"I saw you making a tomb for poor Never Never Dave," answered Bentley, sadly.
Emu Bill groaned and Mackay sighed deeply.
"But that was yesterday, Dick. What about this morning?"
"Yes, I noticed you this morning, too; but I only heard one explosion, and didn't think anything of it."
"Where were your powers o' observation, Dick? Wewere bursting a new entrance into the mountain." But Mackay's satisfaction at his sally was clouded by the sad recollections aroused by his friend's first remark. "You tell him, Bob," he added weakly. "Tell him o' our precautionary arrangements which should stand us in good stead now."
A few minutes later a series of great pattering drops on the bark roof of the dwelling intimated that the expected storm had burst; slowly they came at first, then louder and louder hissed the growing deluge until it seemed as if the floodgates of the heavens had broken loose, and a dull, tearing roar echoed across the vale as the thunder-cloud rent in twain.
"If that doesna frighten the niggers they ought to be ashamed o' themselves," grunted Mackay. "Now we'll go, lads, an' trust to Providence an' our rifles for a safe journey."
They gathered up their precious freight, each taking a goodly share so that nothing was left, and silently they filed out into the raging night, and, with Bentley leading, groped a cautious course towards the underground passage. Through the beating torrent they caught glimpses of many lights in the native camps bordering the lake near at hand, and the droning intonation of a most melancholy chant reached their ears in occasional snatches as they hurried on their way. The natives were invoking the favour of the mighty thunder-god who that day had smitten one of their warriors so cruelly. At last they arrived at the opening from which Mackay and his companions had first gazed out in wonder, and with a united breath of thankfulness entered the yawning darkness of the cavern.
Yet, even as they disappeared, a shrill cry of alarm sounded out above the storm from the vicinity of the home they had just vacated, and a chorus of answering yells showed too truly that their flight had been discovered.
"That was the old king's voice," whispered Bentley, as the fugitives paused for a moment to listen. "He probably called to get you to stay the thunder. We just got away in time."
"The other end is where our danger lies," muttered Mackay. "Now, lads, follow me, an' be as slippery as you can. Those howlin' hyenas will be at our backs in a minute."
Blindly they stumbled on, staggering from wall to wall in their feverish eagerness; but before they had even reached the cross-drives, the cries of their savage pursuers were echoing along the passage close in their rear. On, on they laboured, and now Mackay began to hesitate in his course, so that his comrades kept pushing up in a confused mass behind him. In the excitement which reigned they could not well understand why their doughty leader should pause at such an inopportune moment. But that level-headed individual knew exactly what he was doing; in another instant he had found the rope which hung over the treacherous pit.
"Now, my bonnie boys," said he, "over you go. You, Bob, take the lead, and walk quietly on. I'll be after you in a jiff."
"I never knew of this death-trap," breathed Bentley, hoarsely. "Jim, old man, Heaven knows how you managed to negotiate this terrible place at first."
"My power o' observation is strong even in the dark,"chuckled the brawny Scot. "Now, grip the rope, Dick, an' get across. Here's old Methuselah's gang almost beside us, an' I want to stop their progress a bit."
Bentley delayed no further, and in a flash Mackay too had leapt the gully, but, ere he hastened after the others, he leaned out over the unseen chasm and smote at the thick cord high overhead with his sheath-knife, then he gathered up his burden and struggled after his companions. He overtook them while they were yet some distance from the sudden bend which occurred just opposite the entrance the gelignite had made, for Bob was treading cautiously, expecting each moment to be assailed by the warriors whose duty it was to abide by the rocking stone. And that his fears in that direction were by no means groundless was proved by the excited mutterings which at this moment issued from the end of the passage, and the ominous snap of the great rock as it closed into position was distinctly heard. The watchful blacks had evidently been investigating matters outside, and had just returned to their post. The clamour of the pursuing band was now most demoralizingly loud and fierce. They seemed to be already rejoicing at the pleasing prospect before them: their enemy was neatly caught between two fires; little wonder that they sent out shriek after shriek of delirious acclamation. And in the mean time the escaping party, trudging heavily through the mire, rejoiced also that the noisy exuberance of the warriors so effectually drowned their own hastening footsteps, and thus prevented their near approach to safety from being made known to the awaiting savages.
