Mr. Burke
threatened him and boxed his ears for this, and when he turned in one
night, about two days before we expected to reach the depot, he said he
felt he would not live till morning, and, sure enough, he didn't. When we
turned out at daylight, Gray was dead; so we stopped there that day, and
scooped a hole in the sand about three feet deep with our hands, and
buried him in it. The next morning we pushed on for the depot, and when
we got there, two days after, it was deserted. The fire was still alight,
and the tracks of Brahe's party were all fresh. There was a tree marked
'DIG,' and when we were able to get at the plant we found Brahe's note,
which said they had left that morning; but we did not mind it very much,
as there was plenty to eat. Of course, we were disappointed, but Mr.
Burke said we could get back by Strzelecki's Creek to Mount Hopeless, and
so to Adelaide. We stopped at the depot five days, which was a good spell
for ourselves and the two camels, and we felt much better. When we were
ready to start, we buried all the field-books and some letters, to let
anybody who came by know where we were going, and then covered up the
plant carefully, so that the blacks should not find it out.
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