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The soak proved sufficient to give the team a drink, and also to fill up the ten-gallon keg, which was kept as a reserve in case of need.

After this halt Mr.Banneret felt easier in his mind, and more sanguine as to the results of the expedition.

The sky was cloudless, of course. The desert sun had shone its fiercest for the last two hours. The pocket thermometer and aneroid registered 90 degrees. Before the close of day it would probably reach 105 or 110.

‘We’ll not start till after sundown, sir,’ said the practical partner. ‘I want to blind our trail a bit, so as we shan’t be follered up just yet. By gum! if this ain’t the very identical mob o’ horses come a purpose, like as if it was ordered. See them camels?’

‘Yes! what a string of them, with Afghan drivers. What have they to do with us?’

‘You’ll find out, sir, soon’s they come a bit closer.’

ssss1It may not be generally known that horses have an insuperable dread of camels when first seen. It is on record that, on the first progress of an explorer’s expedition down the Darling River, the station horses with one accord fled from the river frontage, stampeding towards the ‘back blocks,’ and were recovered with difficulty days and weeks afterwards.