaped their course so as to either head all the creeks, or so far reach
their sources, as to be enabled to cross them without difficulty. This
circuitous route necessarily occupied more time than what would have
been required under more auspicious circumstances; and the still heavy
nature of the ground, from its late pluvial visitation, rendered the
journey extremely tedious; while it prevented them from reaching
Strawberry Hill, the only station on the river below Brompton, that
night. This run had been sold to the present occupants by Bob Smithers,
and had been taken possession of by them some eighteen months
previously. It had been Smithers' intention to have made this place
their quarters for that night; but finding it could not be reached
before dark, and there being situated in the line a deep and awkward
river called the Wombi, running into the Gibson, and for which he
preferred daylight to cross, he determined to keep higher up the Wombi,
and camp on its bank where the country was open and flat.

Arriving at the "Dingo plains," a place so named from the number of
those animals which frequented it, they halted for the night, intending
to camp and cross the river in the morning. They would thus, by making
this detour, keep high above Strawberry Hill; and Smithers therefore
purposed taking his companions round the back and lower boundaries of
the run they wished to see; thence through its extent to its other
extreme on the Gibson river; making occasional deviations to the
principal water courses and eminences, from which a good view of the
country could be obtained; and thence to return. Smoking their pipes
over their fire, Bob detailed these plans to the young men, who
perfectly agreed with their judiciousness, and determined to put t