No person has been up here from the Darling.

We have six camels and twelve horses in good working condition.
WILLIAM BRAHE.
*[Footnote] Victorian Exploration Expedition.
Unfortunately, this was so worded that when Burke found it the same night, it gave him the impression that the depot party were all, with one exception, fairly well; and that, with fresh animals just off a long rest they would travel long stages on their homeward march.

As a matter of fact, on the evening of the day that Burke returned, they were camped but fourteen miles away.

But this was only the first of a series of singular and fatal oversights -- that almost seemed pre-ordained by mocking Fate.
Burke consulted his companions as to the feasibility of their overtaking Brahe, and they both agreed that, in their tired and enfeebled condition, it was hopeless to attempt it.

Burke proposed that instead of returning up the creek along the old route to Menindie, they should follow the creek down to Mount Hopeless in South Australia, following the route taken by A.C.