As Grey one day stood at the steer-oar, he saw that there was a heavier surf than they had ever yet been in. They were swept along at a terrific rate, and yet it appeared as if each following wave must engulf them, so lofty were they, and so rapidly did they succeed each other. At length they reached the point where the waves broke; the breaker that they were on curled up in the air, lifting the boat with it; and when they had gained the summit, he looked down from a great height, not upon water, but upon a bare, sharp, black rock. For one second the boat hung upon the top of the wave; in the next, he felt the sensation of falling rapidly, then a tremendous shock and crash, which jerked him away amongst rocks and breakers, and for the few following seconds he heard nothing but the din of waves, whilst he was rolling about amongst men, and a torn boat, oars, and water-kegs, in such a manner that he could not collect his senses.
In attempting to land, the other boat was totally wrecked a few minutes afterwards. All that had passed was nothing compared with their present miseries, and the prospect of walking overland defencelessly, without water or food, to Perth. But there was no alternative, and the party set out. After travelling seventy miles, and while still one hundred and ninety from Perth, Mr. Grey saw the party reduced to such a state of exhaustion—a bird now and then, and similar trifles, being their chief resources—that, to save any of them, he conceived it right to push forward with the most active assistance. With four men and Kaiber, the native, he accordingly started. As they moved along, they moistened their mouths by sucking a few drops of dew from the
