182 NO TRACES TO BE SEEN. [CH. III. 



parts of our road; and although we retraced our steps thus 

 to where Murray, one of the men, said he saw Mr. Cunning- 

 ham the last time with the party, no traces could he found of 

 him or his horse. A kangaroo dog was also missing, and 

 supposed to be with him. 



Returning, we continued the search, and particularly to the 

 westward of Bullock creek, where the direction of our route 

 had been changed ; but I was disappointed in all our endea- 

 vours to find any traces of him there, although I enjoyed, for 

 some time, a gleam of hope, on seeing the track of a horse 

 near the bed of the creek, but it returned to our line, and 

 was aftei-wards ascertained to have been made by the horse 

 of Mr. Larmer. 



Although scarcely able to walk myself, from a sprain, (my 

 horse having fallen in a hole that day, and rolled on my 

 foot), I shall never forget with what anxiety, I limped along 

 that track, which seemed to promise so well ; yet we were so 

 unsuccessful that evening, on the very ground where, after- 

 wards, Mr. Cunningham's true track was found, that I could 

 no longer imagine, that our unfortunate fellow-traveller could 

 be to the westward. t 



By what fatality, we failed to discover the tracks after- 

 wards found there, I know not ; but, as the sun descended, 

 we returned once more to the camp, in the hope that Mr. 

 Cunningham might have reached it. That hope was soon 

 disappointed, and I became apprehensive that some accident 

 had befallen him. Holes in the soft surface and yawning 

 cracks, formed rather a peculiar feature in that part of the 

 country ; and as my horse had fallen both on this day and the 

 preceding, when at a canter, and as Mr. Cunningham was 

 often seen at that pace, it was probable, that he might have 

 met with some severe fall, and lay lielpless, not far, perhaps, 

 from where he had last been seen. The nights wei-e cold, and 

 I was doubtful whether he could be still alive, so difficult was 

 it to account, otherwise, for his continued absence under all 

 the circumstances. 



