found it anything but palatable, for it proved to be little more than bone and sinew. After making a series of attacks upon one leg but with small results, Dodge at last resigned it in despair to Lady, and selecting a more promising portion, laid it on a fallen tree, and substituting his tomahawk for his teeth, chopped it vigorously for some time, and at length succeeded in reducing it to such a state that he was enabled to satisfy the cravings of hunger.
They experienced no difficulty in retracing their steps for the first day or two after turning their faces towards home, the tracks then grew more and more indistinct, until at last Dodge advised pushing on in a direction which he indicated, and which in his opinion, bid fair to lead them out of the scrubs. The latter inducement lent energy to their exertions, and with stout hearts, though with empty provision bags, they commenced their arduous task, now rendered doubly hazardous by a sense of weakness, the result of privations already undergone.
It was after a more than usually fatiguing day, and whilst preparing to camp, that Dodge was startled by discovering tracks indicating that some blacks had recently been in the locality. His olfactory powers were also put to the test, and he positively asserted that he could smell fire not far distant. After ruminating on this new and unexpected difficulty, Dodge expressed great apprehension that the blacks, who he was quite satisfied were in the neighbourhood, belonged to one of the untamed Gipps land tribes who occasionally made a foray across the mountains separating their country from Westernport. He would allow no tomahawk to be used nor any unnecessary noise made in constructing a shelter for the night; he was also very scrupulous respecting the fire, which he would not allow to be lighted before a pit had been dug sufficiently deep to prevent the flames rising above the level of the ground. As soon as
