madly on, depending upon surface water, and is lost
in the desert. He never gave us any hope for him; in fact, so much
so, that I offered to make a bet that he would be found at
Queensland, or turn up somewhere."

It has been seen by Mr. Burke's despatch of the 29th of October,
that he gave orders to Mr. Wright to follow him up to Cooper's
Creek with the remainder of the camels and supplies, without
unnecessary delay. McDonough states (Answer 197) that Mr. Burke
said to him, on the 15th of December, "I expect Mr. Wright up in a
few days--a fortnight at farthest. I left him POSITIVE INSTRUCTIONS
to follow me." King states (Answer 693) "that on the 16th of
December, Mr. Burke told the party 'he then expected Mr. Wright
daily.'" Wright himself states in his evidence (Answer 1235), "I
gave Mr. Burke my word that I would take the remainder of the party
out, as soon as I returned to Menindie."

A circumstance happened about this time, (December 1860), which
delayed him, but not even that necessarily. Information reached
Melbourne that Mr. Stuart had nearly penetrated to the Gulf of
Carpentaria, more to the westward; that he had been driven back by
the natives, but would start again immediately. The Committee
thought it advisable to forward the intelligence to Mr. Burke. This
was done by a despatch to Swan Hill, where Mr. Foster was
superintendent of police. He accordingly sent on a trooper named
Lyons, who followed in the track of the party, and arrived at
Menindie just as Wright returned with his two natives, after
escorting the expedition to Torowoto. Lyons refused to give up the
despatch, as he had been ordered to place it in Mr. Burke's own
hands. Here was a plausible excuse for Wright, no doubt, so he sent
McPherson, a saddler by trade, who had been engaged en route by Mr.
Burke, accompanied by Dick, a native, to assist Lyons in his
pursuit of the leader. Had he put himself and the whole party in
motion at once, the subsequent misfortunes would have been averted.
Lyons and McPherson lost their way, being quite unable to overtake
Mr. Burke, who had eight days' start, travelling at the rate of
twenty miles a day. Neither had they ingenuity enough to find Mr.
Burke's tracks, although accompanied by a native, which is
inexplicable, if they trusted to Dick, who had both intelligence
and energy of purpose. He found his way back to Wright, however,
and was thus the means of saving the lives of the trooper and
McPherson.