The Grave of one of the Unknown Race—Morton's Departure—Charlie falls Sick.
The shadow cast by the sides of the hole was too dark for Brown to see at once what sort of treasure he had unearthed, but a nearer inspection did not afford him any more satisfaction. Apparently there was nothing beneath the sheet of metal but a deposit of damp, mouldy earth, emitting a pungent smell of a most repulsive nature. Brown drew back somewhat sickened, and told the natives to clean out the trench while he went out for a breath of fresh air.
In a few minutes he returned. The heap of mould alongside the now empty hole told him that the work was finished. The blacks were on their knees, eagerly examining some objects they had found amongst the contents of the trench. Billy handed them to Brown. The first was a chain of small steel links and most beautiful workmanship, bearing as a pendant a tiny triangle formed of the same metal. A metal plate nearly a foot square, covered with hieroglyphics similar to those inscribed on the walls of the cave, was the next thing he examined, and then came a dagger resembling the one already discovered. This, however, had a handle, or what appeared to be one, made of finely-twisted gold threads wound tightly round the haft. This was all. Brown puzzled over these relics for some time, and then strolled to the crest of the ridge to see how the voyagers were getting on. Apparently they had experienced what is known as a soldier's wind, for the canoe was coming back with a flowing sail. Brown and Billy walked down to the shore of the lake to meet them. The trip had been uninteresting; the lake was exceedingly shallow everywhere with the exception of the end where they were. There it was deep and permanent. Brown told them of the discovery he had made, and they revisited the cave together.
"It's my opinion," said Morton after lengthy examination, "that it is a grave, and this mould all that there is left of a body—probably burnt before being put in the grave. The necklet, plate, and dagger are the ornaments and weapon worn by the man at the time of his death. He must have been some great priest."
"The same conclusion that I have been working round to," replied Brown. "That plate is a priestly breastplate, like those we read of in the Old Testament."
The question of visiting Hentig's grave was one that was now discussed. It was settled at last that Morton and Billy would make the trip, leaving Brown and Charlie to continue the investigation of the caves, and also to come out with relief in case Morton was overdue. By careful computation they thought they could pretty well guess the course pursued by the three white men from the last water to the lake. With two horses packed with water they reckoned they could get out and back without much trouble, even if there was no water at the marked tree.
Morton and Billy therefore started early the next morning, for although the night would have been cooler to cross the spinifex desert, they might have missed some important indications in the dark. Four days was the utmost limit Morton allowed himself; Brown was then to start on his tracks, as something would have probably happened to the horses.
Left at the lake, Brown and Charlie devoted themselves to a searching examination of the locality. Several trees marked with an anchor, similar to the one at the lagoon camp, were discovered, evidently the work of Murphy, who had seemingly appropriated the symbol. A mark resembling a rude K was seen once or twice, and they took it to stand for Kelly's handiwork.
They sounded the caves all over but without any more success, and at last concluded that they had found all there was to be found.
The sun was high the morning of the third day when Brown returned from his swim in the lagoon, and, to his surprise, found Charlie still sleeping, with a hot flush on his face. Brown aroused him, and the boy sat up and looked vacantly around, recovered himself after a bit, and proceeded to get up. He refused to eat anything, but drank a good deal of tea. Brown watched him anxiously.
"What's the matter, old boy?" he asked.
"I don't feel up to the mark. I had a wretched nightmare last night; it kept me awake afterwards until nearly daylight, so that I overslept myself."
"I feel off colour too," replied Brown. "Last night I could have quarrelled with my own shadow. I hope we didn't release any evil spirit from that grave."
"Don't say that," replied Charlie, "for that is just what I dreamt. Strange that you should think the same."
"Tell me about it, sonney," said Brown. "We'll soon fix up any intrusive old ghost."
Charlie, as he could see, was upset by something, and Brown felt uneasy, as the thought of sickness overtaking one of their party became patent to him.
"I dreamt," commenced Charlie, "that I was on the edge of this lake. I was alone, and very frightened with a quite unnatural terror. I thought you had both gone away and left me. I tried to cry out but could not, and turned round, for I felt some fearful thing was approaching me from behind. True enough, the great figure from the cave was there, looking at me with terrible eyes. On its breast was the plate we found in the grave, and—I could read the characters written on it."
Charlie paused.
"What was the writing?" asked Brown, interested by the boy's earnestness.
"I can shut my eyes and see it now. It ran—'The Spirit of Evil is everywhere. Worship then the Spirit of Evil only, and do his behests.' As I looked and read the figure smiled mockingly at me, and I woke up in a cold perspiration, and could not sleep again."
"Charlie, my boy," said Brown, "we will discuss your dream by and by. Meantime, I am going to mix you a dose of quinine and brandy; you've got a touch of malarial fever coming on. Now I'll fix up a bough-shade for you; it will be cooler than the tent, and you must keep quiet all day."
Brown soon had a good shade of boughs erected, and making up as comfortable a bed as he could for the sick lad, he stopped with him all day. Charlie was very feverish, but towards sundown he fell into an uneasy sleep, and Brown went for a stroll up and down and smoked his pipe. "This is a lively look-out," he mused. "I hope those devilish old rites don't mean to claim another victim. Dreamt we both went away and left him!" Brown's eyes grew moist as he thought of the possibility of the words coming true in one sense, and Charlie being left in a solitary grave by the side of the lake. "If Morton does not turn up to time what a fix I shall be in, for I can't go and look for him."
Charlie passed a restless night, and towards the middle of the ensuing day he became delirious. This was the margin of Morton's return, but the sun set, and Brown strained his eyes in vain across the plain.
Charlie's delirium was at its height that night. Always he raved of the great figure in the cave standing over and threatening him.
The fifth day passed and still no sign of Morton, and Brown was nearly distracted at the thought that his friend was in some difficulty, expecting him to come to his relief, and he could not leave the sick boy for an hour. He passed the night once more by Charlie's side, trying to soothe him and listening to his incoherent mutterings. It was about three o'clock in the morning when Charlie, who had been quiet for some time, dropped off to sleep. The silence that ensued was broken by a sound more grateful to Brown than anything else he could possibly have heard—the distant sound of a horse-bell. There was no doubt about it, the horses were coming rapidly across the plain, and evidently being driven, the bell having been loosened as is generally done when travelling with pack-horses at night. On they came at a sharp trot, for they were no doubt thirsty and knew where they were coming to. Brown listened till they ran down the opposite bank and commenced drinking, then he knew by the voices that Morton and Billy were both there, and called across to them.
"That you, Brown?" came back in reply.
"Yes; I could not go out as I promised."
"Glad you didn't, as it happened. But what's up?"
