Journals Of Expeditions Of Discovery Into Central Australia And Overland From Adelaide To King George's Sound In The Years 1840-1: Sent By The Colonists Of South Australia By Eyre, Edward John
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To-Night The Overseer Asked Me Which Of The Watches I Would Keep, And As
I Was Not Sleepy, Though Tired, I Chose The First.
At a quarter before
six, I went to take charge of the horses, having previously seen the
overseer and the natives lay down to sleep, at their respective
break-winds, ten or twelve yards apart from one another.
The arms and
provisions, as was our custom, were piled up under an oilskin, between my
break-wind and that of the overseer, with the exception of one gun, which
I always kept at my own sleeping place. I have been thus minute in
detailing the position and arrangement of our encampment this evening,
because of the fearful consequences that followed, and to shew the very
slight circumstances upon which the destinies of life sometimes hinge.
Trifling as the arrangement of the watches might seem, and unimportant as
I thought it at the time, whether I undertook the first or the second,
yet was my choice, in this respect, the means under God's providence of
my life being saved, and the cause of the loss of that of my overseer.
The night was cold, and the wind blowing hard from the south-west, whilst
scud and nimbus were passing very rapidly by the moon. The horses fed
tolerably well, but rambled a good deal, threading in and out among the
many belts of scrub which intersected the grassy openings, until at last
I hardly knew exactly where our camp was, the fires having apparently
expired some time ago.
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