September 18th. At Family Well, parakeelia again, three gallons at night.
September 28th. Half a drink.
Therefore between the 22nd of August and the 28th of September they had
no more than thirteen gallons.
Satan had more travelling, though carrying a less load, than any of the
rest, being used for scouting and finding natives.
On the evening of the 29th I left my work down the well to take some
observations; unluckily I was just too late for the stars I wanted, and
had to wait up for some long time. We had divided the night into five
shifts for baling; when my turn came my companions did not wake me, but
did my shift for me. I am sure I appreciated their kindly thought, and
felt thankful indeed, and not for the first time, that I had managed to
choose such excellent mates - for I had long realised that without peace
and unanimity in such a party, our chances of getting through the desert
would be greatly minimised.
I found our position to be lat. 21 degrees 49 minutes, long. 126 degrees
33 minutes.
By morning we had given the camels another five gallons apiece and had
some to go on with in our tanks, having, by working for two days and
three nights, scraped together 140 gallons in all. On the 30th we
travelled again Westwards, though making some Northerly progress towards
the smoke which Charlie and I had located. We had a long talk about our
methods of travelling, and Charlie thought that I was inclined to spare
the camels at the expense of ourselves. We travelled all day without a
break so that they should have the longer to look for feed at night, then
we always hunted for tracks and water on foot, and when we found water,
gave it to the camels before looking after our own wants, and he thought
we might do longer stages straight ahead so long as we had a native. I
held, and I think the outcome of the journey proved me correct, that our
own well-being was a secondary consideration to that of our animals, for
without them we should be lost. "Slow but sure" was my motto.
Though anxious to make as much northing as possible I did not feel
justified in passing by almost certain water for the sake of a few hours.
I felt always that we might come into an even more waterless region
ahead, and perhaps be unable to find any natives. Some twelve miles
brought us to the well - the smoke had been beyond it - and a more wretched
spot I never saw. Absolutely barren, even of spinifex, were the high
ridges of sand between which was the well - merely a small, round hole,
with no signs of moisture or plant life about it, not a tree "within
cooee." We had to go far to collect enough wood for a fire, and cut two
sticks with which to rig up a fly to shade us from the sun - a purely
imaginary shade, for light duck is of little use against the power of
such a burning sun; but even the shadow cast by the fly gave an
appearance of comfort.
