Part 11 (1/2)

But for a long tis were lost--they were truly as sisters to me; and Yamba and I and the natives dived for the the sea in every direction But at length, seeing that I was exhausted, Yamba forcibly detained me, and told me that I ain The wound in h (I aun-shot or unwale of the canoe) was bleeding freely; and as it was also pointed out toand swift current at this spot, I allowed myself to be taken aithout any further opposition

I simply _could_ not realiseto think, that when God had providedcompanions, ere all in all to me every moone through--it seemed impossible, I say, that they should be snatched from me just at the very moment when salvation seemed within our reach Every detail of the incident passed before rasp it--I could not seeirls were ht of my desolate existence into sunshi+ne, and they were perpetually devising so which would please htness to our daily lives This dreadful thing happened o, but to this day, and to the day of rief and reo in the canoe) for this terrible catastrophe

After we returned to the land, I haunted the sea-shore for hours, hoping to see the bodies rise to the surface; but I watched in vain When at length the full nitude of the disaster dawned upon me, despair--the utter abandonain would ain would I see their loved forain would we play together like children on the sand Never again would we build aerial castles about the bright and happy future that was in store for us, looking back from the bourne of civilisation on our fantastic adventures Never again should we compare our lot with that of Robinson Crusoe or the Swiss Faht drea I realised that the people aroundwhom I was apparently doomed to pass the remainder of my hideous days--a fate infinitely s beneath the restless waves, that beat for ever on that lonely shore I was a long ti myself to be thankful for Yarateful of me I can only ask your pity and sympathy in my terrible affliction What nant, was the reflection that if I had retained one atom ofthe little European vessel at the head of a whole flotilla of cataes As to the people on board the vessel, I exonerated them then, and I exonerate them now, from all blame

Had you or I been on board, we should probably have done exactly the sa under the circumstances

Clearly the only reasonable plan of action was to have gone alone; but then, at critical ti us is apt to lose his head God knows I paid dearly enough for ment on this melancholy occasion

My wound was not at all serious, and, thanks to Yaet about once ht to tell you that e returned I could not bear to go into our hut, where every little bunch of withered flowers, every garment of skin, and every i loss I had sustained No, I went back direct to the ca them until the moment cahts that I felt it most I wept till I was as weak as a baby Oh the torainst an all-wise Providence! ”Alone! alone! alone!” I would shriek in an agony of wretchedness; ”Gone! gone! gone! Oh, come back to me, come back to me, I cannot live here now”

And I soon realised that it was ier There was uessed it was not so irls, as out of syreat white chief had sustained I think Yanitude of the disaster; otherwise they would have failed to grasp it What was the loss of a woman or two to theain, and I was consuo away into the wilderness and there hide ht this tiht ultiued thus casually to es and waterless deserts--that separated ht have come upon them in a feeeks! All I was certain of was that they lay soht as well be walking in the direction of civilisation as re over the disaster that had clouded my life and irls careed to accoirls we started out once

Bruno alsomistresses He would moan and cry pitifully, and run ai out to sea Ah! had I only taken Bruno on that fatal day, he would not have let my dear ones drown!

As I have said, I remained only a feeeks in my bay home, and then departed The blacks, too, left the spot, for they never stay where the shadow of death lies, fearing the unpleasant attentions of the spirits of the deceased The parting betweenone, the woreat distance away They had shown such genuine sympathy with me in my misfortune that our friendshi+p had very , I knew I could never be happy aain

So we started off into the unknoith nofor a stroll of a mile or so Yamba carried her yam-stick and basket, and I had my usual weapons--tomahawk and stiletto in my belt, and bow and arrows in my hand I never dreamed e started that to strike due south would take us into the unexplored heart of the continent Day after day, however, alked steadily on our course, steering in a very curious uided by the ant- hills, which are always built facing the east, whilst the top inclines towards the north; and we knew that the scratches made on trees by the opossums were invariably on the north side

We often steered by the habits of insects, wasps' nests, and other curious auguries, fixing our position at night by the stars and in the daytime by our own shadows Yamba alent in front and I followed

