springs. Sundown: no appearance of the horses. They must have gone back.
If they have, it will be the middle of the night before Muller can be
here. It is vexing to be delayed thus with the brutes.

Saturday, 16th April, Same Place. Muller and the horses have not yet
come. I must go to the top of Decoy Hill to take some bearings. At 9.30
returned to the camp, and found Muller had just returned, but no horses;
he had followed upon their tracks until they crossed a stony hill, where
he lost them, and, on purpose to find them again, he tied the mare to a
bush; she broke loose, and would not allow him to catch her until she got
to the water. It was then sundown; he remained there during the greater
part of the night to see if the others would come in: they did not, and
he therefore came up to inform me of what had occurred. He was without
fire, blankets, or anything to eat. I did not pity him; he ought to have
been more careful. I had several times warned him not to leave the mare
insecurely tied, or she would be off. I gave him a fresh horse, and sent
him and Campbell off to follow them up to wherever they go, and not to
come back without them. It is most dreadfully annoying to be kept back in
this manner, all through the carelessness of one man: he must have been
quite close to them when the mare got away. They were short hobbled, and
I had looked at them at half-past two in the morning, to see if they were
all right, and found them feeding quietly, so that they could not have
gone far. Sundown: no appearance of the horses. I feel much better
to-day.

Sunday, 17th April, Same Place. Still neither horses nor men. At 1.30
they arrived; my men had gone over to the range, and had searched every
creek, but without success. When found, the runaway animals were standing
on a rise looking very miserable and at a loss what to do; they had
skirted the hill as far down as Mount Delusion. The men took them to the