"How did you sleep?" I inquired, while cooling my pot of coffee, and eating my cake of bread, seasoned with a small piece of salt pork, which I had broiled on a stick.
"Not very soundly, I must confess, yet I think that I can get through the day without a siesta. By the way, how you do snore!"
"Do?" I asked, "I didn't know that you was sufficiently awake during the night to discover the fact. But a truce to jesting. What direction do we travel to reach the Loddon?"
"We have got to ford this stream, and follow the bank for about three miles, where we cross the country in the direction of Mount Tarrengower, which we cannot see from this spot; after we have gained the Loddon, we are to find a sheep path that will lead us to a plain, in the centre of which is a small barren strip, surrounded on all sides, excepting one, with quicksands and bogs. Bill told me that the path would lead almost direct to the spot, and that I could not fail to recognize it, as thousands of sheep resort there every week for the purpose of licking the salt that is constantly forming under the action of brackish water and a burning sun."
"And Mount Tarrengower—how far is that from the place indicated?" I inquired.
"Not more than a mile, I should judge, for at twelve o'clock at night the full moon, partly concealed by the mountain, throws a shadow exactly upon the edge of the spot where we are to dig."
I considered the direction rather blind, but Mr. Brown seemed so confident that I thought I would not dash his spirits by grave misgivings. I was in a reflective mood, however, while assisting to pack up, and saddle our animals, and I thought how Fred would laugh if we returned empty-handed.
We mounted our animals and rode along the bank of the stream for a few rods, until we reached what we supposed to be a good fording place, for we saw the prints of animals' feet in profusion on both sides of the brook.
"I will cross first," Mr. Brown said, "and then you can drive the pack horse over, and follow after him."
I made no objections to the suggestion, but I thought I would watch his course narrowly, and see how deep the dark-looking water really was before I ventured to cross upon what seemed to me a very uncertain soil.