I would rather that my bones had been left to bleach in that desert than have yielded an inch of the ground I had gained at so much expense and trouble.
The 27th of June completed the fifth month of our detention at the Depot, and the prospect of our removal appeared to be as distant as ever; there were, it is true, more clouds, but they passed over us without breaking.
The month of July, however, opened with every indication of a change, the sky was generally overcast, and although we had been so often disappointed, I had a presentiment that the then appearances would not vanish without rain.
About this time Mr.Poole, whose health on the whole was improving, had a severe attack of inflammation, which Mr.Browne subdued with great difficulty.

After this attack he became exceedingly restless, and expressed a desire to be moved from the tent in which he had so long been confined, to the underground room, but as that rude apartment was exceedingly cold at night, I thought it advisable to have a chimney built to it before he was taken there.

It was not until the 12th that it was ready for him.

As the men were carrying him across the camp towards the room he was destined to occupy for so short a time, I pointed out the pyramid to him, and it is somewhat singular, that the first drops of rain, on the continuance of which our deliverance depended, fell as the men were bearing him along.
Referring back to the early part of the month, I may observe that the indications of a breaking up of the drought, became every day more apparent.
It was now clear, indeed, that the sky was getting surcharged with moisture, and it is impossible for me to describe the intense anxiety that prevailed in the camp.

On the morning of the 3rd the firmament was again cloudy, but the wind shifted at noon to west, and the sun set in a sky so clear that we could hardly believe it had been so lately overcast.
On the following morning he rose bright and clear as he had set, and we had a day of surpassing fineness, like a spring day in England.
The night of the 6th was the coldest night we experienced at the Depot, when the thermometer descended to 24 degrees.