That at
the council assembled to discuss the matter in the large dining-room of the
hotel, several voices urged the expediency of abandoning any further
attempts. Much valuable time, they remarked, had been already expended by
men to whom time represented money, nay more - the means of living. Their
own avocations imperiously demanded their presence, and although they were
the last men in the world to desert their fellow-beings in extremity,
still, in a country where every man lived by the sweat of his own brow,
self-interest could not be entirely sacrificed.
[ILLUSTRATION - AUSTRALIANS IN CAMP.]
Even we, who were most anxious to organise another expedition, could not
but acknowledge that the searchers had much justice on their side; but when
we were discussing matters in rather a despondent tone, a new ally came to
the front in the person of Jack Clarke, the horse-breaker.
"Where do you propose going next?" he asked Dunmore.
"We must search the ranges at the back of the township first, and another
party must go up the Macalister River," was the reply.
"Need both parties start at the same time?"
"The chances of success would, of course, be greater if they did," replied
the officer, "but still it is not absolutely necessary."
"Well," said Jack, "suppose you take the pilot boat, and go up the river,
which will take much longer to explore than the ranges; and, at the end of
a week, we shall have got our own affairs pretty straight, and will beat
all the country at the back, and join you on the Macalister.
