Beaching The Boat On The Soft Sand, We Sprang
Out, And Advanced Cautiously In The Direction Of The Smoke, But,
After
several minutes of scrambling, we reached the fire only to find it
deserted, its original proprietors having seen our
Sudden alteration of
course, and sought the safety of the dense bush, where further search would
have been useless.
"Now that we are on shore," said Dunmore, "let us make a billy full of tea;
it won't take long. Here, you boys, get 'em like 'it waddy to make 'em
fire."
The troopers and Lizzie dispersed in quest of fuel; Ferdinand walking up
the bank of the creek, where he was soon lost to sight. A loud coo-eh from
that direction soon brought us to the spot from whence it issued, and we
found the boy staring at several pieces of timber sticking out of the sand.
"Big fellow canoe been sit down here," he said, on our approach, and
examining the protruding stumps, we soon saw enough to convince us that the
boy was right, and that we were in the presence of a vessel, wrecked, or
abandoned, Heaven only knows how many years ago. With our hands, with pint
pots, with a spade we had brought with us - mindful of the difficulty we
had experienced in finding a resting-place for poor Cato - with every
utensil, in fact, that ingenuity could devise, we set to work clearing away
the sand that had accumulated round the old ribs.
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