218 DESPATCH TWO MEN TO PONDEBADGERY. 
had not been so fortunate as to kill several swans. On 
the 11th, we gained our camp opposite to Hamilton’s Plains, 
after a day of severe exertion. Our tents were pitched upon 
the old ground, and the marks of our cattle were around us. 
In the evening, the men went out with their guns, and 
M'Leay and I walked to the rear of the camp, to consult 
undisturbed as to the most prudent measures to be adopted, 
under our embarrassing circumstances. The men were com- 
pletely sunk. We were still between eighty and ninety 
miles from Pontebadgery, in a direct line, and nearly treble 
that distance by water. The task was greater than we 
could perform, and our provisions were insufficient. In this 
extremity I thought it best to save the men the mortifi- 
cation of yielding, by abandoning the boat ; and on further 
consideration, I determined on sending Ilopkinson and Mul- 
holland, whose devotion, intelligence, and indefatigable 
spirits, I well knew, forward to the plain. 
The joy this intimation spread was universal. Both Hop- 
kinson and Mulholland readily undertook the journey, and 
I, accordingly, prepared orders for them to start by the 
earliest dawn. It was not without a feeling of sorrow that 
I witnessed the departure of these two men, to encounter a 
fatiguing march. I had no fears as to their gaining the 
plain, if their reduced state would permit them. On the 
other hand, I hoped they would fall in with our old friend 
the black, or that they would meet the drays ; and I could 
not but admire the spirit and energy they both displayed 
upon the occasion. Their behaviour throughout had been 
