"I wonder where they got their weapons from."
"There must have been some left in the bottle tree camp in the basalt. We did not look about much, if you remember."
"Well, that's the end of it all, I suppose."
"Unless somebody comes across Lee-lee's brothers or sisters amongst the tribe to the north."
The party perforce had now to remain where they were until Billy was able to ride again, and a dull time it was. A trip to the hot swamp showed them that, during their absence at the lake, the water had subsided and the swamp become so dry that the fire had ravaged it, burning the ragged, inflammable bark of the trees, and licking up the reeds surrounding the lakelet, which was now but a surface of cracked mud.
"There is one question that always worries me," said Brown, as they came to the spot where the Warlatta track led into the basalt rocks. "Do you think that Murphy was compelled to join in their cannibal feasts?"
"I have thought of it too," replied Morton, "and have come to the conclusion that he was not. At least, while he retained his reason. When we saw him, you know, he was nearly blind, and his mental faculties almost gone. My reason for this is the anchor we found cut on the tree at the lagoons; I daresay there were more, and there were numberless marks of the others. There was an ample game supply up and down that creek, and I believe he spent most of his time there hunting, until he became too infirm to leave the cave."
"I am glad you think that, as I am of the same belief. I think any white man, no matter how slow his intellect, would prefer death."
"Still, cases have been known where men have been maddened by starvation in an open boat at sea; but in this case he would not have been desperate with hunger. No, I think, and am glad to think, that he had no part in their evil doings or rites until he was irresponsible for his actions."
"They would not have allowed him to go with them on their raids for fear of his escaping. Evidently they regarded him as a sort of fetish."
They dismounted and hung their horses to a tree, and went a short distance amongst the rocks. As they advanced all signs of a track disappeared, for the place became one jumbled mass of huge boulders piled on top of one another, rough as a rasp underfoot, and baking hot from the vertical sun. What with the natural heat of the day and the radiation from the rocks, they were soon glad to turn back to where they had left their horses.
"No wonder poor Stuart, barefooted and alone, could not make his way any distance," remarked Morton.
"I wonder what would have happened had he met the Warlattas?"
"He had established a good funk amongst them, and so he might have routed them. But if they had killed him, I swear a good many would have lost the number of their mess first."
"It always makes me feel sad when I think of such a man being forced by fate to spend his life amongst savages."
Billy's wound, like the flesh of most blackfellows, was rapidly healing, but he was not yet able to ride. The shadow cast on their spirits by the murder of poor Lee-lee, rendered them all anxious to be on the move and leave the ill-omened camp behind them. The weather had been continuously fine ever since they left. That night, however, a black thunder-storm gathered up, and towards evening the heavens were overcast and the sky was one constant blaze of lightning, and a continuous mutter of thunder sounded from all points. Every preparation had been made, and they watched with interest the mustering of the storm spirits.
"I believe it's going to be one of those dry dust-storms after all," said Brown.
To the east every blaze of light now showed a low black cloud approaching.
"It's the wind coming," said Morton, "bringing all the ashes from the burnt country; we shall be smothered with dust and charcoal."
Even as he spoke there came a blinding glare of white light, accompanied by a crash of thunder that seemed to shake the hill to its foundation. A rush of cold wind, bearing dust and ashes on its wings, swept the camp and nearly carried away the tent. Then the rain fell in one heavy downpour. For nearly an hour the deluge kept up, the continuous flashes making it as bright as day, the constant roar and rattle of the thunder never ceasing. Then the tumult died away in the west, the stars peeped out, and the tropical storm was over. Next morning the sky was clear and the air fresh and pleasant.
"I'm hanged if I can stop in camp any longer," said Morton. "Billy, if you don't get that 'mundoee' of yours well soon, we'll go away and leave you here."
Billy looked rather askance at the threat, until he realized that Morton was joking.
Brown, who had been surgeon, said: "I think we can rig up a sling or cradle for his leg soon, so that he will be able to travel short stages."
