That
was his death, which we all regretted; and I'm sorry to add that we were
grudging enough to call him tough in the eating.'
This gale was preface to the great adventure of the second stage of Sir
George Grey's Australian explorations. He was to have plenty of
opportunity for the study of the Australian Aborigine, who, by and by,
received him in better wise than at the point of a spear. Somewhere, an
old crone felt inspired to hug and kiss him, in the belief that he was
her own dead son, spun white, and back on earth. Having recruited from
his earlier sufferings, he had gone by Perth, up the coast to Shark's Bay
in an American whaler. He arranged to make a depot of Bernier Island, in
the region of Shark's Bay, and there, on a lovely day, he landed his
stores, burying them for safety in the soil. Up blew this storm, three
nights later, when the explorers laid hands upon the solitary cormorant
of Dorre. Had they been on Bernier, instead, the spoil might have been a
kangaroo, for it owned a special breed of that family.
But to Bernier Island, the larder, Sir George returned, having completed
a section of exploration. He had a dread lest the gale might have
ravished his stores during his absence. Accordingly, he took only one or
two of his people with him when he went, full of anxiety, to the spot
where the provisions had been buried.
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