a
mountain pass under snow and frost can understand how we appreciated our
food.

The next day we reached Davis's, when Fowler and Legge left us for
Dunedin, and Smith and I arranged with Davis for the purchase of a
couple of fat steers for L12 10s. each, hoping that if we succeeded in
driving them to the diggings we would double our money.

In the afternoon we went with Davis to the run, and selected the
animals, which we drove with a mob to the stockyard. Here we separated
our pair and put them in another yard for a start in the morning.
Driving a couple of wild bullocks alone from their run is, as I have
already explained, by no means an easy task, and Davis warned us that
these would give us trouble--indeed, I believe he considered us slightly
mad to attempt to drive the beasts such a distance at all.

On first starting we had no small difficulty in preventing them
returning to the run, and it cost us some hard galloping to get them
away on the road to Miller and Gooche's, where it was our intention to
yard for the night.

We had proceeded to within a mile of the station, when the brutes for
the twentieth time bolted, on this occasion taking to the hills over
some low spurs and rocky ground, intersected with ravines and gullies. I
was riding hard to intercept them when I was suddenly sent flying on to
my head, turning a somersault on to a rough bank of spear grass. Shaking
myself together and somewhat recovering from the shock, I discovered the
tail and stern of my steed projecting above the ground, the remainder of
him being invisible. It appeared he had planted his fore feet in a deep
fissure covered with long grass, and just large enough to take in head
and fore parts. The shock sent me over, as I described, while he
remained stuck.

It was a ridiculous position, and tired, sore from the spear-grass, and
annoyed as I was, I could not refrain from a hearty laugh at our
predicament before attempting to extricate my unhappy quadruped; this I
succeeded in doing with some difficulty, and found him, with the
exception of some few scratches, quite unhurt.

I again mounted, but the wily steers had disappeared, and Smith was
nowhere to be seen, I rode quietly on and presently discovered the
latter, himself and horse dead beat, and using very unparliamentary
language at our bad luck, at the beasts, and at gold diggings in
general.

We had nothing for it but to go back to Miller's for the night. The
following day