"I'm glad to hear it. That thunder-storm must have put water into the rock-holes at the granite rock. What do you say to a ride there and then on to the salt lake we saw at a distance?"
"Right; it will kill time. But we'll start to-morrow; let the ground dry up a bit. We'll experimentalize on a cradle for Billy's leg to-day."
Visit to the Southern Salt Lake—The Future of the Interior—A False Alarm—Departure.
The cradle promised to be a success; so the next morning, taking some rations in case they had to camp out, Brown and Morton left for the rock. The ground was still somewhat soft, but not enough to impede their travelling, and they reached the granite rock early. As they had the bearing of the salt lake they did not climb the rock again, but rode round the base to see if the holes were full. They were all brim-full, the sloping rock above acting like the roof of a house in catching and shedding the rainfall. They then struck out for the salt lake, which they reached about one o'clock, passing through sandy country all the way. The lake was much larger than the one they had camped at to the north, but the surrounding country was barren and grassless. Few signs of the former presence of the natives were visible, and no indication of a well having been dug. Evidently the soil was so impregnated with salt that not even brackish water could be obtained.
"What a real desert!" said Brown, gazing round on the dreary scene.
"Yes, it's about as hopeless a looking picture as one could find anywhere, at present. And yet, if the artesian water is found to extend throughout the interior, it will change the whole face of the Australian earth in time. This spinifex would not grow here, but that the climate is so arid that nothing else will grow, and this beastly stuff can thrive without any rain at all. No, burn this scrub off, or clear it somehow, and, with a good supply of artesian water, there are a hundred and one payable products one could grow here."
"You're an optimist, and an enthusiast at that."
"I am as regards the future of Australia. I believe the end of the coming century will see it settled from east to west throughout."
"If one could fill up all the dry creeks and lagoons we have passed with your artesian water, we might modify the severity of the climate."
"Yes. Now, let's have a ride round this inland sea in miniature."
"It smells like the sea, at anyrate; I bet that water in there is concentrated brine. How about all this saline country?"
"It has been proved successfully that the date-palm will thrive on the shores of these salt lakes, so they need not be quite barren."
Nothing of any interest was to be seen, and they retraced their steps to the granite rock, where they watered their horses. As there were still a couple of hours of daylight, they started back for their camp.
"Fancy if we had left the camp like this, forgetting all about those six Warlattas hanging about. What a massacre they would have had!" said Brown, as they rode on.
"Yes, it makes me shudder to think of our carelessness; for we ought to have remembered there was danger to be expected from them."
When it fell dark they found themselves still some three miles from home, and the darkness somewhat retarded them in the scrub. Suddenly, when nearing the mountain, a rifle-shot was heard ahead, followed soon after by a different report, like that of a shot-gun.
"Good God! what can be up?" exclaimed Morton.
Both men fired their revolvers as a signal that they were near, and pushed on as hastily as they could. As soon as the open country was reached they galloped straight for the camp. Everything appeared peaceful enough, and Charlie seemed surprised at their hasty approach.
"What were you firing at?" asked Morton, rather crossly, for no man likes to be flurried by a false alarm.
"Well, I don't know exactly," replied Charlie. "I had given you up for to-night, and was sitting out here with Billy, when he called out that there was something moving on the rocks over there. I looked, and could indistinctly make out some dark figure moving about, so I challenged; getting no answer, I fired my rifle in the air. Whatever it was they started away, but in a few minutes came back again, so I fired the shot-gun at them and they departed. Billy called out they were 'Jinkarras!' and covered his head with the blanket, and I expect he has it there now."
"What were they like?" asked Brown.
"It was too dark to see, but they were certainly not natives, unless we have run across a race of dwarfs."
Billy, on being induced to take his head from underneath the blanket, asserted stoutly that they were Jinkarras they had seen; that he ought to know, as when he was a child he had been carried off by one in the night.
"How did you get back, Billy?" asked Morton.