"I'll tell you as soon as you come round, but come quietly."
Brown walked a little distance to meet them, and they unpacked the horses where they met so as not to disturb Charlie, who was still sleeping. Brown told Morton in a low voice, and they went into the tent together. Charlie was muttering in his sleep, and it was still of the figure on the wall. They went out and sat by the fire, where they could hear the slightest sound, and Morton told Brown all that had passed since he left.
Morton's Trip to Hentig's Grave—A further Discovery.
"When we left the lake that morning," began Morton, "we passed, of course, over a few miles of good downs country before we came to the edge of the desert, then we had nothing to do but keep straight on the course we had selected until night, when we had to camp in the spinifex. Next evening we came straight to the water-hole. It was a splendid fluke, and I never expected such luck. There was a good supply of water in the hole and fair grass, so we were not badly off. I found the tree where Hentig was buried, although the cross that Stuart cut had nearly grown out. The powder-flask, however, had been only buried a short distance in the ground, and as the bush rats had dug it up it had rusted and rotted almost to pieces. We found some of the contents, but the writing is almost if not quite illegible, as the paper has been soaked into pulp two or three times. As far as I can make out, though, it was written by Leichhardt himself, and as such will be valuable. Now I come to what detained me. Billy, whom I told to look on all the trees about the waterhole for marks, found a couple of initials on three of the trees. Of course the sides of the bark had grown together, and could only be traced like a crack in the bark. I made these initials out to be L.F. If you remember, Stuart mentions that the two men who were lost never reached this water, but one of them must have got in to it after Stuart left. I say one of them, because the same initials were repeated. I lay awake for a long time reasoning the thing out. When Stuart and the others left there was no water in the hole, they used up the last of it; therefore, this man must have come back after rain had fallen, probably some months after, for he could not have stayed about cutting his initials on trees without water. He must certainly have found other water. Where was it? If I could find it I might get further information.
"In the morning I sent Billy back along our tracks with a note in a cleft stick, which he was to stick up right on our tracks. In the note I told you to come on, as there was plenty of water in the hole. Billy had instructions to ride till noonday, then stick the stick in with a handkerchief tied to it, and come back again. All this he did, meanwhile I went fossicking about. The hole was on the edge of the plain, the same as the lagoons we were camped on so long. I went north first, and presently was able to find a kind of water-course skirting the forest. Once or twice I came to holes that should hold water for some time, but they were all dry. At last I was rewarded. I came to a fair-sized lagoon, with ducks and other waterfowl on its surface. There was no sign of the place ever having been much frequented by natives, at least I only saw some very old camps at first. At the end of the hole opposite to me was an old shell of a gum-tree, one of these desert gums that grow to a very old age and become quite hollow. As I looked at this I saw something move, and then, looking more intently, I could see some blue smoke stealing up. Naturally I made for the place as soon as possible, wondering if I was going to find a living white man. When I reached the spot I found a small fire burning, and in the tree an ancient old gin was squatting. She was almost blind, and could just make out that something was moving about, for she snarled and struck out feebly but viciously with a yam stick. Oh, she was a cheerful old lady!
"I was puzzling my brains how she lived, for she seemed too feeble to move and was too blind to see anything distinctly; for all that there were plenty of feathers around the camp, although she could never have caught the birds. Presently the old dame, still growling to herself, crawled out on her hands and knees to the fire, to which she seemingly guided herself by the sense of smell. Here she squatted down, and I hung my horse up and went to look at her lair in the tree. There was an iron tomahawk shipped on to a black's handle, a single-barrelled percussion shot-gun, and all sorts of little odds and ends. Evidently this survivor must have found a lot of things abandoned at the old camp at Hentig's grave. Just then my horse shook himself, making the saddle rattle and jingle. On hearing this the old gin set up the most awful screaming you ever heard. When she quietened down someone called out to her from a short distance away, and looking in the direction, I saw a light-coloured nigger limping towards us. He stopped and had a good look at me before approaching; I held up both my hands as a sign of amity, and he came on pretty fearlessly. I then saw that he was a half-caste and a cripple. One leg had been broken in childhood and he had grown up with it shorter than the other, and much distorted. That he was a descendent of the missing white man I had no doubt, but the old gin appeared too old to be his mother. He came up to me, and when I spoke to him seemed greatly pleased, and pointing to himself said "Lee-lee" two or three times, indicating that that was his name. I gave him my name in return, which he soon picked up. He then led me to the tree, and taking the gun out put it to his shoulder and cried out in imitation of a report, showing that he had often seen it used. I pointed to the feathers, and he showed me two or three light boomerangs and a fishing-net. I tried to find out if he knew anything of the lake, but he seemed quite ignorant of its existence. I imitated death to find out what had become of his father, and he led me to a place where he indicated he was buried, but I could see no sign of a grave. He knew two or three words of English,—water, gun, tree, and bird; and I think he must at one time have known much more, but had probably lost them since his father's death, who, I think, must have been a man of the same intellectual calibre as Murphy, and quite uneducated. He explained by signs that his leg had been broken by a branch breaking when he was climbing a tree as a little fellow. Suddenly it struck me that there might be more in the family, and after some trouble he led me to believe that there were, but they had gone away with the tribe to the north. He limped heavily to show me that he had been left behind because he could not travel fast enough, and I concluded that the old gin who had been left was no relation of his, but had stayed behind from infirmity. Lee-lee seemed very active and clever, considering the disadvantage he laboured under, and I made up my mind to bring him in to the lake. He, however, did not seem anxious to go at first, but I showed him the empty gun, of which he was very proud, and made him understand that if he came with me I would make it alive again, which he seemed to approve of highly. Fortunately there were some boxes of caps amongst his belongings, as ours are all breech-loaders. He knew the hole where I was camped, and intimated that he would come down in the morning. All this took some time, and it was late at night when I got back to camp, where I found Billy blubbering under the impression that I was not coming back again. Lee-lee duly turned up the next morning, and Billy tried to talk to him, but did not make much of a fist at it. He said that he thought some of the words were the same as those used by the lake natives. Lee-lee knew nothing of the Warlattas; and, if you remember, the defunct Columbus told us that there were no natives to the north. I gave him sugar, which he highly appreciated, then we saddled up and went up to his lagoon, which I reckoned to be nearly fifteen miles away, so that he must have started pretty early in the night to come to us. I fixed him up on one of the pack saddles, and he got on very well considering.
