bred stock-horse of good repute both for foot and temper —­ appeared to think that his work was cut out for him, and the time had arrived in which to do it.  Pawing and snorting at the noise, he suddenly slewed round and headed down the steep bank, through the undergrowth, straight for the crowd as he had been wont to do after many a mob of weaners on his native plains.  The blacks drew hurriedly back to the top of the opposite bank, shouting and gesticulating violently, and leaving one solitary figure apparently covered with some scarecrow rags and part of a hat prominently alone in the sand.  Before I could pull up I had passed it, and as I passed it tottered, threw up its hands in the attitude of prayer and fell on the sand.  The heavy sand helped me to conquer Piggy on the level, and when I turned back, the figure had partially risen.

“Hastily dismounting, I was soon beside it, excitedly asking:  ’Who in the name of wonder are you?’ He answered, ‘I am King, sir.’  For the moment I did not grasp the thought that the object of our search was attained, for King being only one of the undistinguished members of the party, his name was unfamiliar to me.

“‘King,’ I repeated.  ‘Yes,’ he said; ’the last man of the exploring expedition.’  ‘What!  Burke’s?’ ‘Yes,’ he said.  ‘Where is he —­ and Wills?’ ‘Dead, both dead, long ago,’ and again he fell to the ground.

“Then I knew who stood before me.  Jumping into the saddle and riding up the bank, I fired two or three revolver shots to attract the attention of the party, and on their coming up, sent the other black boy to cut Howitt’s track and bring him back to camp.  We then put up a tent to shelter the rescued man, and by degrees we got from him the sad story of the death of his leader.  We got it at intervals only, between the long rests which his exhausted condition compelled him to take.”

As soon as King had recovered enough strength to accompany the party, they went to the place where Wills had breathed his last; and found his body in the gunyah as King had described it.  There it was buried.  On the 21st Burke’s body was found up the creek; he too was at first buried where he died.  Howitt, after rewarding the blacks who had cared for King, started back for Melbourne by easy stages.  On his arrival there he was sent back to disinter the remains of the dead; a task which he and Welch safely accomplished, bringing the bodies down by way of Adelaide.

Dr. Becker, Stone, Purcell, and Patton were the others whose lives were sacrificed on this expedition, so marked with disaster.  These victims received no token of public recognition of their fate, although a public funeral was accorded to Burke and Wills, and a statue has been erected to their memory in Melbourne.

[Illustration.  The Burke and Wills Statue, Melbourne.]

The foolish and unaccountable oversight of Burke and his companions in not marking a tree, or otherwise leaving some recognisable sign of their return at the depot, seems to have led Brahe astray completely.  He states his side of the case as follows:—­