The bush tee our own caion we struck a fine elevated land, excellently atered; and later on we followed the Victoria River in a south-easterly direction through part of the Northern Territories of South Australia We at length struck a peculiar country covered with coarse grass ten feet or twelve feet high--not unlike the sugar-cane which I afterwards saw, but much more dense

It was, of course, i to the forests and ranges which we encountered; we had, as a aroo tracks wherever they took us--east, west, and even north occasionally, generally to water-holes The progress of the natives is simply from one water supply to another But as far as possible we pursued our way south You will understand that this kind of travelling was very different from that which we experienced on the Victoria River--which, by the way, traversed a very fine country

As we ascended it we passed many isolated hills of perhaps a few hundred feet, and nowhere did I see any scrub or spinifex

After leaving the Victoria we came upon a rass; the trees were scarcer here, but finer and bigger There was plenty of water in the native wells and in the hollows, although we frequently had to reet at it

There were plenty of kangaroos and emus about, as well as turkeys; these latter provided us with an unwonted dish, to say nothing of their delicious eggs

Another reason for our co round out of our course e came to forests was because but little food was found in thearoos and other animals were seldom or never found there: they abounded usually in the ress was very leisurely, and, as we ratiated ourselves with them and camped at their wells Occasionally we caoons that ran into the earth and disappeared in the most mysterious way, only to reappear some distance farther on Of course, I may be mistaken in this, but such at any rate wassteadily along, Ya out excitedly, ”Up a tree,--quick! Up a tree!” And so saying she scampered up the nearest tree herself Now, by this ti upon her advice unquestioningly, that without waiting to hear any more I made a dash for the nearest likely tree and climbed into it as fast as I could Had she called out to me, ”Leap into the river,” I should have done so without asking a question When I was safely in the branches, however, I called out to her (her tree was only a few yards away), ”What is the matter?” She did not reply, but pointed to a vast stretch of undulating country over which we had just coion in which one was able to see a fairly long way in every direction--a very unusual feature in the land of ”Never Never”!

I looked, but at first could see nothing Presently, however, it seemed to me that the whole country in the far distance was covered with a blackcreatures_

Steadily and rapidly this greatthat I was both puzzled and alarave me to understand that _we should presently be surrounded byaway in every direction like a living sea The phenomenon was evidently known to Yarating fro by instinct that the season of the great floods was at hand That weird and extraordinary sight will live in my memory for ever I question whether a spectacle so fantastic and awe-inspiring was ever dealt with, even in the pages of quasi-scientific fiction It was impossible for , on account of the great stretch of country which they covered Soon, however, their shrill squeals were distinctly heard, and a few e tide struck our tree and swept past us with a force i was spared Snakes, lizards--ay, even the biggest kangaroos--succule The rats actually ate those of their felloho see was that the great army never seemed to stand still It appeared to me that each rat simply took a bite at whatever prey came his way, and then passed on with the rest

I aht have been an hour Yamba told me that there would have been no help for us had we been overtaken on foot by these ratory rodents It is my opinion that no creature in Nature, from the elephant doards, could have lived in that sea of rats I could not see the ground between them, so closely were they packed The only creatures that escaped the and the patter of their little feetof the wind or the beat of a great rain-storh, that I was unable accurately to deter to my partial deafness, which you will rereat hich dashedon the sand-spit in the Sea of Timor I often found this deafness a very serious drawback, especially when hunting I was sometimes at a loss to hear the ”coo-ee” or call of my natives Fortunate men! _they_ did not even understand what deafnessas suicide no native can possibly grasp or understand In all s I only met one idiot or de tree, and orshi+pped as a demi-God!

When the rats had passed by, atched thee creek and swim across, after which they disappeared in the direction of soes which were not very far away They never see, one beheld the same level brownish mass on the surface of the water Yaration of rats was not at all uncommon, but that the creatures rarely moved about in such vast armies as the one that had just passed

I also learned that isolated parties ofrats were responsible for the horrible deaths of many native children, who had, perhaps, been left behind in caone in search of water