ou will
never get back again; besides, have you," he asked, "made any
calculations as to the means both of provisions and carriage you will
require?" "That," I replied, "is for my consideration, but I have done
so, and it appears to me that both are ample." "Well," said Mr. Browne,
"it may be so, I do not know, but I can never consent to leave you in
this dreadful desert. Ask me to do anything else, and I will do it; but I
cannot and will not desert you." It was in vain that I assured him, he
took a wrong view of the matter. That, as I had sent Mr. Poole home to
increase my means, so I wished to send him, and that he would be
rendering me as valuable, though not such agreeable service, as if he
continued with me. "You know, Browne," I added, "that the eyes of the
geographical world are fixed on me, and that I have a previous reputation
to maintain; with you it is different. If I hoped to make any discovery I
would not ask you to leave me. Believe me, I would that you shared the
honour as you have shared the privations and anxieties of this desert
with me; but I entertain no such hope, and would save you from further
exposure. I have not seen enough of this dreary region to satisfy me as
to its present condition. How then shall I satisfy others? That Stony
Desert was, I believe, the bed of a former stream, but how can I speak
decidedly on the little I have observed of it. No! as we have been forced
back from one point, I must try another,--and I hope you will not throw
any impediment in the way. There is every reason why you should return to
Adelaide: your health is seriously impaired,--you are in constant
pain,--and your affairs are going to ruin; on all these considerations I
would urge you to comply with my wishes." Mr. Browne admitted the truth
of what I said, but felt certain that if he left, it would only be to
hear of my having perished in that horrid desert,--that my life was too
valuable to others to be so thrown away,--that he owed me too much to
forsake me, and that he could not do that of which his conscience would
ever after reproach him;--that his brother would attend to his interests,
and that if it were otherwise, it would be no excuse for him to desert
his friend,--that he would acquiesce in any other arrangement, but to
leave me he could not. "Well," I said, "I ask nothing unreasonable from
you, nothing but what the sternness of duty calls for; and if you will
not yield to friendly solicitations, I must o