ver, but to put
to sea again, and they succeeded in reaching Gantheaume Bay on the 31st
of March. Fate had not yet spent all her wrath on them, and in attempting
a landing, Grey's boat was dashed to destruction upon a rock, and the
other received such a buffeting as to place it beyond repair. The only
hope of safety lay in an overland march to Perth, three hundred miles
away, upon their twenty pounds of damaged flour and one pound of salt
pork per man; and yet, so wearied were they with the unceasing battle
against wind and sea, that they even welcomed this hazardous prospect as
a change for the better.

They had not proceeded far before differences of opinion arose. Grey
naturally wished the men to cover the ground as quickly as possible
whilst their strength lasted, whilst they favoured slow marches, relieved
by frequent rests. Grey, who recognised that in their weakened condition
they could not replenish their scanty food supplies from the native game,
held firmly to his opinion, and made strenuous efforts to quicken their
progress; but the comparative safety of the shore had lulled his
followers into a feeling of false security; and after goading them along
for a hundred miles, bearing the chief burden of the march and sharing
much of his scanty food with the black boy, Grey left them to push
onwards, and if possible send them assistance. He took two or three
picked men with him, and after terrible sufferings and privations,
reached Perth, whence a rescue party was immediately despatched. This
party found only one man, Charles Wood, who by more closely following
Grey's instructions, had made better progress than the others. The
remaining five could not be found, and at the end of a fortnight the
rescuers were forced to return on account of the lack of provisions. Roe
immediately left with another party, and, after experiencing trouble in
tracking the erratic wanderings of the unfortunates, came upon most of
them hopelessly regarding a face of rock that stopped their march along
the beach, unable to muster sufficient strength to climb it. They had
then been three days without water, having nothing in their canteens but
a loathsome substitute.

One of them, Smith, a lad of eighteen who had accompanied the expedition
as a volunteer, had died two days before the rescue; his body was
recovered and buried in the wilderness. Walker, the surgeon and second in
charge, was still absent; but he had voluntarily left the main b