Through South Westland : A journey to the Haast and Mount Aspiring New Zealand . Hedid the only thing possible—climbed out on thesubmerged pole and got astride the Scorpion,and began to worr^^ at that tangle of harness—the water surging all the time against the wreck,and threatening to sweep it all away. At last hefished up the collar, and patiently worked at thewet buckles till both horses were freed ; thoughfor some time it seemed as if the tangle nevercould come undone Avithout being cut, and onetrace got washed away in the process. He rodeashore, bearing the collar and remains of thetraces
Through South Westland : A journey to the Haast and Mount Aspiring New Zealand . Hedid the only thing possible—climbed out on thesubmerged pole and got astride the Scorpion,and began to worr^^ at that tangle of harness—the water surging all the time against the wreck,and threatening to sweep it all away. At last hefished up the collar, and patiently worked at thewet buckles till both horses were freed ; thoughfor some time it seemed as if the tangle nevercould come undone Avithout being cut, and onetrace got washed away in the process. He rodeashore, bearing the collar and remains of thetraces—a sorry sight—and left the shipwreckedBerline lying mid-stream, but now settled-downcomfortabty, and no longer waving a distressedwheel as at the first. I was crushed—it was all my fault, and themost precious of our stuff was lying out there atthe mercy of the capricious Matukituki! To save what we could was the next considera-tion, and this was no easy matter in that wildswirl of waters. The remaining saddle was puton the Scorpion, and she was with some difficulty. THE BERLINE. 151 induced to approach the derelict, where she stoodbreast-deep, while Transome climbed on boardand brought off my pack and the knapsacks. The next journey he brought the groceries insafety, but the saddle-bags, alas ! fell in and wererescued with difficulty, and my supply of stampsand stationery suffered. I urged him to leave therest—the river would fall at least two feet in thenight, and no doubt was at its highest now. Hewas tired and we were both discouraged, but hepersisted in another journey, though the mare wasshivering from the snow-water. This time hetried to rescue two paper parcels, one containinga large cake and the other a roll of bacon, and theyboth fell in. Grabbing at the most precious (thebacon, as he thought) he clutched the cake, and thebacon went sailing back to Wanaka ! Much as Ifelt the loss, just then my desire was to get some-where—even to the hut—for the night.
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, bookidthroughsouth, bookyear1900
