CH. III.] HIS OWN FOOTSTEPS TRACED. 189 



horse had been tied for a considerable time, and where it is 

 probable he had passed his third night, as there were marks, 

 where he had lain down in the Ions; drv grass. From this 

 point, only his horse's tracks had been traced, not his own 

 steps, which had hitherto accompanied them; and from the 

 twisting and turning of the course to where it lay dead, we 

 supposed he had not been with the horse after it left this 

 place. The w^hip and straps seemed to have been trod off 

 from the bridle-reins to which Mr. Cunningham was in the 

 habit of tying his whip, and to which also the straps had 

 been probably attached, to afford the animal more room to 

 feed, when fastened to trees. 



To the place, therefore, where Mr. Cunningham's own 

 steps had last been seen, I hastened on the morning of the 

 29th April, with the same men, Muirhead and Whiting, who 

 had so ably and humanely traced all the tracks of the horse, 

 through a distance of 70 miles. 



The spot seemed well chosen, as a halting place, being at 

 a few trees which advanced beyond the rest of the wood into 

 a rather extensive plain : a horse, tied there, could have 

 been seen from almost any part around, and it is not im- 

 probable, that Mr. Cunningham left the animal there fas- 

 tened, and that it had afterwards got loose, and had finally 

 perished for want of water. 



We soon found the print of Mr. Cunningham's footsteps 

 in two places : in one, coming towards the trees where the 

 horse had been tied, from a thick scrub east of them ; in 

 the other, leading from these trees in a direction straight 

 northward. Pursuing the latter steps, we found them con- 

 tinuous in that direction, and, indeed, remarkably long 

 and firm, the direction being preserved even through thick 

 brushes. 



This course was direct for the Bogan ; and it was evident, 

 that, urged by intense thirst, he had at length set off, with 

 desjjerate speed for the river, having parted from his horse, 

 where the party had supposed. That he had killed and 



