-east I came
upon our route where it crossed Bullock creek, and there I found the two
men who had been sent from the camp.

We then continued our search back along the west side of our route, the
party, which now consisted of five, spreading so as to keep abreast at
about 200 yards from each other, one being on the road.

NO TRACES TO BE SEEN.

We thus ascertained that no track of Mr. Cunningham's horse or of himself
appeared on the soft parts of our road; and although we retraced our
steps thus to where Murray, one of the men, said he saw Mr. Cunningham
the last time with the party, no traces could be found of him or his
horse. A kangaroo dog was also missing, and supposed to be with him.

Returning, we continued the search, and particularly to the westward of
Bullock creek, where the direction of our route had been changed; but I
was disappointed in all our endeavours to find any traces of him there,
although I enjoyed for some time a gleam of hope on seeing the track of a
horse near the bed of the creek, but it returned to our line, and was
afterwards ascertained to have been made by the horse of Mr. Larmer.

Although scarcely able to walk myself from a sprain (my horse having
fallen in a hole that day, and rolled on my foot) I shall never forget
with what anxiety I limped along that track, which seemed to promise so
well; yet we were so unsuccessful that evening, on the very ground where
afterwards Mr. Cunningham's true track was found, that I could no longer
imagine that our unfortunate fellow-traveller could be to the westward.

By what fatality we failed to discover the tracks afterwards found there
I know not; but as the sun descended we returned once more to the camp in
the hope that Mr. Cunningham might have reached it.

SUPPOSED TO HAVE MET WITH AN ACCIDENT.

That hope was soon disappointed, and I became apprehensive that some
accident had befallen him. Holes in the soft surface and yawning cracks
formed rather a peculiar feature in that part of the country; and as my
horse had fallen both on this day and the preceding, when at a canter,
and as Mr. Cunningham was often seen at that pace, it was probable that
he might have met with some severe fall, and lay helpless, not far,
perhaps, from where he had last been seen. The nights were cold, and I
was doubtful whether he could be still alive, so difficult was it to
account otherwise for his continued absence under all the circumstances.

SOUTER AND MURR