Then a yell, louder and more dismal than ever, suddenly echoed through the cavern; it was followed by a dullplunge, and immediately a succession of similar disturbances intimated that the all too eager warriors had experienced a rude and ardour-cooling check. Mackay chuckled right heartily when the success of his scheme was thus revealed to him.
"There has been more than one o' the beggars who has jumped for the rope an' missed," he whispered, with ill-suppressed mirth; and then only did his comrades guess the part he had played in the natives' discomfiture.
By this time they had reached the quick turn of the passage, and Bob felt carefully for the saving gap that would lead to freedom. The cries of the baffled warriors in the rear now rang out through the darkness like the wails of coyotes cheated of their prey, and their brethren ahead, by their hoarse exclamations of dismay, were apparently considerably exercised over the strange happening which had taken place.
"Quick, boys," said Mackay, when Bob had laid bare the opening. "Up ye go in a hurry, an' hang on to your treasure; I'll send the rifles aloft when you're a' through."
Bentley would have remonstrated, but the imperturbable director of affairs was obdurate.
"I'm engineering this circus," he said sternly. "Now, out you go. Whoop-la!"
In his own hearty exuberance he seemed utterly to have forgotten the near presence of a part of the enemy, and his voice sounded out boisterously as he cheered each of his companions on his way to the outside world. For a brief instant there was absolute silence from the extreme end of the tunnel, and Mackay knew that the inevitable rush would speedily follow. Nor was he mistaken. With screams of rage the blacks advanced, and the reckless manlaughed aloud as they came. He caught Jack, who alone remained, in his powerful arms and literally hurled him into the embrace of Stewart, who stood ready to receive him.
"And now, my lads, here's the rifles," he cried, thrusting the collected weapons out through the aperture.
"Hang the rifles! Come oot yersel'!" howled Stewart, reaching down a massive bony fist, and grasping his comrade by the shoulder; and in this way Mackay, clutching fast to the armoury of the expedition, was hauled to the surface, even as the foremost of the vengeful warriors dashed their heads impotently into the aperture through which he had been yanked so rigorously forth.
MACKAY, CLUTCHING FAST TO THE ARMOURY OF THE EXPEDITION, WAS HAULED TO THE SURFACE
"MACKAY, CLUTCHING FAST TO THE ARMOURY OF THEEXPEDITION, WAS HAULED TO THE SURFACE"
"There was no need for you exertin' your muscular powers in that vera drastic fashion," reproved the latest arrival, turning, and thrusting the stock of his rifle down into the gap with calm forcefulness.
The response which greeted his action seemed to soothe him somewhat.
"All's well that ends well," he remarked philosophically; "but before we start congratulating oorsel's we'd better lock these twa doors an' leave the keys on the ootside."
In a short time a very effective boulder barricade was arranged before both entrances, the enormous rocks used for the purpose being rolled and carried to their positions by the united strength of the party; only when this work was completed, when the yells of the baulked warriors sounded dull and subdued behind the solid barriers, only then did the earnest toilers pause.
The night was beautifully clear, not a cloud was visible in the sky, and the stars shone down with steady radiance.The rising mists from the bubbling caldrons spread like a ghostly white veil in the near westward distance, and ever and anon a heavy rumbling would run along the line of the deep cavities, and fresh vapoury puffs from the craters ascended towards the heavens. For fully a minute no one spoke; the extreme tension on their nerves for the last half-hour had been most trying to all, and their silence was now more eloquent of their thankfulness than words.
"There has been no rain on this side of the mountain," said Bob, at length, examining the rubbly surface of the ground intently.
