Patagonia Bookshelf

This morning we arose but little refreshed and saw immediately that we had been quite right the previous evening; we found it necessary to relieve ourselves of the remainder of our provisions, except three or four biscuits each and again we commenced lifting up our feet over the thick and tall clumps of rank grass, which frequently caused us to trip and stagger, and sometimes to fall. Indeed, as the day advanced and grew warm, I again felt the want of water as badly as ever and it was but a little way that I could proceed without lying down; and I was moreover discouraged by the certainty that we were going too much to the south. I therefore mildly asked Captain Gardiner to reconsider the course as, on account of my exhausted state, a few additional miles might cost me my life. He very properly said that it was equally his interest to go by the nearest way and that he was doing so to the best of his judgement, that he was determined not to leave me, and when I could go no further, we would lie down together and so finish our pilgrimage.

He was evidently little better than myself or else was not aware of my real state, for as we were about to leave the watering place on the previous evening, l suggested the propriety of taking a little water in the bottle, which he had previously carried, to which he replied he could do without and could not volunteer to carry any more than his present load. I therefore took some which served for a slight refreshment during the night.

Having asked Captain Gardiner to reconsider the direction in which we were going, he added to the above a demand of "Which way would you go if you had the ordering of it?" to which I replied I would not dictate any course but wished he would hear my reasons for believing that we ought to go more to the east. These he would not hear at first, but finally I gave one which I thought unanswerable viz. we were already on the south side of some hills which we, in coming out, had passed on the north of. Moreover, the station was only four miles from Gregory range which ran thence in a continuous straight line; we were already that distance from it, and if we walked in a straight and parallel line with these mountains, we should find the station about eight or nine miles further on, whereas we were now Increasing our distance from them at every step.

This reason did not change our course at the moment, but I soon had the satisfaction to see our track gradually take an easterly direction which, in a few hours, brought the station directly ahead of us, Captain Gardiner being sure that he saw the houses a few miles off. On looking through the glass I thought and said that the shape of the object appeared too irregular for our houses and these turned out to be bushes but, by the time we discerned this, we were both of us certain that the houses were standing about a mile or two further on and a little while afterwards we could perceive the three goats. These signs confirmed our hopes that we should find all well. By this time I was so faint and sick that I could not walk a quarter of a mile without resting for a considerable time; and when, after making an effort to reach some bushes with the expectation of finding some berries to moisten my mouth and throat, we found hardly any, I would willingly have been left behind, as Captain Gardiner proposed, till he could send the Chilean with something for me to drink; but I considered the uncertainty of his still being there, the uncertainty of there being anything to send and the possibility of Captain Gardiner's being detained or even killed by the Lagoon Indians, especially if he reached the houses alone; and then there would come my anxious uncertainty as to his fate, if succour did not soon reach me, for even though the Chilean were still there and were sent towards me, he might not succeed in finding me. Such considerations silently influenced me to go on by easy stages and I was kindly indulged as often as I required to rest.

At length not very long afterwards, we could see the Indians quietly occupying their own position and soon after the soldier came out of the kitchen to welcome us back; some of the children of the Indian family we had first seen and whom we had succeeded in making our friends, also met us with smiling faces and we soon found, with the utmost thankfulness, that nothing had been injured but one of the fowls; the head of the above named Indian family having used his influence and example in assisting to protect the property, although the others had attempted to break open the store room with their knives, and with the same instruments had threatened the life of the Chilean.

It was most marvellous to us that they did not succeed in their attempts to get at the stores as there were several pieces of timber from the Rosalie lying about, the least of which would have beat in any part of the houses at a single blow: these they had not made use of but seemingly, had contented themselves with trying to cut through the iron staples with their blunt knives. We attributed this fact of their not taking any more decided measures to obtain the stores which were so exceedingly tempting to them, to the arrival of the Chilean soldier the day on which we set out, and to the bold manner in which he, being in our vicinity, had claimed and made them restore the things they had stolen from him. Also, as he was in uniform, they probably believed that we had some communications with the Military Post at Port Famine and that he was sent to guard the station during our absence; and that, if we wanted more aid against them, it would be forthcoming. They had also seen the effects of the gun in killing birds for the cat. I observed that the women shuddered at the sight of this instrument and they were not aware of our determination not to use it to the injury of their persons.

All the circumstances considered, this soldier's finding us after wandering for sixteen days towards Rio [de] Janeiro, as he thought, was a most remarkable Providence, which among the causes for thankfulness made us glad that the Rosalie left us without complying with our request to leave a boy to assist us. Having thus arrived and found all things well to the utmost of our desires, we thanked God and took courage. My stomach rejected the first refreshment I drank, which was some beer. I therefore went straight to bed till I could have some tea; there my pulse soon rose to 120, but rest and proper diet restored me in a couple of days.