Well, We Had Followed These Directions For Some Way, As Far In Fact As
The Terrace, When, The River Coming Into Full View, I Saw That The
Rangitata Was Very High.
Worse than that, I saw Mr. Phillips and a
party of men who were taking a dray over to a run just on the other side
of the river, and who had been prevented from crossing for ten days by
the state of the water.
Among them, to my horror, I recognised my
cadet, whom I had left behind me with beef which he was to have taken
over to my place a week and more back; whereon my mind misgave me that a
poor Irishman who had been left alone at my place might be in a sore
plight, having been left with no meat and no human being within reach
for a period of ten days. I don't think I should have attempted
crossing the river but for this. Under the circumstances, however, I
determined at once on making a push for it, and accordingly taking my
two cadets with me and the unfortunate beef that was already putrescent-
-it had lain on the ground in a sack all the time - we started along
under the hills and got opposite the place where I intended crossing by
about three o'clock. I had climbed the mountain side and surveyed the
river from thence before approaching the river itself. At last we were
by the water's edge. Of course, I led the way, being as it were
patronus of the expedition, and having been out some four months longer
than either of my companions; still, having never crossed any of the
rivers on horseback in a fresh, having never seen the Rangitata in a
fresh, and being utterly unable to guess how deep any stream would take
me, it may be imagined that I felt a certain amount of caution to be
necessary, and accordingly, folding my watch in my pocket-handkerchief
and tying it round my neck in case of having to swim for it
unexpectedly, I strictly forbade the other two to stir from the bank
until they saw me safely on the other side.
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