CHAPTER V.
AMONG THE BLACKS.
Our preparation for this madcap expedition was very soon made. We took our horses, for on foot we could not keep up with Gioro, and it was better to have the full benefit of his fleetness. We strapped our blankets to the pommels of our saddles. Jack carried a small fowling-piece, and I carried a pistol. We both had serviceable knives. A few small packages of tea and tobacco and what we thought a fair supply of ammunition completed impedimenta.
We left our spare horse in charge of our man, and entrusted Mr. Fetherston with a cheque sufficient to pay the man's wages and to give him a small gratuity on his return to Adelaide. Meantime he was to be in Mr. Fetherston's service until we should rejoin the expedition, and if we did not rejoin it before its return to Adelaide then Tim Blundell was to have the horse. Early in the forenoon Gioro showed me a hill which
