Page:Tracks of McKinlay and party across Australia.djvu/328

 for two miles to where there was plenty of water and good feed; the flood was close on our left for some time after starting. Mr. McKinlay called me into his tent at 3 ; he could not sleep, and was very anxious to be on the move.

After a sorry breakfast of jerked beef soup we started, and glad enough to get out of this. We are allowed only 12 lb. of this meat per diem for the party of ten, with 4½ lb. flour per week. What shall we do when the flour is all gone, and nothing but this jerked stuff? it is very like thick mahogany shavings. We feel almost as hungry after having had our allowances as before, and it is no use "asking for more;" for, like Oliver Twist, we should not get it. The feed all along our route to-day was magnificent. We found a wild cucumber, but it was so bitter that it could not be eaten.