15.
1864
| Feby. cont. | 24 | team, sent McC. for the horses; in the interim prepared traps etc. & started in pursuit going ? by the place of attack to see the track, & recover the gun which L. said he had taken with him, we found the gun in the river, also the axe, mustered the cattle & went on, found first tracks 9ms, down the river & went on to "Jones creek" where we arrived at 9 p.m. & found a track of a single native; (very tired) which we took to be Mullandee's, had tea & were about to turn in, when fire blazed up, but we would not disturb him or them till day broke as we might shoot the wrong man in the dark; at 4 a.m. got close to fire without being observed, & waited for day to break, when sufficiently light, called out his name & told him to stop, having him under the muzzle of our guns at 10 yds but to our great disappoint[ment] a stranger got up & a woman by his side; the man of course was much surprised, & terrified while the woman being in a perfect state of nudity, quickly arranged the very spare toilet with which Dame Nature had provided, & went off. |
| 25 | Had breakfast & seeing signal fires Eastward started for the Sherlock River with idea of Mullandee or if disappointed in that, finding & catching Burges's black mare Lucy, left by Gregory; crossed the two branches of George when on going to look for water, which we found, struck a fresh horse track followed it for a few miles & saw the mare when near her, she came to the horses & went off at a gallop & we after her, taking the precaution to run her towards home. I soon found old Ney could run 2miles to her one, so we had only to let her go till she was a little tired when I ran Ney up beside her & a head & away she came at a gallop after him, when I thought she had had her run out I pulled up & grabbed her by the forelock & McC. came up & put his bridle on her, & mounted (leaving his horse to follow & the old mare came away from her solitude with as much pleasure as we did with her, she intends to write a sequel to the adventures of Robinson Crusoe. Men as before. At 5 p.m. struck a fresh horse trail which we knew to be Nairn's. |