"The forest bears to the westward, and I intended to start straight to the lake from Lee-lee's lagoon. The difficulty was about the old gin. If left behind she would starve, and I did not see how we were to get her across the desert. I explained the dilemma to Lee-lee, who seemed to understand. Suddenly a bright idea struck him. He picked up his nulla-nulla and indicated that the easiest way to settle the question was by knocking her on the head. He appeared rather surprised at my objecting somewhat angrily to this simple and easy method, and I am not sure that Billy did not agree with him.
"I thought that as your ideas have been so brilliant lately, that we might devise some means of getting the old gin safely across the desert, and making these fellows and Lee-lee friends, so that, if we make up our minds to take him back with us, the old woman would not starve, for there is plenty of food about here. I gave Lee-lee to understand that I would be back in three days; but, of course, that is knocked on the head, we must get Charlie well first. Now, old man, you've had no sleep for two nights. I will sit by Charlie, and you can have a snooze until daylight. Watching is far more tiring than riding."
As Brown really felt somewhat tired out, he adopted the suggestion and retired to his blankets.
Charlie was no better in the morning, and Morton felt quite cast down at the sad fate now looming, only too plainly, before his young relative, for whom he entertained a great liking. About mid-day Brown suddenly arose as though filled with a new idea. He went off in the direction of the hill where the blacks were camped, and Morton did not see him for nearly two hours, then he said he had only been over to see how the niggers were getting on, and was silent and abstracted until darkness fell, when he persuaded Morton to go and rest while he kept watch by the invalid.
Morton, who had been riding and watching all the night before, slept late. When he awoke he saw Brown standing by the fire smoking.
"How is he?" he asked, as he took his towel to go for a swim in the lake.
"Better, I think; he has been sleeping quietly all night without talking. When he wakes up he will be sensible, I think."
"That's good news," returned Morton. "I shall be glad to see the boy up again. What a blessing it was that this thing happened in a good camp with plenty of game of all sorts! We must feed Charlie up well now."
Brown puffed on, looking steadily in the fire.
"I suppose you will think me no end of a fool for what I have done," he went on at last. "But I have not been able to help associating Charlie's illness with my opening that grave and taking out that devilish old plate. I have had that same dream that Charlie had, and could plainly see the plate and the inscription on it about the Spirit of Evil. I believe if I had not done what I have done not one of us would have got back alive."
"What was that?" asked Morton.
"Took it back to the grave yesterday and filled the whole thing up, and now Charlie is going to get better. What's the verdict?"
"Well, I was going to call you a thundering old idiot, but in view of the circumstances I won't. It must have been a tribe of devil worshippers who originally squatted down here."
"That's a weight off my mind. I thought you would have cut up rusty, for there's no doubt of the value of that relic. But we have copies of all the inscriptions."
Charlie awoke conscious, and soon began to mend so quickly, that in a few days they were talking of going back to bring Lee-lee in.
Lee-lee brought to the Lake—Charlie's Recovery—Final Departure from the Lake.
The question of getting the infirm old gin across the desert was a somewhat puzzling one.
Charlie, who was fast gaining strength, proposed making Billy and some of the other blacks carry her by turns on a litter of boughs. Brown reminded him that Stuart had found it impossible to get the natives to go to the eastward, so he did not imagine that they would have any better success.
"We must tie her on to a horse, somehow," said Morton at last. And that was all the conclusion they could arrive at.
Charlie was not yet strong enough to stand a long ride, but he felt sufficiently restored to stay behind with only Billy for a companion. So Brown and Morton went back, Charlie having promised to start Billy to meet them with fresh horses on a day appointed.
Lee-lee was anxiously looking out for them, but seemed greatly astonished at seeing two white men. Brown's height, too, appeared to excite his admiration, as it did that of all the blacks they met.
Morton had brought some powder and shot, procured by opening some of their cartridges, as he thought that if he made the gun alive again Lee-lee would come without any difficulty.
"How strange," said Brown, "that these three white men should have lived so long separated from each other and yet within reach."
"I don't know that," replied Morton. "It's rather hard for a man on foot to get about in this country. Remember we have fresh horses, and know where the water is."
Morton inspected the gun.
"I suppose it won't burst," he remarked.
There was a rude ramrod in it, and with a piece of his handkerchief torn off he proceeded to wipe it out. Then he loaded it, Lee-lee watching with great excitement; the old gin, unconscious of their presence, squatting over the half dead fire.
A crow flew, cawing, overhead and settled on a neighbouring tree. Lee-lee pointed eagerly at the bird. Morton raised the gun and fired.
The crow fell down with an angry caw, and the old gin gave a wild scream and tumbled forward on to the fire.
Lee-lee limped after the bird, and the two white men hauled the gin off the fire, which fortunately was nearly out, and dusted the ashes off her.
"You couldn't possibly have hit her?" said Brown.
"Not unless this old blunderbuss shoots round corners. It's the sudden fright."
They put the old creature in the shade, and then the two friends started for a stroll round the lagoon.
When they returned Lee-lee pointed to the old gin as though highly amused at something. She had solved all the difficulties of transport across the desert. She was dead!
"That start I gave her firing off the gun did it," said Morton, sorrowfully; "but she could not have lived much longer."
They indicated to Lee-lee that they would help him bury the old gin; then they saddled up and rode to Hentig's camp, as Brown wanted to see the place, and Morton to recover the pieces of the old powder-flask, which he had neglected to secure on his first visit. With a tomahawk they re-cut the cross on the tree where the remains of Hentig rested.
They got back to Lee-lee's lagoon soon after dark, and devoted an hour or two to packing up all the curious collection of stuff that had so long been hoarded up.
Next morning they made a very early start, as, the half-caste being quite new to riding, they had to go slow. They camped in the desert that night, and about the middle of the next day met Billy coming along the tracks with fresh horses for them. He reported Charlie as being nearly well and everything being safe at the camp. Late in the afternoon, just after they caught sight of the lake, they heard an outcry behind. Looking around they saw Lee-lee limping back, and Billy, who was laughing loudly, pursuing him. It turned out that Lee-lee got a sudden fright at seeing the great sheet of water for the first time, and tumbled off his horse and tried to run back. He seemed reassured after a while, and went on quietly for the rest of the way. Charlie was up and looking nearly as well as ever, and had a fine meal of fish and ducks waiting for them. Lee-lee seemed surprised at the appearance of still a third white man, but took everything else, including his supper, as a matter of course.
Next morning they went over to the black's camp accompanied by Lee-lee. The young fellow who had been wounded was getting rapidly well, Morton or Brown having attended to him and dressed his wound every day. It was soon evident that there was little or no language in common between the two tribes, with the exception of a few words used nearly everywhere in the interior. They had lived and died year after year unconscious of each other's existence.
"We have accounted now for all of Leichhardt's party but one, and he, I think, must have died when the two were separated from the main party," said Morton.
