We Were Disappointed In Not Meeting
With Any Blacks, Though Their Traces Were Plentiful; And We Had Commenced
To Fear That The Tribe We Had Surprised Five Days Before Had Given Warning
Of Our Approach, When Ferdinand Reported Smoke A Couple Of Miles On Our
Right.
It was about mid-day when this was seen; and having made a hurried
meal off the damper, which I may here state answered its purpose admirably,
we crept towards the fire with the utmost caution.
Our route took us away
from the river, and on arriving at the edge of a small belt of scrub, we
could make out that the fire was by the side of a water-hole, but the two
hundred yards between it and ourselves was so open, that surprising the
camp seemed almost impossible. The hour was in our favour, for the blacks
were lying about listlessly, resting themselves after the fatigues of
procuring the food of which they had just made a meal. They numbered about
twenty of both sexes, and were evidently quite unconscious of our
proximity. Detaching the two troopers to make a detour, and cut them off
from the scrub in that direction, Dunmore, Lizzie, and I remained perfectly
motionless for above an hour, and then, judging that the boys must have
reached their position, we advanced towards the camp swiftly but silently.
We got over a third of the distance before the blacks saw us, and then
ensured a general scrimmage. The women and children jumped into the
lagoon, and the men, snatching up their weapons, threw a volley of spears
with such force and precision that, had we been twenty yards closer, it
would have gone hard with both my companions and myself.
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