All the streams had to be forded.

At times, swollen by the rains, they were very deep.

There were frequent days of storm, when, through the long hours, the poor boy trudged onward, drenched with rain and shivering with cold.

Their fare was most meagre, consisting almost entirely of such game as they chanced to shoot, which they roasted on forked sticks before the fire.
When night came, often dark and stormy, the cattle were generally too much fatigued by their long tramp to stray away.

Some instinct also induced them to cluster together.