Part 6 (2/2)

Yamba, of course, accoether quite indispensable We cae water-hole, and here we each cliu ti cow buffalo and her calf wandering leisurely in our direction My only weapons were a lassopole; and my bow and arrows I slid down the tree a little way, and when the calf was near enough, I gently slipped the noose over its neck, and promptly made it a prisoner under the very nose of its astonished mother, who bellowed mournfully My success so elated Ya-place, and washer way over to me and the calf, when suddenly an enormous bull, which we had not previously seen, rushed at her at full speed Yaain like lightning, just as the great brute was upon her I called out to her to attract the attention of the old bull whilst I attended to the mother and calf I dropped my pole to which the lasso was attached, and allowed the little one to walk quickly aith it; but, as I anticipated, the trailing shaft soon caught between the stumps of some trees, and made the calf a more secure prisoner than ever It was a curious repetition of the story of the thales The reatest distress She never left her little one's side, but continued to bellow loudly, and lick the calf to coax it away

Quietly sliding downthe attention of the bull--a fiery brute as pawing the ground with rage at the foot of her tree I had fitted an arrow toto shoot, when, unfortunately, the bull detected the noise of ht atconfident of my skill with the bohich I had practised off and on ever since I had left school at Montreux I actually waited until the charging monster ithin a few paces, and then I let fly So close was he that not much credit is due to ht eye, causing him to pull up on his haunches, and roar with pain

Yamba, full of anxiety, hurried down her tree; but she had scarcely reached the ground when the baffled bull wheeled and charged her, with lided behind a tree, and then I showed ain I waited until he was almost uponhiht up sharp, and co with pain I forgot allupon the beast with my tomahawk, I dealt hier I brought him to the earth with two or three more blows, and a few race_ No sooner was the big bull dead than I determined to test the efficacy of a very popular native re fits still continued to come upon me at most aard tirass poor Yaet warht I would try some animal heat

Scarce had life left the body of the prostrate bull before I ripped open the carcass between the fore and hind legs; and after re to have heat this time,” I crawled into the interior My head, however, was protruding from the buffalo's chest Ya; and when I told her I was going to indulge in a long sleep in -place, she said she would keep watch and see that I was not disturbed I remained buried in the bull's interior for the rest of the day and all through the night Next , to ot cold and rigid, so that I had literally to be dug out As I e spectacle My body was covered with congealed blood, and evenhair was all et the feeling of exhilaration and strength that took possession ofat my faithful coiant of strength! I make a present of the cure to the medical profession

Without delay I hly, scrubbinga run in order to get dry This extraordinary syste the carcass of a freshly killed animal is invariably resorted to by the natives in case of serious illness, and they look upon it as an all but infallible cure Certainly it was surprisingly efficacious in my own case

Next day we directed our attention to the capture of the cohich was still wandering around her i it for a few et food I constructed a sed to drive the cow

We then kept her for two days without food and water, in order to tame her, and did not even let her little calf come near her We then approached her, and found her perfectly subdued, and willing to take food and water froentlest Alderney

I found I was even able tohts of freshIn fact, I practically lived on nothing else for the next few days, and it pulledway The flesh of the dead buffalo I did not touch myself, but handed it over to the blacks, ere vastly ihty hunter They themselves had often tried to kill buffalo with their spears, but had never succeeded I re out of it, which I found very serviceable indeed in subsequent wet seasons It was as hard as a board, and nearly half an inch thick

When I returned to ”Captain Davis” and the rest ofonceallish cattle--of course, relics of the old settle up all the information I could I had many conversations with Davis himself, and he told me that I should probably find white men at Port Darhich he said was between three and four hundred ton, I may mention, only numbered about fifty souls

This was about the year 1868 Captain Davis--as passionately fond of tobacco, and would travel almost any distance to obtain an ounce or two from the Malay _beche-de-mer_ fishers--pointed out toinscription was cut:--

LUDWIG LEICHHARDT, Overland from Sydney, 1847

It was therefore evident that this district had already been visited by a white man; and the fact that he had coht return to civilisation in the sa black chief assured uide to Leichhardt, but whether the latter got back safely to Sydney again he never knew The white traveller, he said, left Port Essington in a shi+p

Having considered all things, I decided to atte Europeans living there At first, I thought of going overland, but in discussing my plans with ”Captain Davis,” he told me that I would have to cross swamps, fords, creeks, and rivers, soo by water, and also told e bay I should coators that swarainst was, I think, Van Dieht across the bay, and then pass between Melville Island and the ood stock of provisions, including a quantity of _beche-de-ed my buffalo skin over my provisions as a protection, turtle-back fashi+on Our preparations co pushed out into the unknown sea in our frail canoe, which was only about fifteen feet long and fourteen inches wide Of course, we kept close in- shore all the tiress until we passed Apsley Strait, avoiding the huge Van Dieator-infested rivers and creeks We must have been close to Port Darhen, with little or no warning, a terrific storm arose, and quickly carried us out to sea in a south-westerly direction In a moment our frail little craft was partially swamped, and Ya on to the gunwale on either side to prevent it froht after I left Captain Davis We knew that if ere swaeese, water, and other provisions, would be lost in the raging sea The night that folloas perhaps one of theexperiences that ever befell me; but I had by this time become so inured to terrible trials that I ine for yourself the scene The giant waves are rollinground us fast, and I andon for dear life to a little dug-out canoe only fourteen inches wide Although ere soon thoroughly exhausted with our immersion in the water, we dared not cli_ ere co to the canoe, half drowned, and tossed about like the insignificant atoms ere in the midst of the stupendous waves, which were literally ablaze with phosphorescent light?