"He could scarcely have got back to where they were attacked by the blacks in the scrub," replied Brown, "and if he had stuck to his companion they would have found the water together. No, he must have perished at the time."
"Now, how about Lee-lee?"
"I think we will stop here for a bit and let Charlie get quite strong and Lee-lee broken into riding a bit, then we will take him back to the station. What do you think?"
"I think it is a good idea; we go round by the way Stuart went and try and pick up his gold reef."
"Yes. We must find out whether one of these old men knows anything about the hole; they ought to."
"Let's go over and make inquiries this afternoon."
This they did, and found out that one of the old men knew of the hole, and had been there once when a young man. He made no objection to going with them, corroborating in this respect Stuart's journal.
They asked after Onkimyong, but, perhaps on account of their faulty pronunciation, did not at first make themselves understood. At last one of the old fellows recognized the name, and pronounced it after his own fashion. The natives immediately pointed to where the bodies lay in the old camp, and they understood that Stuart's faithful companion had met his fate at the hands of the fierce Warlattas, whom he had so often helped to defeat. Both the men had cherished the hope that he might be one of the survivors, as they would then have taken him with them to show them the exact road Stuart travelled in his vain attempt to get away.
From the old men they tried to obtain a description of Stuart's personal appearance, but beyond that he was tall like Brown and had a gray beard, they could not get much information.
They employed their spare time in rigging up a makeshift saddle for Lee-lee to ride on; meantime he took his riding-lessons on one of theirs, and got on famously. He was very proud of being allowed to fire off his gun two or three times a day, and once succeeded in hitting a bird. The time now drew near for their departure. They could do nothing for the natives, but as their enemies were dead, and they lived in a land of plenty, there was no reason why the tribe should not grow up again if they were allowed to remain long enough unmolested.
The natives remained apathetically watching the whites when they departed. Probably they thought that as they came back once, according to their belief, they would come back again.
The stage to the first water was not a long stage on horseback, so the old man kept up with them easily. He knew nothing beyond the lagoon, however, so he was of no further use to them, and they felt confident that they could follow up Stuart's track from his journal. Next morning they gave him a spare tomahawk they had with them and allowed him to depart. Brown, whom he still considered as "Tuartee", having to promise that he would return.
Lee-lee had got on very well with his first day's journey, and they anticipated having no trouble. He was quick and ready in the use of his hands, and, moreover, he and Billy were beginning to understand each other, so they hoped soon to get his history in full. As they had dry country ahead of them, scantily watered, they spelled a couple of days at the white lagoon as they christened it, on account of the milky appearance of the water.
The first day's journey was through the wearisome desert scrub described by Stuart. They calculated what a long day's march on foot would be, but when they had covered that distance there was no sign of the salt lake.
"These salt lakes have no tributaries running into them," said Brown; "they are just depressions, with the surrounding country sloping into the basin. We might be within a quarter of a mile of it and miss it."
"We must find this one at anyrate, if we have to go back and camp for a week at that lagoon," replied Morton.
"Well, it's still two or three hours off sundown, and we have plenty of water for to-night. Suppose you go north and I go south. Charlie and the boys stop here and keep a fire going with plenty of smoke, so that we can get the straight bearing to the camp if either of us drops on it."
"Agreed. North is your lucky cardinal point, so I will take the south."
They started in different directions, while Charlie and Billy took the packs off the horses, and tied them up to trees with their saddles still on, for there was no feed.
Morton went on south for nearly an hour without meeting with any change. He went east and west for short distances as he returned, but was unsuccessful in coming upon any clue to the situation of the salt lake.
Brown was equally unfortunate, until, just as he was on the point of turning back, the unmistakable smell of burning scrub-wood struck on his nostrils.
"It can't be from the camp," he thought; "what little wind there is comes from the north."
He pushed on, and in a few minutes came to an open area, and before him lay the salt lake.
There was a broad belt of mud surrounding a centre of clear water, on which a varied lot of wild fowl, including black swans and wild geese, were swimming. On the slope descending to the edge of the mud there was good short grass growing, and at no distance away he saw the up-piled earth indicating a native well. He rode over to it, and dismounting found a fair supply of water in it. It was slightly brackish, but would do well enough for their horses, being what is generally known as "good stock water".
He next looked all round the lake for the fire which he had smelt, and presently detected the smoke a short way off, stealing out of the edge of the scrub.
"Perhaps it's those six Warlattas," he thought, "and they might be saucy seeing me alone."
He unslung his rifle from his saddle, and advanced with the bridle of his horse on his arm.
Another Remnant—An Exodus—Search for the Gold Reef and its Discovery.
As he neared the spot he saw two or three dark figures spring up, as though they then first noticed him. Fearful that they would run away, he called to them and held up one hand. Presently an old man came to the edge of the scrub. He peered at Brown from under his hand, for the afternoon sun was in his eyes; then he burst into a shout of "Tuartee! Tuartee!" so like the blacks at the lake that Brown thought some of them must have followed him. This, of course, he knew to be almost impossible, and as they were evidently of a friendly disposition, he walked boldly up. There were only five blacks in all, the old man and four youths. The young fellows hung back, but the old man laughed and stroked Brown affectionately, murmuring "Tuartee" all the while. There was no doubt that this was another wretched remnant of the tribe formerly camped at the mountain, who had escaped alive from the murderous attacks of the Warlattas. Stuart would have lived affectionately in the remembrance of those who were old enough to remember him as their deliverer on two occasions from their enemies.
It was getting late, however, and Brown told them he would come back after the sun went down, and left them, and rode hastily to camp. It did not take long to replace the packs on the horses, and by dusk they were all at the lake. The horses drank the water freely, and were soon enjoying the young grass. The number of the blacks had been augmented by two gins, who had been digging roots on the other side of the lake when Brown first appeared.
"I've another brilliant idea," said Brown, when they had finished their meal.
"Let's have it," replied Morton.
"These poor beggars have evidently sought refuge in this howling wilderness from the Warlattas. As things go, I should not think it was a very choice place of residence—they look miserable enough."
"I know what you are going to propose," interrupted Morton. "Get them on to the lake and let them mate up with the others."
"Exactly. I think it feasible enough; we shall have to make this our headquarters while we hunt up that reef. We are not pressed for time nor rations, thanks to the game at the lake."
"And we sha'n't find that reef in a day, either," returned Morton. "We'll sleep on the idea."
Next morning Morton proposed an amendment. Before the blacks left (if they could induce them to do so), they should get the old man to guide them to the soakage spring where Stuart camped the night after he found the reef. This would probably be on the usual route travelled by the blacks, and would considerably contract the area of their search. While this was going on, Billy, who had learnt a little of the lake language, would explain to the natives the advantage of the change.
