Page:Diary of ten years.djvu/402

 384 to walk southwards along the beach, which a moment's reflection must have told them led on to Fremantle. It was 32 days from the time that Mr. Grey had left them. He got on very well, and why the others did not come on can only be answered by supposing that men under such circumstances lose all presence of mind and power of reflection.



July 13th.—I have fallen out of my habit of regularity, and find it difficult to recover it. We have advanced here to such a pitch of civilization, as to have private theatricals. The play of "Love, á la militaire." was performed on Tuesday night to a fashionable audience, among whom not the least delighted spectators were the young folks of the town and vicinity of Perth. Most of them having never seen a play, were wonderfully amused. On Thursday a rumour arose that fifty sheep or upwards had been driven away from a flock near Guildford by the natives, and there was great excitement in consequence. A party is gone out in pursuit, but what is the result I know not. It is singular that not one of the murderers of the woman and child on my farm has been taken or met with since the occurrence, and yet parties have been out frequently. We are no match for them. They can hide in a manner that baffles all our search. The only way to match them is to make use of them against one another. I did not get home from Perth before Friday night. We are here still busy getting wheat into the ground, and also some potatoes. Only think we have to give £2 a cwt. for potatoes for seed.

July 14th.—This was a very wet evening. I had all sorts of "moving accidents by flood and field" coming home to-night—pitch dark, raining heavily, ground swampy, river flooded, boat cranky, ground slippery, slipped in the river, hat fell off (new one too), but I picked it out of the water before it sailed far. Oh! what mud, and slop and splash.

July 15th.—Worse and worse again. It rained all day and