Billy commenced a long rambling yarn about waking up to find himself being carried along by a short, hairy man with red eyes; but his tale ended somewhat lamely, for his next remembrance was of finding himself in the familiar family camp, with his mother administering severe slaps with the small end of a nulla-nulla. Still he persisted in his statement that there were Jinkarras, and that they lived underground.
"I shouldn't wonder," suddenly exclaimed Brown, "if this legend of the Jinkarras, which is common all over the central portion of Australia, was not a surviving tradition, much distorted, of our dear old friends the devil worshippers."
"Not at all unlikely. We will run this particular brand of Jinkarra to earth in the morning," answered Morton.
Charlie was out before breakfast to inspect the ground where he had seen the figures in the night; but beyond a few good-sized boulders, which he was certain he had not fired at, he failed to discover any marks of a nocturnal visit.
Morton went out after breakfast, and immediately saw what had caused the alarm. He called Charlie over and pointed the tracks out to him.
"This is a regular pad for the rock-wallabies," he said. "Only it has been covered up by the burnt ashes of the grass. They were coming in last night to feed on the young grass on the bank of the creek, just springing after the rain. I suppose some of them hopped on to these boulders."
This explanation failed to satisfy Billy, who was still convinced that the Jinkarras were about, and was now anxious to get away.
They devoted themselves to finishing the sling for his leg, and made him take a short ride two or three times, to get accustomed to it and find out if it hurt him.
It was with feelings of great thankfulness that they at last got ready to make a final start and leave the place which had grown so wearisome to them. For the sake of making it easy for Billy, they intended to take two days on the journey to the lagoons, so they camped the first night on the creek above what had been the hot swamp.
The next night they reached the familiar camp at the lagoons, and now felt that they were finally on the homeward track. They had made a rude pair of crutches for the black boy, and he was now able to limp about on, what he called, his "waddy-mundoees".
As a matter of satisfaction they spelled a day, for although the grass had all been burnt by the fire, there was still good feed on the banks of the lagoons. This day was devoted to thoroughly examining the trees up and down the creek, and they were able to partly confirm their conjectures about Murphy, by finding the anchor marked on several more trees.
The thunder-storm had filled the small hole they stopped at when they first sighted the plain and the great limestone rock, so they made a short stage there to give Billy every chance. From what they remembered of the nature of the country, there was not likely to be any water retained along the scrub track.
They were all on the look-out during the next morning for the spot where they first encountered the Warlattas. When they reached it they found that the corpse was gone, the six men despatched having seemingly done their duty and taken it on to the burying-place.
"I suppose," said Brown, "that it was only men of importance amongst them that they took the trouble to carry all this way. What did they do with the others?"
"I forgot all about it," exclaimed Charlie.
They both looked at him in surprise.
"When I was down that hole, the first one, not the tunnel affair, I saw some bones and skulls amongst the boulders. I think it was that which frightened Billy so. I could only see a few, but there might have been thousands, for everything was smothered with mud and our candles did not give much light."
"At that rate, the rank and file were thrown into the boiling spring when they pegged out," said Morton.
"Seemingly so," answered his friend. "But we must push on, we have a good step ahead of us."
The horses went merrily along the cleared track, and as Billy showed no signs of fatigue they made capital progress. As they anticipated, the cleared track led them straight on to the open patch of downs country where the cemetery was. A great surprise awaited them. The fire had swept up from the south, and the whole country was black. More than that, the fierce flames had attacked the dry boughs forming the scaffolds whereon the dead bodies had been bestowed, and now, all that was to be seen were half-charred bones lying here and there.
"It seems that Fate meant to destroy all traces of the Warlattas in one act," said Morton, as they sat on their horses and gazed at all that was left of the cemetery of the cannibals.
"How was it this never happened before?" remarked Brown.
"I don't understand. They must have kept it burnt down short every year, and neglected it for some reason. However, I'm not sorry, for if this country extends any distance south I shall take it up."
