The
one road they knew nothing of, the other was familiar to them. The
camels, too, would have plucked up spirit on returning after the
others on the old track. It is true that Brahe's false statement of
the condition of his party held out no encouragement that they
might be able to overtake him; but there was a chance that a new
party might even then be coming up, or that the laggard Wright
would be on the advance at last, as proved to be the fact. A
Melbourne paper, commenting on these points, had the following
remarks, which were as just as they were doubly painful, being
delivered after the event:--
Wills and King it appears were desirous of following their track out
from Menindie, which would unquestionably have been the wiser
course; but Mr. Burke preferred striking for the South Australian
stations, some of which, he had been informed by the Royal
Committee of Exploration, were only one hundred and fifty miles
from Cooper's Creek. It was a most unfortunate and fatal matter for
Mr. Burke that these Royal people had anything whatever to do with
his movements.
He made two attempts to strike in the direction in which they had
assured him he would easily reach a settled district, and twice was
he driven back for want of water.
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