"It would all condense inside the valley, Bob," answered Bentley. "We are back once more in the thirsty desert of the Never Never, and"—turning to Mackay—"we owe our escape to you, Jim; we owe our lives to you——"
"We'll no' dwell on the subject," interrupted that gentleman, cheerily. "I have no doubt we'll a' find oursel's in tighter corners on some other expedition. It's fair surprisin' how often a man can warstle oot o' a difficulty by the skin o' his teeth. I'm just a wee bit afraid that the skin o' my teeth is gettin' sair worn at the game, but it's grand fun, a' the same. However," he continued hastily, as an upward glance revealed to him several dark forms on the summit outlined against the sky, "I think I'll go and round up the camels now, so that we can start on the homeward trail without any unnecessary delay. I've a dim idea that the climate o' the country nearer Fortunate Spring will be healthier for us than this."
"I is comin' wi' you, boss," cried the Shadow. "I think I know where the leather-hided animiles are."
"All right, my lad; an' you, Jack, might unearth the stores an' the water-bag, so as to be ready when we come back. Never mind the heavy tools. I see the niggers have shifted the case o' gelignite we left in sight. I hope it gives them indigestion pretty bad."
"Have ye no' got an extra pair o' breeks in the camp?" inquired Stewart, appealingly. "I dinna like waltzin' aboot like a gorilla oot o' a circus."
Mackay laughed. "I'm vera pleased to see you've got some sense o' shame left in ye, my man," he said sternly. "Mak' free o' the wardrobe o' the expedition, boys, every one o' you. Bob will dispense it out, though I don't think there's enough to go round. Anyhow, there's lots o' string in the outfit, an' you can easily mak' yoursel's vera presentable garments out o' the empty bags when we get further on; but I can see we'll a' be in an outward state o' advanced disintegration before we reach civilization."
It was nearly two months later, and the sun stared pitilessly down on a struggling camel-train that was wearily forcing its way outwards from the grim desert of the interior. The animals comprising the team were but four in all, surely much too inadequate a number to be the mainstay of the nine strangely garbed figures who accompanied them; yet, judging by the light packs on their backs, it was very apparent that the outfit of the returning expedition did not greatly impede their movements. Slowly, slowly the great hulking creatures laboured on. At the leader's head strode a youth, who, every now and again, turned to pat the trembling nostrils of his cumbrous charge, and cheer it forward withendearing words. His face was deeply browned by long exposure to the scorching sun's rays. His clothing, consisting of a few shreds of what had once been a shirt, and a pair of nether garments so tattered and torn that they clung by almost miraculous means to his person, was sufficient to indicate that he had been long on the march; but if further proof were required, a glance at his boots would have been more than enough. The uppers alone were left, and they were tied to his sockless feet by numberless cords and strips of hessian cloth. But despite the dilapidated nature of his dress, it was the acme of respectability, compared with that of some of his comrades. Indeed, the combined wardrobe of the party was such that the most abandoned tramp would have turned aside from it in disgust.
"Keep Misery moving, Jack—keep him moving," cried a familiar voice; and a strongly built, yet gaunt-faced man strode up alongside the young leader of the train, and patted his shoulder in friendly encouragement.
Then he stopped and awaited the coming of the rearmost camel, which was lagging painfully, and addressed its attendant in similar tones.
"An hour or so more will do it, my lad—only an hour or so more. Golden Flat should be just over the horizon."
"Say, boss," came the answer, "this here fiery animile is 'bout busted; but I reckon I'll pull him in somehow."
He groped about in some hidden recess of his well-ventilated shirt, and extricated a small shining instrument, which he placed to his lips with a smile of real joy.
"Now, boys," he cried, "here we goes again—one, two,three!" and at once the strains of a favourite melody echoed out in the air.
The bulk of his companions shuddered at the opening shock, then joined boisterously in the chorus. Loudly, triumphantly, they bellowed forth in varying voices and keys, and, lo! the camels pricked up their ears and quickened their steps, and the weary-eyed singers and chief musician marched to the tune thus given with sprightly step—
"Soon we'll be in London town.Sing, my lads, yo ho-o——"
"Soon we'll be in London town.Sing, my lads, yo ho-o——"
"Soon we'll be in London town.Sing, my lads, yo ho-o——"
"Soon we'll be in London town.
Sing, my lads, yo ho-o——"
Again and again the cheering refrain was taken up; then suddenly a cry of astonishment burst from the lips of a lithe and wiry young man who had been on the point of consulting his note-book for the twentieth time since he took his noonday altitude.