Often as those terrible hours crawled by, I would have let go ether were it not for Ya voice, which I heard above the terrific roar of the storh already, and how ether It seeht of a certain poe to a man in a desperate situation, written, I believe, by an American, whose na efforts made by a slave to obtain his freedom How bloodhounds were put upon his track; how he is at last cornered in a swamp, and as he looks helplessly up at the stars he asks hi on to the little dug- out, chilled to the very marrow, and more than half drowned by the enormous seas, I recalled the whole poem and applied the slave's remarks to les I havefortune, that I am to meet death now?” I was in absolute despair Towards the early hours of the et into the canoe for a spell, but she herself re to keep the head of the little canoe before the i I was very cold and stiff, and found it difficult to clian to abate somewhat, and presently Yamba joined me in the canoe We were, however, unable to shape our course for any set quarter, since by this tiether, and had not even the slightest idea as to our position

All that day we drifted ai, a perfect calm settled on the sea When ere somewhat rested we paddled on in a direction where we concluded land must lie (we steered south-east for the main); and in the course of a few hours we had the satisfaction of seeing a little rocky island, which we promptly made for and landed upon Here we obtained food in plenty in the for- water was not to be found anywhere, so we had to fall back on the s from the appearance of the rocks, and the suano island I no that ere near Port Darwin, _but as a fact we had passed it in the great stor for our lives_ We slept on the island that night, and felt very e once an to reassert itself, and I thought that after all we ht be able to reach Port Darwin in spite of the distance we must have been driven out of our course Several islands studded the sea through which ere now steadily threading our way, and that evening we landed on one of these and caain, and as the weather continued beautifully fine wea few days after the stor away, I saw Yahten with a look I had never seen on it before, and I felt sure this presaged soaze up into the heavens with a quick, sudden ent eyes would sparkle like the stars above

I questioned her, but she maintained an unusual reserve, and, as I concluded that she knew instinctively ere approaching Port Darwin, I, too, felt full of joy and pleasure that the object of our great journey was at length about to be achieved Alas! what awaitedseries of disappointe me into the very blackest depths of despair

Yath she had apparently satisfied herself upon a certain point, she turned tofrantically at a certain glowing star Seeing that I was still puzzled by her merriment, she cried, ”That star is one you reme ca

_Ya her own home once hteen months previously_! In the storether, having been driven out to sea

I tell you, my heart nearly burst when I recalled the awful privations and hardshi+ps we had both experienced so recently; and when I realised that all these things had been absolutely in vain, and that once round in themanner, I fell back into the canoe, utterly crushed with horror and impotent disappointment Was there ever so terrible an experience? Take a htful blunder-- the west coast of the Gulf of Carpentaria for the eastern waters of the Cape York Peninsula, and then blindly groping northward and ard in search of the settlement of Somerset, which in reality lay hundreds of miles north-east of reat Gulf of Carpentaria But were it not for having had to steer north to get out of the waterless plains, I ht possibly have reached the north- eastern coast of the continent in due tiether

Yamba knelt by my side and tried to comfort me in her oeet, quaint way, and she pictured to lad her people would be to have us both back aht be a her people if only I would stay and make my home with them Even her voice, however, fell dully on e and despair--with one overland to Port Darwin froton, as, indeed, I should most certainly have done were it not that Davis had assured h deadly swaators I had even had into _reach Sydney overland_! but thought I would first of all see what facilities in the way of reaching civilisation Port Darwin had to offer Noever, I was back again in Cae Gulf,--in the very spot I had left a year and a half ago, and where I had landed with my four blacks froe of s

We landed on an island at the nals to her friends on thethem of our return We resolved it would never do to confess we had been _driven back_ No, we had roamed about and had co there was no place like home! just think what a _role_ this was for ony of helpless rage and bitter disappointment

This time, however, we did not wait for the blacks to coht for the beach, where the chiefs and all the tribe were asseuish being passed, and the war so cordial and excessive (they cried with joy), I began to feel a little easier in ned to inexorable fate The usual cereh, and almost every native present expressed his or her individual delight at seeing us again Then they besieged us with questions, for ere now great travellers A spacious ”humpy” or hut was built without delay, and the blacks vied with one another in bringing s which I sorely needed, such as fish, turtles, roots, and eggs