Complete the story with the correct form of words in brackets. In 1860, Robert Burke and William Wills _started_ 0(start) an expedition to travel across Australia from south to north. No white man 1(ever do) this before and one year earlier the government 2 (offer) a prize to the first people to do it.

Burke and Wills 3(organize) a group of nineteen men and set off in August. Thee months later, they 4(arrive) at Cooper Creek. Then Burke, Wills and five other men 5(continue) their journey to the north cost. The rest of the men established a camp at Cooper Creek and wait for them to return.

By the time they reached the north cost in February 1861, Burke and Wills 6(travel) 2,000 miles across two deserts. But the journey7 (take) 60 days instead of 45 days and, as a result, they 8(already eat) most of their food.

The return journey was terrible. They 9(be) hungry and tired and the desert was incredibly hot. When they finally 10(arrive) back at Cooper Creek on the 21st of April, the other men 11(leave). Burke and Wills had asked them to wait them for thirteen weeks and in fact, they 12(wait) for eighteen weeks. In the end, they 13(abandon) the camp only nine hours before Burke and Wills 14(return).

Burke and Wills didn’t have the strength to travel any further and both men 15(die) in June 1861.