Page:Tracks of McKinlay and party across Australia.djvu/378

 ounce of fat on him, and his meat smells rather like musk.

Two of our fellows went to the falls to fish, and succeeded in bringing home some very good ones, black bream, and an excellent firm fish, and some flat-heads, not quite so good, but still very acceptable for a change.

A nice accident happened soon after Mr. McKinlay had left. He had told me to get the grass burned round the camp, so that it might be a little clear; so before he left I had commenced and burnt a good piece, and had finished, as I thought, and the fire all out and secure, the wind at the same time being very still, hardly a breath, when all of a sudden there was such an awful row in the camp, and all of us being a short distance away, we were perfectly astounded. Bang! bang!—fiz! fiz! We ran down as fast as our legs could carry us, and found to our dismay that some fire that had been smouldering had been fanned into a flame, and communicated with the pack saddles (some distance from the clearing), in which was our ammunition, to say nothing of fireworks; so rockets and blue lights were vieing with each other in their praiseworthy endeavours to celebrate our arrival at "The Falls." It might have been worse had we been farther afield, as the packs would inevitably have been destroyed. As it is, every rocket is absent "without leave," which