"We reached the plain just as the sun was descending, without having dismounted from our horses for fifteen hours, and as we rode down the embankment into it, looked around for the cattle, but none were to be seen. We looked towards the little sandy mound on which the tents had stood, but no white objects there met our eye; we rode slowly up to the stockade and found it silent and deserted. I was quite sure that Mr. Browne had had urgent reasons for retiring. I had, indeed, anticipated the measure. I hardly hoped to find him at the Fort, and had given him instructions on the subject of his removal; yet, a sickening feeling came over me when I saw that he was really gone; not on my own account, for, with the bitter feelings of disappointment with which I was returning home, I could calmly have laid my head on that desert, never to raise it again." Riding day and night, Sturt at last reached the encampment, so exhausted as to be hardly able to stand:-- "When I dismounted, I had nearly fallen forward. Thinking that one of the kangaroo dogs, in his greeting, had pushed me between the legs, I turned round to give him a slap, but no dog was there, and I soon found out that what I had felt was nothing more than strong muscular action, brought on by riding." Now came the question of their final escape. The water in the Depôt Creek was so much reduced that they feared that there would be none left in Flood's Creek, and if so, they were once more imprisoned. Browne undertook the long ride of one hundred and eighteen miles, which was to decide the question. Preparations had to be made for his journey by filling a bullock skin with water, and sending a dray with it as far as possible; and on the eighth day he returned. "'Well Browne,' said Sturt, who was helpless in his tent, 'what news? Is it to be good or bad?' 'there is still water in the creek,' replied Browne, 'but that is all I can say; what there is, is as black as ink, and we must make haste, for in a week it will be gone.'" The boat that was to have floated on the inland sea, was left to rot at the Depôt Glen, all the heaviest of the stores abandoned., and the retreat of over two hundred miles to the Darling commenced. More bullock skins were fashioned into bags, to carry water for the stock, and with their aid, and that of a kindly shower of rain, they crossed the dry stage to Flood's Creek in safety. Here they found the vegetation more advanced, and with care, and constant activity in looking out for water on ahead, they gradually left behind them the scene of their labours and approached the Darling; Sturt having to be carried on one of the drays, and lifted on and off at each stoppage. On the 21st December, they arrived at the camp of the relief party, under Piesse, at Williorara, and Sturt's last expedition came to an end.