"Well, let's get to camp before it's dark. There will be enough grass unburnt about the waterhole for our horses to-night."
This proved to be the case, and the cheery camp-fire was soon blazing brightly and everybody chatting in good spirits.
"If you think seriously of taking up this bit of country, we might as well explore it to-morrow now we are here. The horses will be better for the rest, for remember, as far as we know, there is not a drop of water between here and the station—a good hundred miles," said Brown.
"That thunder-storm has been along here by the look of it. It should have put some water in some of those clay-pans we passed."
"Thunder-storms are mighty uncertain things to trust to. They generally fall, as a rule, just where they are no good to any one. We must travel, when we start, as though it was dry the whole way, although I think with you that we shall find water."
"As it now stands," said Morton, drawing his blanket over his shoulders, "the only real evidence we have to show that the Warlattas ever existed, is this cleared road in the scrub."
"And the wound in Billy's leg," murmured Charlie, drowsily.
Home Again.
The trip next morning was a promising one. The creek kept a continued and well-watered course for about fifteen miles, running through well-grassed downs country all the way. The place was burnt black with the fire, but that did not hide the value of the country. Gradually the scrub, which they had lost sight of for some time, closed in on both sides, and it was evident that the creek would soon run out, once it entered the scrub. They were back in camp in time to take a short ride up the creek, and ascertain that there was nothing worth troubling about in that direction. Brown fossicked out the remains of the brandy when they had finished their meal.
"Now, then," he said, when they had all put some in their pannikins, "we must christen the new run. What's it to be? You speak first, Charlie."
"Warlatta Downs."
"Good!" said Morton; "we can't better that. Here's good luck to Warlatta Downs."
"Now for the gold reef," said Brown.
There was silence whilst each thought of a suitable name.
"Suppose we call it after Stuart, who was really the first finder of it."
"The Stuart Reef, then, and here's to his memory."
They drank the toast in silence.
"That reminds me," remarked Brown, "that portion of the diary relating the finding of the gold reef must be carefully eliminated from the original journal and our copies."
"We'll set about it now, to make sure. We can restore it at any time when needful; meantime we don't want anybody to jump our claim."
They soon had the work finished, and the part taken out was carefully put away.
"One more night and home," said Charlie delightedly the next morning as they mounted. "I never thought so much of the old station before."
The belt of scrub had still to be passed which had proved such a terror on their outward way. Sorely did they miss the well-cleared track of the Warlattas. Luckily the thunderstorm had extended most of the way, and they reached home by easy stages.
"We have not lost a single horse in spite of all the dry and desert country we have negotiated," said Morton, as they rode over the familiar ground some miles away from the station.
"No; that's something to boast of. Those long spells we had at different places were the salvation of our nags," replied Brown.
Their return that night caused great excitement on the station. The men had been getting impatient and anxious, and were thinking of starting on their tracks to see if they had come to grief.
Every Australian bushman knows the story of Leichhardt, and when the men heard that the mystery of his fate and of those who accompanied him had been at last solved, they felt that a reflected glory was shed on all connected with the station.
Billy had a great reception from his countrymen camped about the station. He exhibited his wound, and let it be generally understood that he had wiped out the Warlatta tribe single-handed, although they were all giants over seven feet high. Fortunately he knew nothing of the gold reef, so was not able to dilate on that; but the story of the lake and the caves there lost nothing by telling, but he quite forgot to mention his fright in the underground tunnel.
The news of their successful trip and interesting discoveries was soon flashed along the overland telegraph-line. It was enthusiastically received by some and scornfully doubted by others, as is usual in these cases. Brown regretted that they had not had a camera, and brought a few pictures back with them; but as the authenticity of the documents have been since universally admitted, the scoffers are confounded.
As yet they are awaiting their time before returning to open up the reef, which they anticipate will be found to be joined by a line of auriferous country with the rich gold discoveries lately made in Western Australia.
THE END.