As A Postscript I May Add That I Found Poor Mary's Address On
One Of Her Letters, And Faithfully Kept My Promise As Soon As
I Reached Pen And Ink.
CHAPTER XXVIII
WHAT remains to be told will not take long. Hardships
naturally increased as the means of bearing them diminished.
I have said the salmon held out for many days. We cut it in
strips, and dried it as well as we could; but the flies and
maggots robbed us of a large portion of it. At length we
were reduced to two small hams; nothing else except a little
tea. Guessing the distance we had yet to go, and taking into
account our slow rate of travelling, I calculated the number
of days which, with the greatest economy, these could be made
to last. Allowing only one meal a day, and that of the
scantiest, I scored the hams as a cook scores a leg of roast
pork, determined under no circumstances to exceed the daily
ration.
No little discipline was requisite to adhere to this
resolution. Samson broke down under the exposure and
privation; superadded dysentery rendered him all but
helpless, and even affected his mind. The whole labour of
the camp then devolved on me. I never roused him in the
morning till the mules were packed - with all but his blanket
and the pannikin for his tea - and until I had saddled his
horse for him. Not till we halted at night did we get our
ration of ham.
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