ogress whatever. These tracks at times wandered about zigzag
fashion, and led us considerable distances out of our course, but, all
the same, we dare not leave them. Not only was water all but
unobtainable here, but our skin was torn with thorns at almost every
step. Yamba was terribly troubled when she found she could no longer
provide for my wants. Fortunately the dew fell heavily at night, and a
sufficient quantity would collect on the foliage to refresh me somewhat
in the morning. How eagerly would I lick the precious drops from the
leaves! Curiously enough, Yamba herself up to this time did not seem
distressed from lack of water; but nothing about this marvellous woman
surprised me. It took us about ten days to pass through the awful
spinifex desert, and for at least eight days of that period we were
virtually without water, tramping through never-ending tracts of scrub,
prickly grass, and undulating sand-hills of a reddish colour. Often and
often I blamed myself bitterly for ever going into that frightful country
at all. Had I known beforehand that it was totally uninhabited I
certainly should not have ventured into it. We were still going due
east, but in consequence of the lack of water-holes, my heroic guide
thought it advisable to strike a little more north.

CHAPTER VII

The agonies of thirst--A ghastly drink--I ask Yamba to kill me--My
ministering angel--How Yamba caught opossum--The water witch--A barometer
of snakes--The coming deluge--The plunge into the Rapids--A waste of
waters--A fearful situation--Barking alligators--English-speaking
natives--A ship at last--I abandon hope--The deserted settlement.

By this time I began to feel quite delirious; I fear I was like a baby in
Yamba's hands. She knew that all I wanted was water, and became almost
distracted when she could not find any for me. Of herself she never
thought. And yet she was full of strange resources and devices. When I
moaned aloud in an agony of thirst, she would give me some kind of grass
to chew; and although this possessed no real moisture, yet it promoted
the flow of saliva, and thus slightly relieved me.

Things grew worse and worse, however, and the delirium increased. Hour
after hour--through the endless nights would that devoted creature sit by
my side, moistening my lips with the dew that collected on the grass. On
the fifth day without water I suffered the most shocking agonies, and in
my lucid moments ga