"We've missed it!" he cried. "That must be Kalgoorlie ahead."
The music stopped at once; the white, glistening roofs of a fair-sized township had suddenly appeared to view, nestling at the foot of a gentle undulation in the land surface.
"I'm afraid there has been some mistake made, Bob," said a tall, grave-faced, dark-bearded man who walked by his side. "What do you make of it, Jim?" He addressed the stalwart individual who had but a moment or so before been coaxing on the camels.
"I don't know, Dick; it's hardly big enough for Kalgoorlie. I canna think what place it is. Bob, my lad, that's the first error o' navigation I've known you to make."
So did Mackay's expedition, with its augmented numbersrescued from the far back Never Never Land, yet with one sad depletion in the original party, see civilization once more. It would have been hard indeed to recognize them now, so marked were they by privation. The stores had been used most sparingly, for the supply had not been lavish enough to stand the additional strain imposed upon it by the extra appetites of Bentley's party. So all had cheerfully pinched and starved themselves throughout the long journey. But now their sufferings were nearly over; civilization, in the form of some unknown township or city, was in sight. Bob alone seemed to be grieved. He had steered an unerring course these many weeks; and now, when he fancied he was heading for Golden Flat, it was humiliating to feel that at the very last he had made some grave miscalculation.
"Never mind, Bob," said Mackay, kindly. "You knew you were safe enough in your direction."
Bob sighed and shook his head, and consulted his log-book again, but appeared to derive little satisfaction from his scrutiny. On, on the worn-out team staggered; and as the welcome settlement loomed up nearer and nearer the hearts of the wayfarers grew light. Yet the size of the township confused them; there were several wide streets in evidence, and one great building in particular arrested their attention. And yet withal the whole scene seemed strangely familiar to Mackay and his young companions, and Emu Bill, too, looked puzzled as he gazed at the strange city so revealed.
"I hope it ain't no mirage," he murmured, with vague discontent.
"We'll soon know what we've struck," cried Jack. "Here's a horseman coming out to meet us."
"I thought I knew every bit o' this country," grumbled Mackay, "but this certainly beats me, though somehow everything looks vera like a place I prospected before. Anyhow, we'll soon see. Hallo!" he called out, as the horseman drew rein in front of him and stared at the travel-worn company in curious amazement. "Hallo! you bold, bad bushman; what township is this?"
The man replied only with a gaze of more intense amazement than before, until he was sternly brought to his bearings by the now irate questioner.
"Say, mate," he protested weakly, "don't bounce a man so sudden. You all look like Rip Van Winkles, you does, only worse. But you must be strangers in these parts if you don't know Wentworth City. Why, it's the biggest min——"
"What!"
The cry came like a roar from the lips of the nine men at once, and the startled individual on the horse jerked back in alarm; but becoming satisfied that his interrogators really desired information, he proceeded to give it to them.
"Wentworth City, mates, ain't very old, but it has squatted here to stay. It boomed up like a shot after the diskivery o' a process for treating the refractory ores in the district. There's simply no end o' the stuff, an' we expect to get a railway along shortly."
"How did it get its name?" inquired Mackay, calmly.
"Well, I has only been a couple o' weeks here myself, an' don't know exactly how it happened; but every one will tell you that it is called after the diskiverer o' the process which sent it booming. A young chap, I believe he was, an' he went out exploring afterwards. But it'smighty funny you doesn't know that much. Say, you must have come in from out back?"
Mackay nodded briefly. "You've struck it," said he; "but now tell me if you know a man called Nuggety Dick, and where can we find him?"
"Nuggety Dick?" echoed the horseman. "Why, you won't have any trouble finding him. He's the mayor, he is. Go along the main street right in front o' you—it is called Mackay Street—an' turn down Golden Promise Drive on your right, an'—but I'd better go in front an' show you——"
"Yes, you'd better," murmured Mackay, feebly; then he reached out and clasped Bob's hand.
"And so you all mean to have a trip to the old country, boys?" said Nuggety Dick.
It was about an hour later, and the wanderers were seated in the mayor's dining-room doing ample justice to the generous fare provided by that hospitable individual, whose pleasure at meeting his old friends again had been almost boyish in its glad exuberance.