"We seem to be constituting ourselves a kind of special providence for this part of the world," said Morton, as he finished.
"We have plenty of time to go to the spring to-day, if we can make the old fellow understand what we want."
This they did after some trouble, but it was evident the native did not enjoy the idea of going in that direction. However, as the two whites started with him he finally consented. When about what they considered half-way, Morton and Brown parted, Brown going on with the blackfellow, and Morton intending to devote a few hours to searching around and then returning to the salt lake. He found no indications, however, to reward his trouble.
Brown turned up early the next day, the old fellow having travelled sturdily. He had found the spring well supplied with fresh water, but had vainly tried to get anything out of his guide of a heap of white stones anywhere in the neighbourhood of the track they followed. However, Brown thought by the formation of the country about the spring that they could trace the line back.
"How have you got on with these fellows with regard to an exodus. This old fellow knows all about the lake, but I don't think he has been there."
"Oh, Billy has turned out a splendid orator. He has been gesticulating to them, and fired their imaginations with his descriptions of thousands of wild ducks and millions of fish," said Charlie.
"Now, who is to go back and introduce them to their future companions?"
"I'm all right now," returned Charlie; "Billy and I will shepherd them across."
"It's a good road all the way, I think you will manage it," replied Morton. "How about Lee-lee?"
"We must take him with us when we go out reef-hunting. He might run away if left by himself here," said Brown.
"He is a pretty cute fellow and will help us, if we make him understand what we are looking for. Our camp and horses will be safe enough all day; for, one way and another, the district is getting pretty well depopulated."
The arrangements were so decided on, and the next morning, under convoy of Charlie and Billy, the survivors of the mountain tribe departed for the promised land flowing with birds and fish. After their custom the gins were loaded up with what little camp furniture they possessed, while the lordly male strode along with nothing but a boomerang and a small throwing-stick, without which no self-respecting blackfellow would be seen.
Charlie, however, equalized matters by putting what he could on one of the pack-horses, and giving the gins a chance.
Morton, Brown, and Lee-lee set out in the opposite direction. The first day they exhaustively searched for some distance on either side of the track taken by Brown and the old man, but reached half-way to the spring without finding out anything, and returned to the salt lake. Next day Brown proposed that they should go straight to the spring and work back. This they did, taking a pack-horse with rations, and leaving a note for Charlie in a conspicuous place, lest they should be detained and he should come back before they did.
The spring was at the foot of a small hillock strewn with granite boulders. They turned out the horses and started on foot to try and follow the line of country whereon rock was visible on the surface. They managed with great care to keep to it until it was time to return. Next morning they took their horses and rode out to where they had left off. In the middle of the day they turned out for a spell, having been encouraged by finding occasional belts of quartz and slate crossing the granite formation.
As they were smoking after their meal, Lee-lee, who was sauntering about, came back, and pointing on ahead, indicated that a heap of white stones was there. Both men got up, and in a few steps saw an outblow of quartz about a hundred yards away. Hastening to it, they were soon busy breaking stones and investigating.
They soon found that they had struck Stuart's reef, or an outcrop on the same line. The stone appeared to the finders fabulously rich, some of it being powdered throughout with gold.
"Well, I suppose there's a fortune or two there," said Brown when their inspection was over. "But it's in a deuce of an outlandish place."
"Wonder how far we are across the border into Western Australia?"
"A good way, I expect; but we will keep the reckoning very carefully as we go back."
"We have got all we want now; we will pick out the best of the specimens and take them with us."
"Yes; and go straight back to the salt lake and wait for Charlie."
Picking out the richest and smallest specimens, they packed them on the pack-horse and struck in for the salt lake on a compass line. This gave them the bearing from the salt pan, and was all they wanted to find the place again.
Charlie did not return for a couple more days, but as they had instructed him to take things easy, they did not feel anxious.
He had taken his convoy safely to the lake, and duly introduced the survivors of the two tribes. Billy and he waited a day to make sure that amicable relations were properly established and had then returned, everything being peaceful and satisfactory.
Another start was now made for the spring, Brown, Billy, and Lee-lee going straight there with the pack-horses, and Morton taking Charlie round by the reef to show him the rich find.
From the top of the hillock at the back of the spring the country looked scrubby, waste, and desolate; but the outlook was not extensive, and they could see nothing of the mountain they were making for. It behoved them, then, to be very careful, for the country ahead was evidently very dry, and the direction to the creek with the brackish water in it, of the vaguest.
They had a good many things at stake, the safety of Stuart's journal containing the solution of the Leichhardt mystery, and the knowledge of the gold reef. They did not, then, wish to meet with any disaster on their homeward way.
"This is not an exciting sort of road," said Brown, as they turned from fruitlessly scanning the ocean of dull gray tree-tops, "but I think it is a little superior to that abominable desert."
"Yes, we'll patronize this track if ever we come back here; and I suppose we shall come some day to sink on that reef, and see if it goes down."
"If that is the only big show, the gold will be pretty dear before we get it home; but if there is plenty more about, you will soon see a road out here and a township too."
"Go on. A railway, and those gas-lamps and bridges you reported seeing in the scrub."
"Why not? Both you and I have seen those things spring up like magic in Australia, before now."
"Well, I hope our luck will stick to us to-morrow and see us on to that creek."
The Dry Creek—Brown has a Solitary Camp—A Mysterious Light
"It is unfortunate," said Morton the next morning when they were preparing to start, "that Stuart did not give a description of the creek, or of the water where they camped the next night."
"Yes, it's rather a game of blindman's-buff, for they may have gone north or south of the direct line."
"How far do you make it to the mountain direct?" asked Brown.
A rough chart, compiled every night by dead reckoning, had been kept since they started, and Morton had been working it up the night before.
"Over one hundred miles; and if it is scrub all the way, with sand underfoot, equal to one hundred and fifty."
"No good, then, our striking straight for the mountain and trusting to chance for finding water on the way?"
"Too risky altogether. We must find this brackish creek somehow."
"We can't get back the way we came to the lake, for the last water we camped at must be bone dry by this time."
"How about going round by Hentig's grave if we are beaten back utterly?"
"Yes, as a last resource, we might try that. Lee-lee could not help us, for I don't think he ever stirred far from that lagoon where you found him."
"Let us trust to our lucky star and get on anyhow," returned Morton as he swung himself into his saddle, and they were soon filing slowly through the scrub.
The scrub consisted of mulga and a dense undergrowth of lance wood, so that the progress made was very slow. Moreover, it was a difficult thing to keep a straight course amongst so many obstacles. With the exception that the scrub was sometimes denser than usual they experienced no change, until about two o'clock, when they emerged into a small open space, and Charlie exclaimed that they had come to a graveyard.
