"Here a short young man accosted me, and asked me if I didn't remember him.

He said he was 'Alf.' I thought I knew his face, but I thought it was at the Peake that I had seen him; but he said, 'Oh, no! Don't you remember Alf, with Bagot's sheep at the north-west bend of the Murray?
My name's Alf Gibson, and I want to go out with you.' I said, 'Well, can you shoe?
Can you ride?
Can you starve?
Can you go without water?
And how would you like to be speared by the blacks ?' He said he could do everything I had mentioned, and he wasn't afraid of the blacks.

He was not a man I would have picked out of a mob, but men were scarce, and he seemed so anxious to come, so I agreed to take him.
"Thus, the expedition consisted of four persons--myself (Ernest Giles), Mr.William Henry Tietkins, Alf Gibson, and James Andrews; with twenty- four horses and two little dogs.

On Monday, 4th August, we finally left the encampment." Now here is the passage in which Mr.Giles describes his dramatic parting with Gibson.

It will be found in the chapter marked "20th April to 21st May 1874": "Gibson and I departed for the West.