}62 AUSTRALIAN PICTURES. 



north, whose banks were clothed with palms and tropical vegetation. They 

 were greatly pleased, for they knew they had but to follow this river to 

 reach the northern sea. But the camels broke down. Leaving them in 

 charge of Gray and King, the leaders proceeded on foot, and came with 

 exultation to an inlet of the great Northern Gulf. 



Their task was done ; they could turn back. But this was their last 

 moment of joy, troubles thickening afterwards to the end. Their rapid 

 travelling over broken country under a tropical sun, with scanty rations, began 

 to tell upon all. There was no time for rest nor for hunting. The party 

 must push on and on to reach the depot where food awaited them. Gray 

 complained of a failure of all his powers, and in particular of an inability to 

 use his legs. It was thought he was shamming, and he was punished and 

 hurried on ; but soon afterwards he laid down and died, and the same 

 symptoms attacked them all, Burke bitterly regretting his severity. They 

 began to kill their camels, and, scarcely sustained by this food, they pushed 

 on, their pace dwindling to a crawl, and then to a totter. On April 2 1 they 

 came in sight of the depot, and a grateful ' Thank God ! ' burst from their 

 lips. They fired a gun. It was not answered, and they found the place 

 deserted. Wright, with the stores, had never reached the creek, and Brahe, 

 seeing week after week elapse, had fallen back to ascertain what was the 

 matter in his rear, leaving half of his remaining provisions for Burke and Wills. 



When the three travellers entered the desolate depot they gazed round 

 in dismay, and Burke threw himself on the ground to conceal his feelings — 

 they had expected safety, and they were confronted by death. But a tree 

 marked ' Dig ' caught their eyes, and they came upon the buried provisions. 

 A rest for a couple of days was indispensable. And then Burke came to 

 the decision not to strike for the Darling, as Wills desired, but to make for 

 a pioneer cattle station at Mount Hopeless on the South Australian border. 

 This was a fatal choice, the camp being a few miles away. The same day 

 Brahe, who had met Wright, rode back to the depot. By one of those 

 fatalities which mark the expedition, Burke had buried his despatches in the 

 cache, and had taken some pains to restore it to its original condition, and 

 so Brahe thought it had not been disturbed. It was clear that some 

 disaster had happened to Burke. But Wright, who was in command of the 

 stores, decided to fall back on the Darling to report matters to the com- 

 mittee. Thus were Burke and Wills abandoned. Wright and Brahe, when 

 at the depot, were within two hours' journey of the perishing leaders. 

 Growing weaker and weaker, the forlorn and deserted trio struggled on. 

 The country became worse and worse. They struck the wretched desert 

 where Sturt suffered so severely. Water failed there, and all vegetation 

 disappeared, and all hope of food, from the country. Their torn and rotten 

 clothing dropped from their backs. They killed their last camel. In 

 despair they walked back to Cooper's Creek, on the chance of finding the 