The clearing they had entered was a white clay flat, sparsely grown over with spinifex, and covered with ant-hills about three feet in height, bearing a startling resemblance to the headstones of graves.
The party halted, partly to discuss their movements, and partly to have something to eat. Morton, who finished first, mounted his horse and rode in a southerly direction, telling the others he would be back directly.
"The scrub is thinner to the south-east," he said when he came back, "and beyond I can see another flat like this. I vote we shift our course for a few miles. This change of country may mean that the creek is somewhere about here."
Brown agreed to this, and Morton went ahead.
Passing through a belt of scrub they came to another flat like the one they had left, but somewhat larger. From this they passed through thinner belts of scrub until the flat became continuous, still, however, covered with the ant-hills.
Presently Morton pointed ahead, and a line of creek gums of no great height was now visible. The creek was bordered by a sandy flat with some coarse grass on it. The water-course was shallow, crossed here and there by bars of sandstone rock; but it was as dry as though water had never been in it for years. It ran easterly.
"This is a lively look-out," said Morton. "Shall we follow this creek down, or camp here and one go up and one go down the creek?"
"If we find nothing wet we must retreat to the spring to-morrow morning."
"We must; but if we all go on down the creek and find nothing wet, as you express it, we shall be too far to retreat."
"Does not this creek come from much the same direction we came from?" asked Charlie.
"If it keeps the same course as it runs here, it does," replied Morton.
"We are just as likely to find water up as down," went on Charlie; "but if we follow it up we shall be getting nearer to the spring instead of away from it, and if we don't find water can easily cut across to it."
"And have much better travelling-ground along this flat," said Brown. "Charlie, my boy, we shall make a first-class bushmen of you before we get home. A1, copper-fastened at Lloyds."
Charlie's suggestion was unanimously accepted, and the party turned up the creek, making for the westward again. Morton elected to follow the bed of the creek, whilst the others kept as straight a course as they could along the flat.
The creek still continued dry, and no birds of any kind were visible—a bad sign. Like most creeks running through the level interior it gave indications every now and then of running out altogether. At last, however, it grew narrower and deeper, and Morton saw a group of gum-trees ahead, somewhat taller than those lining the banks. There was a small bar of rocks across the channel, and when he rode over this he saw a pool of water before him fringed with green reeds. The water looked strangely clear as he rode down to it; his horse put his head down to drink, but lifted it at once with a dissatisfied snort.
"I guess what's up," thought Morton, dismounting. He stooped and lifted some water to his lips with his scooped hand.
"Bah!" It was salter than brine.
Remounting, he rode up the bank and called to the others, who were visible slightly ahead. They waited when they saw him riding towards them.
"I think we had better ride straight for the spring," he said; "there's water down there, but it's salter than the Pacific Ocean."
"We have good travelling along here," replied Brown. "I think we ought to keep on here as far as we can and then strike off for the spring. It doesn't much matter about water now, for the spring can't be many miles off."
"You follow the creek, then, for a bit; you seem luckier than I am. It does not much matter about the water, as you say, but I should like to know whether there was any fresh water in it as well as salt."
Brown went off to the creek and they once more started, until Morton calculated that a short three miles through the scrub which was running parallel to them would bring them to the spring. He shouted to Brown and fired his revolver, and when Brown joined them they turned off and reached the spring at dusk.
"Back for the first time," said Morton, as they unpacked at their old camp. "I wonder how many times we shall have to return here."
"Lucky we have such a good camp to stand by us," answered Brown. "We can always get from here to the lake."
The next thing to consider was their movements for the morrow. Morton suggested that perhaps the clay formation altered the conditions of the creek, and below, the water, if not fresh, was at least only brackish.
"I doubt it," said Brown; "these clay formations generally carry salt."
"One of us had better take Billy and a couple of horses packed with water. Let Billy go about twenty miles, then, whoever goes on, give his horse a couple of bags of water and hang the others up on the branch of a tree against his return."
"That's the only safe way," replied Brown. "Who is to go, you or I?"
"You're the lucky one."
"No. You found Lee-lee; let's toss up."
"That's all right, but where's the coin?"
"Rather good," laughed Brown. "Men with a rich reef in their possession and can't raise a copper to toss with."
"We must shake in the hat," replied Morton.
He tore up a leaf of his note-book, made a mark on one scrap, doubled them up and shook them together in his hat.
Brown drew the marked paper, and chose to go.
"Don't run away with my share of the reef while I am away," he said as he got on his horse early the next morning, and, followed by Billy driving the two horses, was soon lost to sight in the scrub.
"We may as well go out and amuse ourselves at the reef," said Morton; "we can do nothing until he comes back."
They saddled up, and spent the best part of the day in knocking stones out and breaking them, returning in the evening with a few extra rich specimens to add to those they already had.
"If we show these specimens when we get home, won't somebody suspect, and follow our tracks back?" said Charlie.
"If we are fools enough to show them," replied his cousin; "but we'll take all sorts of good care that we don't, until we are ready to come out ourselves, and have pretty well located the place. If Brown does not turn up before morning, we will go out again to-morrow and see if we can trace the reef any further."
Billy turned up with the two horses just at dusk. He had accompanied Brown some miles beyond where they turned back, but there had been no change in the creek as far as he went.
Brown, meanwhile, kept on down the creek after parting with the blackboy. It continued enlarging, and contracting again, in the eccentric manner of an inland water-course, but there was no sign of water, fresh or salt.
The silence, lifelessness, and the gloomy neighbourhood of the scrub on one side of him naturally affected his spirits, and when night fell the sense of loneliness was increased. As it was useless going on in the dark, he determined to give his horse a few hours' rest and then go back.
"The moon rises at twelve o'clock," he thought; "if I start then, I shall get back to the water-bags by daylight."
He short-hobbled his horse, sat down at the foot of a tree with his saddle at his back, and lit his pipe. The great stillness of the desert surrounded and oppressed him with the intensity of its silence. Not a leaf rustled, not a night bird could be heard; the jingle of his horse's hobble-chain, and his munching as he cropped the grass, was a welcome sound in that dreary waste. No one knows what a companion a horse is until he has passed a few solitary nights in the uninhabited bush of the interior. Gradually Brown felt sleep stealing over him.
"I can afford to doze," he thought. "I'm pretty uncomfortable, so I sha'n't sleep long."
His head fell back on his saddle, and he was soon fast asleep. He awoke suddenly, feeling stiff and unrefreshed. Springing to his feet, he listened for the sound of his horse; but everything was still.