"It's over ten years since I left the dear old land, Dick," answered Bentley, "and now I should like to see it again. I wanted to persuade every one to come, but I found they didn't need any persuading. All but Bill seemed to have taken it as a foregone conclusion that they were to have a run home as a reward for their labours."
"An' I would go quick enough, boys," said Emu Bill, quietly, "but I reckon I'd peg out if I lost sight o' the Southern Cross. I ain't no traveller, boys; I is only a simple bushman, an' somehow the grim old desert grips me tight."
"I reckon I'll be able to tell you all about it when I get back, Bill," said the Shadow. "I is goin' with Jack to see the sights, an' we'll have a rare good time——"
"I hope you've made up your mind to behave yoursel'?" interjected Mackay, severely.
"Surely, boss, you can trust me. I won't even squelch a policeman unless he looks at me cross-eyed. I'll be gentle as a little lamb, I will, an' I won't round up no horses nor camels nor nothin'."
"Well, I hope it's only a trip you're goin' to take, boys, an' that you'll all come back an' look me up in a month or so," said Nuggety Dick, earnestly.
They remained talking in this strain for some time; then Mackay suddenly inquired after his old enemy, Macguire.
"I don't bear the man any ill will," said he. "I'm just sort o' curious to know if he rose wi' the fortunes o' Wentworth City; that name must have stuck in his throat——"
"Why, hasn't you heard?" exclaimed Dick; "but, of course, you couldn't know. Macguire cleared out 'bout two days after you, an' every one fancied he meant to follow you up, because he thought you were goin' to some new strike. He had his old crowd wi' him, an' a black tracker. He has never come back yet. I reckon he must have gone under."
"Poor beggar!" murmured Bob. "I hope he manages to come out all right, but——" He shook his head doubtfully.
"If by any chance he does hit our old trail into the Never Never, he'll be mighty sorry for it afterwards," spoke Mackay, grimly, with visions of vengeful savages before his eyes.
That night Bob came into Mackay's room at the hotel where they were all staying.
"I wanted to see you alone," he said simply, "so that I might tell you how truly I have appreciated your great kindnesses. I know now who it was that sent that letter to my mother, you dear old humbug."
Mackay smiled. "My reward is more than I ever dreamed, my lad. You yourself have given me much by your friendship. I haven't been disappointed in you, Bob, an' I hope our partnership will no' finish here."
"I'll be with you every time," cried Bob, heartily.
"I don't know what it is, but you can count on me," came a well-known voice beyond the thin wooden partition, and immediately afterwards Jack burst into the room. "I thought I heard about another threatened expedition," he said eagerly, "and I wanted to sign my name to it right away."
"I have an idea," ventured Mackay, gazing at the boy with shrewd, twinkling eyes—"I have an idea, Jack, that when you get home you'll find a wonderfu' magnetic influence there to restrain your wandering nature. But all the same, I shouldna wonder but you'll be allowed to mak' just another journey in my good company, for Bob has promised to say a word or two in my favour, so that I won't be judged altogether as an uncouth savage from the Never Never——"
"Is this a corroborree you're holding, Jim?" said Bentley, suddenly entering the doorway.
"No, Dick, nothing so vera desperate; we were sort o' considerin' a future expedition, that's a'."
"Already?" laughed Bentley. "Why, man, haven'tyou knocked around this little planet enough to last you a lifetime?"
"I am afraid there is no such thing as contentment in the world," said Bob, gravely. "We have sought fortune, and we have found it——"
"Ay, an' we found more than fortune, Bob," added Mackay, gazing at his old leader affectionately. "The gold and gems are welcome enough, but the lives o' my comrades are dearer to me than a'."
Bentley laid a gentle hand on Mackay's shoulder, and his voice was full as he spoke.
"Yes, my lads," he said, "you will find true happiness, not in riches nor in the fulfilment of worldly ambition, for our satisfaction is ever in the striving after rather than in the attainment of our desires; but it will come to you in the realization of an unerring truth: greater by far than gold or gems is the love of our fellow-men."