The Men Had Mutinied, Ten Of
Them Gone Off, And Only Three And A Woman As Cook Left; She Had
Known Much Better Days, And Was Perfectly Helpless And Unable To
Manage The Stove Or The Cooking In A Shed Made Of A Few Poles With
A Tarpaulin Thrown Over.
A - - is the most splendid man; whatever difficulties there are he
makes light of them; and directly the horses had been unharnessed
he set to work to put our tent up and lay out our supper, which
was improved by the addition of some fried potatoes.
Our table was
the spring seat of the waggon, our seats the boxes; the stores
have come in, or our bundle of rugs; and though the ground was
harder to sleep on, as we had no straw under our buffalo-robe,
still we got a fair amount of rest at night. Two very pretty
Italian greyhounds we had brought up with us kept our feet warm,
as it was quite chilly, the dews being very heavy. The men were
horribly disturbed all night by the mosquitoes, which were in
myriads. No smoke of the smudges really keeps them off, though it
stupifies and bothers them a good deal.
On Wednesday, contrary to expectation, we got some water to wash
with, the Manager having had a hole dug. Water is so easily
procured with digging, and at no great depth, that there is no
excuse for not having it in abundance. We then spent our morning,
whilst the men were going over the various sections, in trying to
teach the woman to, cook, making biscuits, which were not a
success, mending clothes, and writing up our diaries; so that the
time flew all too quickly.
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