"What a fool I was to go to sleep!" he thought. "I expect my old prad has made back up the creek, and I shall have to stump it to the camp. Wonder what the time is."
He took his watch out of his pouch, and, the starlight not being strong enough, struck a match. Instantly he was agreeably startled by a loud snort of surprise close to him, and his horse, who had been lying down asleep, got on his legs and shook himself. Brown felt so relieved that he went over and patted and stroked him.
"I thought you had left me in the lurch, old fellow," he said, as he slipped the bridle over his head, for it was nearly midnight, and he thought he might as well make a start. As he stood up after stooping to take the hobbles off, his attention was attracted by a brightness in the eastern sky. "Moon rising," he thought, and led his horse to the tree where his saddle was.
He saddled his horse and was about to mount, when he noticed that the sky was no brighter, and the glow was reddish in colour.
"Moon's rather long-winded," he muttered, and stood there watching for its appearance; but it obstinately refused to appear.
Fire to the East—Brown returns to the Spring—More Dry Creeks Discovered.
Brown stood patiently waiting for some minutes, and then the truth struck him. It was not the moon rising; it was a bush fire, a long distance away.
"Deuced queer," he thought, as he took out his compass, struck a match, and took the bearing of the glow. "It's too far for me to do anything, even if I felt so inclined, which I don't. Hullo! what's this?"
A bright light suddenly gleamed through the trees a little to the south of the other. This, however, was the moon in reality, and Brown turned his willing horse's head towards home, marvelling much at what he had seen.
"Fires travel any distance in this unoccupied country," he thought, "and that one may have come a hundred miles or more."
He reached the water-bags at sunrise, and gave his horse their contents, then, having strapped them on to his saddle, rode on and arrived at the camp at the spring about noon.
Morton could only account for the fire in the same way that Brown did; that it must have travelled a long distance, and that its presence did not denote the existence of water. On his part Morton was able to inform him that they had found another outcrop of the reef that morning, nearly a quarter of a mile to the south, and it appeared as rich as the one they had discovered first.
The waste ahead, however, still sternly confronted them.
"I wonder whether there is another creek further south that this one runs into," said Morton; "or there may be one it joins to the north."
"Very likely; this creek that has been humbugging us does not look to me like a main one, It nearly lost itself several times yesterday, and when I camped it looked very sick."
"We can easily settle the question in a day; to-morrow one go north and one south, as before."
"May I go this time?" said Charlie.
"You go north, and I'll go and crack stones at the new reef," returned Brown.
So it was settled, and they spent a lazy afternoon.
In the morning the two started in opposite directions, and Brown went off to inspect the new find.
Charlie, having been strictly cautioned to trust to his compass only, went due north, and for ten or twelve miles was surrounded by scrub. Then he emerged in a strip of open country, and to his great joy saw creek timber ahead. This water-course was quite different to the one they had been on—it was more like a chain of shallow lagoons, but all were dry and parched. Charlie followed it for some distance, but there was no sign of moisture, and, elated at having something to report, he made his way back to the spring. Strange to say, when Morton came in he too had found a similar creek to the south, but also waterless. Brown worked out the courses on a bit of paper.
"It strikes me," he said, "that these two creeks, if they run on as they were running where you struck them, must junction in with the creek I was on, not many miles below where I camped."
"Supposing we split up," said Morton. "Say you and Charlie, with half the spare horses, follow down the creek he found, and I and the boys will follow down the one I found, with the rest of the horses. We shall meet at the junction, if your theory is correct. The party who gets there first to wait for the others."
"But supposing there is no water in either of the creeks?"
"We can get back here."
"If your creek junctions in above ours, orvice versa, how is the party who arrives at the lower junction to know that the other party is waiting at the upper one?"
"Hum!" said Morton; "that rather capsizes the notion. But I think we can fix it by running the creek up and down a bit."
"Well, I'm willing," returned Brown. "I don't think we are such duffers as to miss each other if we get anywhere within a few miles."
In the morning the plan mooted was carried out, and they left the spring, as they hoped, for good that journey. The creek Brown and Charlie followed proved to be very serpentine in its course. When they stopped for a mid-day spell Brown worked out the dead reckoning, and came to the conclusion that although they had come over fifteen miles in distance, they had not made more than ten in a direct course. Still the creek, on an average, was bearing in towards the other one, and they reckoned they must strike it late in the afternoon.
As they went on the flat grew wider and the empty water-holes further apart, but everything bore the look of a prolonged drought. At four o'clock they sighted the other creek ahead, but there were no signs of the others.
"Wonder how your cousin got on?" Brown said to Charlie. "Hurrah! there he is!" he returned, as a horseman came into sight riding down the bank of the old creek.
Morton pulled up when he caught sight of them, and waited.
"Any water?" he asked when they came up.
"Not a drop. I don't think there has been any in it since the time of Noah's flood. How did you get on?"
"There was no water in the creek we followed, but there is a decent hole where it junctions with this one, about two miles up from here."
"Salt?"
"No, quite drinkable—a slight sweet taste about it."
"I expect there's more water in it than when Stuart was here: these holes get salter as they dry up. Do you think it is the hole he was at?"
"I think it must be," returned Morton, as they turned and rode up the creek. "We ought to be able to get through to the mountain now, even if we don't come across that clay-pan."
"That's good news, at any rate. Did you see anything of that fire?"
"There appears to be a heavy bank of smoke to the eastward, but we must try and find a tree this evening to have a look-out from."
The camp was a fairly good one, although the grass was somewhat dry. After some searching Brown and Morton found a gum-tree which they could climb, but it was not of a sufficient height to afford them a good view of the surrounding country. They made out, however, that an extensive bush fire was raging to the eastward, and when it fell dark the glow was plainly visible. Brown said it was not as bright as when he saw it, as though the fire was now working away from them.
The following day they started on a straight course for the mountain on the creek, and rode the whole day through a barren region of scrub. That night the horses had to be tied up to trees, for there was neither grass nor water for them. However, they felt sure of arriving at the creek the next day.
"We ought to be getting to that big plain pretty soon," said Morton in the morning, as they were making an early start. "That is, if our reckoning is anyway near the mark."
They had scarcely been travelling an hour, when they suddenly rode from the scrub on to the plain, and before them in the distance, with a black haze of smoke as a background, was the mountain they were making for. The fire was seemingly beyond the mountain, as the plain, although covered with dry grass which would have burnt freely enough, had not been burnt.
Once out of the scrub they travelled more rapidly, and in the afternoon once more camped at the base of the mountain. All the eastern side of the creek was burnt bare, and when they ascended the hill they could see that the fire had ravaged most of the spinifex scrub and burnt up the country to the north. The outlook was even drearier than before, for the heat and flames had scorched the leaves of the low trees, and nothing but an expanse of dead foliage was beneath them.
