About ten o'clock
`` The lameness is nearly gone , and the blisters are broken . '' `` Good ; help me yoke the cattle , and before to-night you will taste , for the first time , broiled kangaroo ; and I 'll tell you beforehand it 's no mean dish . Ge-long , ye brutes , '' and with hard cracks of the whip the cart rumbled on , and we left the natives still squatting upon the ground , and looking after us , as though wondering why we would travel when it was so pleasant to sit still . About ten o'clock on the morning that we took our leave of the natives , after witnessing their extraordinary skill at spear-hurling , the sun shone out with a brilliancy and power that caused the cattle to protrude their tongues , and lift their feet as though they wore shod with fifty-sixes . At twelve o'clock , when it seemed impossible for the oxen to go much further without drink , our eyes were gladdened by the sight of green trees and shrubs , which grew as if marked by a straight line , far off on the prairie . The convict pointed to the well known signs of water , with an encouraging smile , if , indeed , a smile could be seen when a man 's face is plastered over an inch thick with dust ; but at any rate we were willing to consider it as an expression of joy ; although , perhaps , some people might have thought our countenances resembled those of fiends rather than human beings , for no flesh was visible , and the eyes looked any thing but inviting , inflamed as they were by heat and dust . `` There is water close at hand ? ''