We had to cross several of these streams, but at that time of the year were able to ford them without difficulty, the drought of summer having greatly diminished their depth.
Sandy and I were jogging along at the head of our party when, as we reached the summit of a slight hill from which we could obtain an extensive view over the surrounding country, he stopped and gazed, I thought somewhat anxiously, around the horizon.
“We must push on faster than we have been going, if we are to reach Black Fort before bad weather comes on,” he observed.
“I see no change in the appearance of the sky,” I answered. “There’s not a cloud in any direction, and the wind is as moderate as it was when we started.”
“The sky is blue and cloudless, I’ll allow, but it’s whiter away in the nor’ard than I like to see it. There will be wind from that quarter before long, and the wind won’t come alone,” said Sandy. “It may not reach us to-morrow or the next day, and we may be safe within the fort before it is down upon us.”
Though I had a high opinion of Sandy’s sagacity, I thought that in this instance he might be mistaken. It was very important for us to reach the fort before the snow should cover the ground to any depth. The stores we were bringing were much required, and the heavily-laden animals would have great difficulty in making their way through it. Of course I agreed, as Sandy advised it, that we should push on that day as long as the light would allow, and that we should make a forced march on the following day, so that we might reach the fort on the next before nightfall, which we calculated we should thus be able to do.
Waiting till the two men with the loaded beasts came up, we told them of our intentions, and ordered them to push on as fast as they could. We had not gone far, however, when Sandy’s horse stumbled, a very unusual thing for the animal to do. It continued to walk lame, evidently in pain.
We dismounted and examined its feet, when we found that a sharp stone had wounded its hoof. We extricated it with considerable difficulty, and when we again moved on the animal walked with as much pain as before. Nothing could make it move on. We were therefore compelled to encamp at the first suitable spot we reached.
The weather remained fine, and we hoped in the morning that Sandy’s horse would have recovered, and that we should be able to make a long day’s journey. According to our intention, our camp was formed as usual under shelter of a wood, but there was scarcely any good grass in the immediate neighbourhood, and we were compelled to let the animals roam much further than we liked in search of it.
We agreed that, in order to keep a proper lookout, two of us should remain on the watch at a time, one in the camp, and the other in the direction the animals had taken.