Part 12 (2/2)

Certainly it would be impossible for ca--Civilisation at last--Rage and despair--A white man's tracks--Yauardian--A heavy burden--A strange invitation--The mysterious irl--The fate of Leichhardt--”In the valley of the shadow”--A sane white --Vain efforts--Unearthly voices

When we had been on the march southwards about nine months there came one of the most ied ht natives--all young felloere on a punitive expedition; and as they were going in our direction (they overtook us going south), alked along with theh which ere passing at that ti expanse of spinifex desert, with a few scattered and weird-looking palns of anirew the country; but, on the other hand, ent e got farther and farther into the dreary wastes At the spot I have in ht which cheered ht I should soon strike civilisation

Had not the blacks ith taken us to soion, as no water could be found except by digging I noticed that the blacks looked for a hollow depression ravel and sandy soil with their hands and yam-sticks They usually came upon water a few feet down, but the distance often varied very considerably

We were crossing the su space, when, without the least warning I suddenly beheld, a few hundred yards away, in the valley beneath, _four while men on horseback_!

I think they had a few spare horses with them, but, of course, all that I saere the four whiteto our respective routes, ould have crossed their track, but they would not have crossed ours They were going west They wore the regulation dress of the Australian--broad sombrero hats, flannel shi+rts, and rather dirty white trousers, with long riding-boots I re at a wretched pace, which showed that their horses were nearly spent Once again, notwithstanding all previous bitter lessons,”Civilisation at last!” I screaave the hoop of the blacks and rushedmyself hoarse, and supree appearance Iwildly out behind, and uishable from that of an ordinary black-fellow

My companions, I afterwards discovered, swept after ht I wanted to annihilate the white ht_

Naturally, the spectacle unnerved the pioneers, and they proceeded to repel the supposed attack by firing a volley into the ed in a dangerousto the excitement of that terrible moht h I was not hit, I prorass, as also did Yamba and the other blacks Like a flash my idiotic blunder caain alone to explain; but Ya myself to what she considered certain death

The rass they wheeled round, changing their course a littlewest, so far as I can reested that the horses were pretty well done for On our part, we at once es that lay a little to the south

Here we parted with our friends the blacks, who made off in an east-south- easterly direction

The do within me as I saw the white e and mad despair I was apparently a pariah, with the hand of every white ht, ”if civilisation is not prepared to receive me, I ait until it is”

Disappointment after disappointment, coupled with the incessant persuasions of Ya ht crept into ain_, and so perhaps it would be better for n myself to the inevitable, and stay where I was I would turn back, I thought, with intense bitterness and heart-break, andthe tribes in the hills, where ould be safe from the white man and his murderous weapons And I actually _did_ turn back, accoain, as it was our intention to find a peres, at any rate for the ensuing winter It was out of the question to camp where ere, because it was much too cold; and besides Ya roots

Several days later, as ere plodding steadily along, away fro to the south, Yaave a cry and stood still, pointing to soround These, she confidently assured me, were those of a whiteaimlessly about that fearful country It was, of course, easy for her to know the white man's tracks when she saw them, but I was curious how she could be certain that the wanderer had lost his reason She pointed out to me that, in the first place, the tracks had been led about in a most erratic manner, it was clearly evident that the wearer could not be sane

Even at this tiainst the whites, and so I decided to follow the tracks and find the individual as responsible for them But do not be under any misapprehension My intentions were not philanthropic, but revengeful I had become a black- fellow myself now, and was consumed with a black-fellow's ht I would follow the whole party, and kill them in the darkness with my stiletto when opportunity offered

The new tracks we had come upon told me plainly that the party had separated, and were therefore now in s because I do not want any one to suppose I followed up the tracks of the losthim any assistance For nearly two days Yamba and I followed the tracks, which went in curious circles always trending to the left At length we began to come upon various articles that had apparently been throay by the straggler First of all, we found part of a letter that was addressed to some one (I think) in Adelaide; but of this I would not be absolutely certain What I do remember was that the envelope bore the postmark of Ti Tree Gully, SA

The writer of that letter was evidently a wo her correspondent upon the fact that he was joining an expedition which was about to traverse the entire continent I fancy she said she was glad of this for his own sake, for it would no doubt lory and prosperity, and wound up by assuring him that none would be better pleased on his return than she

The country through which these tracks led us was for the most part a mere dry, sandy waste, covered with the forrass Ya at the tracks

Presently she gave a little cry, and when she turned to me I saw that she had in her hand the sombrero hat of an Australian pioneer A little farther on we found a shi+rt, and then a pair of trousers We next cath, on reaching the crest of a sandy hillock, we suddenly beheld the for face doards in the sand below us

As youhim htly turned to the right, his ar convulsively in the sand I areat was our eht in turning thethat at last he breathed, was one of great joy and thankfulness

”Thank God,” I said to myself, ”I have at last found a white coreat world outside” The burning rage that consu the tracks) died away in pity as I thought of the terrible privations and sufferings this poor fellowreduced to this state My desire for revenge was forgotten, and ht noas to nurse back to health the unconscious man

First of all I moistened his mouth with the water which Ya, and then I rubbed hi to restore ani, however, and io off and replenish it She was absent an hour or e treat consciousness on the part of my patient