Fortunately there was good feed for their horses on the bank of the creek and the islands in its bed, and as the last two days had been rather severe on them, they decided to rest for a few days and inspect the surrounding country, although it held out little inducement. However, they preferred stopping at where they were to going back to their old camp at the lagoons, where probably all the grass was burnt. The first thing to do was to jot down the whole of their course since leaving the lagoons and correct it, which they were now able to do, as they had arrived back at a known point. They found that the dead reckoning had been very well kept, and that their work closed in a satisfactory manner.
An excursion down the creek on the following day convinced them that it ran out and was hopelessly lost in the sandy scrub that stretched south and east. Next morning Morton was up early at break of day, and climbing up the hill to reach the summit before sunrise, which is the best time to see long distances. To the east the fire was still burning in the distance, but was evidently now in a dying state. Morton had his glasses with him, and commenced to carefully scan the country. At last his attention became fixed on one particular spot to the south. He took a compass-bearing and descended the hill. The others were up, and about to commence breakfast.
"I've spotted that rock hill," said Morton.
"What! The one Stuart says the old blackfellow told him about?"
"I think so. You can't pick it out with the naked eye, but with the glasses I can make it out quite distinctly. A brown naked cone rising out of the scrub."
"How far away is it?"
"Not more than fifteen miles, I should say. I wonder that none of the niggers were able to take Stuart to it."
"Do you intend going?"
"We may as well. I should like to know all about the place before we go home."
"Well, I'm with you, old man."
Next morning they started on Morton's compass-bearing. The distance was about what he judged, and they made a very fair course.
The rock, surrounded by a small area of open country, rose in a round-topped peak to an altitude of about one hundred and fifty feet. The granite sides were smooth and naked, and the two white men, after hanging their horses to a small cork-tree, climbed to the summit. Brown, who had been in Western Australia before, had seen these granite formations peculiar to that colony, but to Morton they were a new phenomenon. From the top they had a good clear view all round. Scrub, east and south, still stretched before them. Presently they both at the same time noticed a clear space west of south, in which there was a sparkle like a reflection from the sun. Morton turned the glasses on it.
"Salt lake," he said, after a pause.
Brown took the glasses and looked.
"Yes, another salt lake, there's no doubt. We'll take the bearings and apparent distance; it's just as well to have all these things down."
"Not worth while going over to it," said Morton.
They descended the hill and rode round it to see if there were any of the holes on the base of the mound, such as are often found. In this case there were two or three, but all small and dry.
"I don't see any good in going into that scrub to the east," said Morton as they rode home; "we'll make a start the day after to-morrow."
Brown agreed with him, and they reached camp in good time.
The Attack by the Surviving Warlattas—Death of Lee-lee—The Last of the Cannibals.
Next morning was a lazy one. About eleven o'clock Morton, who was talking to Brown under the shade of a tree, proposed that they should kill a few hours by a ride up the creek, and called to Billy to bring up a couple of horses. Charlie, who was in the tent, sung out in reply that he had gone hunting with Lee-lee, as their clothes were lying on the ground,—for a blackfellow always likes to strip whenever he gets a chance.
"I will go and get the horses, they are just down the creek," said Charlie, when he heard what his cousin wanted.
He picked up two bridles and went off down the creek.
Brown and Morton put their saddles down in readiness.
The horses were not far, and Charlie soon came back leading two. He had almost reached the camp when a shrill yell of terror made them all start.
Out from the forest came Billy, racing and shouting, and behind him limped Lee-lee. There was no need to ask what it meant; behind them, in close pursuit, came other dark forms with up-raised spears.
"Those Warlattas!" yelled Brown, as he and Morton sprang for their rifles. Charlie was transfixed with surprise. Two of the cannibals, with their spears up, were now close to the fugitives, the others pressing on so eagerly that they did not see the white men. It all seemed to Charlie to pass like a flash. The spears flew, and the rifles cracked so closely one after the other that it sounded almost like one report. Down went Billy and Lee-lee, and the two Warlattas behind them pitched forward headlong on the ground. Startled by the firearms the others halted, turned and fled. But the breech-loaders spoke once more, and one Warlatta fell with a broken leg, and the other dropped in a heap and lay quiet, with a conical bullet between his shoulders.
"Quick! not one must get away," said Morton, and he and Brown snatched the bridles from Charlie's hand, and jumping on bare-backed, galloped like avenging furies after the two retreating survivors. "Look after Billy!" yelled Morton to Charlie, as he urged his excited horse along.
The blacks fled into the forest, but the cover came too late for them, with two of the best riders in central Australia thirsting for their blood. Charlie, as he went down to Billy, saw his cousin race up to one man and they disappeared between the trees, but the report of a revolver immediately after told its tale. Next minute came two more pistol-shots from the direction Brown had gone.
Billy had sat up by the time Charlie reached him; he had been speared in the leg, but poor Lee-lee was dead. The spear of the Warlatta had pierced his heart.
Morton's and Brown's voices were now heard coming back. They pulled up at the wounded savage, and Morton slipped from his horse. Charlie turned his head away, for he guessed what was going to happen. No quarter for the cannibals. He heard the revolver ring out, and knew that Lee-lee was avenged.
His cousin came up, leading his horse and putting his revolver back in his pouch. Both men were flushed, and their eyes still blazed with the fierce light of conflict.
"Poor Lee-lee!" said Brown, as they stood beside his body. "We seem to have been his evil genius."
"We've been the evil genius of the Warlattas, thank goodness," said Morton grimly. "They're all wiped out now, however."
The tragedy affected them all strongly. The unfortunate half-caste meeting his death in such an unexpected manner, when all seemed safe and at peace, was sad.
Billy, however, demanded their attention. Fortunately the spear was not a barbed one, and had only gone into the fleshy part of his thigh. It was soon extracted, the wound bound up, and he was made as comfortable as possible.
Billy explained that he and Lee-lee were on their way home when they saw the Warlattas, who had evidently been stalking them for some time. Had Billy been armed with firearms he might have frightened them away; but as he had nothing but a tomahawk, he thought discretion the better part of valour and ran for it, forgetting in his excitement that Lee-lee was lame and could not keep up with him.
They buried the last poor relic of Leichhardt's doomed party at the foot of the mountain, but the bodies of the Warlattas were left to the crows and hawks.
"Perhaps it is all for the best, sad as it seems," said Morton. "Those six devils could not keep their lust for murder under, and but for this row we might not have run across them. Then they would have gone to the lake again and finished their villainous work."