ahead of us. Every place where he had
halted, sat down, or lain down, or stayed to
drink, was pointed out. Presently we came
to an opening in the cliffs which led to the
sea-shore, where we found a beautiful bay of
immense length. Here I no longer required
the aid of the savages in tracking; on the
sand from which the waves had receded a few
hours previously were plainly visible the
imprints of naked feet. The blacks, who
had no idea of salt-water laid themselves
down on their stomachs, for the purpose of
taking a hearty draught. The first mouthful,
however, satisfied them; and then wondered
as much at the taste of the ocean as they
had wondered at the sight thereof.

After walking several miles, the rising of
the tide and the bluff character of the coast
induced us to avail ourselves of the first
opening in the cliffs, and ascend to the high
land. It was with indescribable pain, I
reflected that the approaching waves would
obliterate the foot-prints then upon the sand,
and that the thread which we had followed up
to that moment, would certainly be snapped.
The faculty possessed by the blacks had defied
the wind and the rain; the earth and the
rocks had been unable to conceal from the
sight of the savage the precise places where
the foot of civilised man had trod; but the
ocean, even in his repose, makes all men
acknowledge his might! We wandered, along
the cliffs, cooeying from time to time, and
listening for a response; but none came, even
upon the acutely sensitive ears of the savages.
A little before sunset, we came to another
opening, leading down to a bay; and here
the track of the lost man was again found.
He had ascended and pursued his way along
the cliffs. We followed until the light failed,
and we were compelled to halt. Before
doing so we cooeyed in concert, and
discharged the fowling-pieces several times, but
without effect.

It rained during the night; but ceased
before the day had dawned, and we resumed
our journey. After an hour's walk, we came
upon another opening, and descended to the
water's edge; which was skirted by a sandy
beach, and extended as far as the eye could
compass. Here, too, I could dispense with
the aid of the blacks, and followed on the
track as fast as possible. Indeed, I and my
companions frequently ran. Presently, the
lost man's footsteps diverged from the sandy
shore, and took to the high land. We had
proceeded more than a mile and a half, when
the black boy, who was mounted on the horse
and following close at my heels, called,
"Him! him! " arid pointing to a figure,
about seventy yards distant, stretched upon
the grass beneath the shade of a wild fig-
tree, and near a stream of fresh water. I
recognised at once the stockman; but
the question was, Was he living or dead?
Having commanded the party to remain
where they stood, I approached the body
upon tiptoe. The man was not dead, but in
a profound slumber; from which I would not
awake him. His countenance was pale and
haggard, but his breathing was loud and
natural. I beckoned the party to approach,
and then placed my fore-finger on my lips, as
a signal that they were to keep silence.
Within an hour the man awoke, and stared
wildly around him. When he saw us, he was
under the impression that he had not been
lost; but that, while searching for the horse,
he had felt weary, laid down, slept, and had
dreamed all that had really happened to him.
Thus, there was no sudden shock of
unexpected good fortune; the effects of which
upon him I at first dreaded.

According to the number of days that we
had been travelling, and the pace at which we
had travelled, I computed that we had walked
about one hundred and thirty-five miles;
but, according to a map which I consulted,
we were not more than eighty miles distant,
in a direct line, from the station. On our
way back, it was most distressing to observe
the emotions of the stockman when he
came to, or remembered the places where he
had rested, eaten, drank, or slept, during his
hopeless wanderings through the wilds of the
wildest country in the known world. The
wattle-trees from which he had stripped the
gum, the stream in which he had bathed, the
swamp where he had discarded his boots, the
tree on which he had carved his prayer,—the
spot where he had broken his pipe,—that very
spot upon which he first felt that he was lost
in the bush—these and the poignant sufferings
he had undergone had so great an effect
upon him, that by the time he returned to the
station his intellect entirely deserted him.
He, however, partly recovered; but—
sometimes better, sometimes worse—in a few
months it became necessary to have him
removed to the government lunatic asylum.

Now ready, price Five Shillings and Sixpence, neatly
bound in cloth,
THE FIFTEENTH VOLUME
OF
HOUSEHOLD WORDS,
Containing the Numbers issued between the Third of
January and the Twenty-seventh of June of the present
year.

Just published, in Two Volumes, post 8vo, price One
Guinea,
THE DEAD SECRET.
BY WILKIE COLLINS.
Bradbury and Evans, Whitefriars.