. . .
I asked King how my son behaved. His answer was, that he never
once showed the slightest anger or loss of self-command. From under
a tree on which had been marked, "DIG, 21st April, 1861," a box was
extracted containing the provisions, and a bottle with the
following note:--
Depot, Cooper's Creek, April 21, 1861.
The depot party of the V.E.E. leaves this camp to-day to return
to the Darling. I intend to go south-east from Camp 60 to get into
our old track near Bulloo. Two of my companions and myself are
quite well; the third, Patten, has been unable to walk for the last
eighteen days, as his leg has been severely hurt when thrown by one
of the horses. No one has been up here from the Darling. We have
six camels and twelve horses in good working condition.
WILLIAM BRAHE.
. . .
Brahe has been blamed for not having left a true statement of
his condition, and that of those with him; but it was truth when he
wrote it. He believed Patten's to have been a sprain. It was
afterwards that he contradicted himself, in his journal WRITTEN IN
MELBOURNE, and in his evidence before the Royal Commission. Brahe
had no journal when he came down the first time with a message from
Wright, and was requested, or ordered, by the committee to produce
one, which he subsequently did.
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