We got all our horses shod, and two extra sets of shoes fitted for each, marked, and packed away.

I had a little black-and-tan terrier dog called Cocky, and Gibson had a little pup of the same breed, which he was so anxious to take that at last I permitted him to do so.
Our horses' loads were very heavy at starting, the greater number of the horses carrying 200 pounds.

The animals were not in very good condition; I got the horse I had formerly left here, Badger, the one whose pack had been on fire at the end of my last trip.

I had decided to make a start upon this expedition from a place known as Ross's Water-hole in the Alberga Creek, at its junction with the Stevenson, the Alberga being one of the principal tributaries of the Finke.

The position of Ross's Water-hole is in latitude 27 degrees 8' and longitude 135 degrees 45', it lying 120 to 130 miles in latitude more to the south than the Mount Olga of my first journey, which was a point I was most desirous to reach.