Part 13 (1/2)

When Yamba returned with the water, I tried to make the prostrate man s some of it, and I even shtful help ti hiainst it, wetted his shi+rt ater and wound it round his throat Meanwhile Yaorously

At last he uttered a sound--half groan, half sigh (it thrilled h); and I noticed that he was able to s a few drops of water The glooe wilderness of sand and spinifex, so we prepared to stay there with our helpless charge untilYamba and I took it in turns to watch over hi he had so far revived that he opened his eyes and looked at erly had I anticipated that look, and how bitter was my disappointment when I found that it was a nition! Ever hopeful, however, I attributed the vacant look to the terrible nature of his sufferings I was burning to ply him with all manner of questions as to who he here he had come from, and what news he had of the outside world; but I restrained reat effort, and merely persevered in my endeavours to restore hi was pretty well advanced the man was able to sit up; and in the course of a few days he was even able to accompany us to a water-hole, where we encamped, and stayed until he had practically recovered--or, at any rate, was able to get about

But, you ?

Indeed, he saidupon every syllable that fell frorin, it was a on of statements, which sie would stare at us stolidly, and then rear cockney voice, that he was quite _sure_ ere going the wrong way By this time, I should mention, we had re-clothed him in his trousers and shi+rt, for he had obviously suffered terribly fro sun

Many days passed away before I would admit to myself that this unhappy creature was a hopeless i and waiting for the first sane remark Soon, however, the bitter truth was borne in upon us that, instead of having found salvation and comfort in the society of a white hastly encumbrance, and were far worse off than before

We now set off in the direction of our old tracks, but were not able to travel very fast on account of the still feeble condition of the white stranger Poor creature! I pitied him from the bottom of my heart It seemed so terrible for asurvived the dreadful hardshi+ps and adventures that had befallen hiain to elicit sensible replies to ibbered and babbled like a happy baby I coaxed; I threatened; I persuaded; but it was all in vain I soon found he was a regular millstone round my neck--particularly ere on the ”walk-about” He would suddenly take it into his head to sit down for hours at a stretch, and nothing would induce him to h, Bruno becareatly attached to hilad, because it relieved me of much anxiety You will understand what I mean when I tell you that, in spite of all our endeavours, our o off by himself away from our track; and at such times were it not for Bruno--whom he would follohere--ould often have had ht have been speared before a strange tribe could have discovered his ”sacred” (idiotic) condition

At length we reached a large lagoon, on the shores of which we stayed for about two years This lagoon for stretches of water had long since dried up for many miles both above and below it The question may be asked, Why did I settle down here? The answer is, that our white companion had become simply an intolerable burden He suffered fro attacks of dysentery, and was quite helpless It was, of course, my intention to have continued e Gulf district, because by this ti there quietly, I stood a better chance of escape to civilisation byto traverse the entire continent This latter idea was now rendered impossible, on account of the poor, helpless creature I had with reat an anxiety was he to o nowhere, either north or south, until he had become more robust in health

Needless to say, I never intrusted hi to hiave it away to a friendly chief, as i for the shores of the big lagoon we had to traverse some extremely difficult country In the first place, we encountered a series of very broken ridges, which in parts proved so hard to travel over that I al for it but to carry on my back the poor, feeble creature who, I felt, was now intrusted toI reested that I should leave him, but I never listened to this advice for a ether disinterested, because already my demented companion was looked upon as a kind of minor deity by the natives Ithe whole of h a branch breaking, and he was actually maintained at the expense of the tribe, revered by all, if not actually worshi+pped

But the journey I was just describing was a fearful trial Sometimes we had to traverse a wilderness of rocks which stood straight up and projected at sharp angles, presenting at a distance the appearance of a series of stony terraces which were all but ie wore both shi+rt and trousers, but eventually we had to discard the latter--or perhaps it would be arment was literally torn to shreds by the spinifex At one tio naked like ht it advisable to allow him to retain his shi+rt, at any rate for a ti sun as my own

We had to provide hiratitude Then Yamba had always to build hi an invaluable assistance and a coreat that, inleft hione to his death in the great deserts were it not for the ever-vigilant Bruno Still, I always thought that some day I would be able to take the man back to civilisation, and there find out who he was and whence he had come And I hoped that people would think I had been kind to hi froain his reason I knew I could do very little towards his recovery except by feeding him well Fortunately the natives never called upon him to demonstrate before them the extraordinary pohich I attributed to his were sufficient in themselves to convince the blacks that he was a creature to be reverenced The re about him was that he never seemed to take notice of any one, whether it were lance would ”go pastai

We placed no restrictions upon hiuide and protector I er, but for my sake she onderfully patient with hioon that I received a very extraordinary co after end, to the effect that away on the other side of the lagoon there was an ”evil spirit” infesting the waters, which terrified the women when they went down to fill their skins Well, naturally enough, the faot abroad in that country, and I was one day invited by the tribe in question to go and rid thely, acco Bruno to look after our helpless companion, we set off in response to the invitation, and in a few days reached the caoon was here surrounded by a finely-wooded country, slightly ht to have stated that I had already gleaned froe, that the waters of the lagoon in the vicinity of the cae fish or aries were a constant source of terror The dreaded creature would come quite close inshore, and then endeavour to ”spear” the wo weapon carried in its oon, and I confess it puzzled e fish which had descended in a rain-cloud a countless millions of others of sood opportunity for displayingthe natives in that country--I always had the ut out I had spent so e monster

The very afternoon I arrived I went down to the shores of the lagoon with all the natives, and had not long to wait before I beheld as apparently a huge fish careering wildly and erratically hither and thither in the water On seeing it the natives appeared tre thereby to drive the creature away My first move was in the nature of an experi a better view of the le for it with a hook e piece of sharpened bone I then produced large nets y-bark rope Placing these on the shores of the lagoon, I directed Yah to hold her and th we embarked and paddled out a few hundred yards, e threw the net overboard It had previously been weighted, and now floated so that it promptly expanded to its utmost capacity No sooner had we done this than the invisiblea tremendous com impact, but threw ourselves overboard just as the creature's white sawlike weapon showed itself close to the surface only a few yards away

We heard a crash, and then, looking backward as a snout of the fish had actually pierced both sides of the canoe, whilst his body was evidently entangled in the e that our little craft was now actually a serious enculedaloon into a perfect h out of the water; and then the fish would try to drag it underneath, but was prevented by its great buoyancy In the meantiles of the ”evil spirit” fro a crowd of frantic natives

We waited until the efforts of the fish grew feebler, and then put off in another bark canoe (the celerity hich Ya), when I easily despatched the noeakened creature with ht here mention that this was actually the first ties had seen a canoe or boat of any description, so that naturally the two I launched occasioned endless amazement

Afterwards, by the way, I tried to describe to theive it up, because it only confused theed the ated snout still e-dreaded evil spirit of the lagoon was a huge sawfish, fully fourteen feet long, its for nearly five feet

This interesting weapon I claiot back to where Bruno and his hu blacks, who had long heard of the evil spirit The great fish itself was cooked and eaten at one of the biggest _corroborees_ I had ever seen The blacks had no theory of their own (save the superstitious one), as to how it got into the lagoon; and the only supposition I can offer is, that it , either by a rain-cloud or at sohted were the blacks at the service I had done thereatest cooffer, however, as I was quite bent on getting back to Ca to oon I learned for the first ti them; and subsequent inquiries went to prove that her father was a white ions and lived for so the blacks-- My interest in the matter was first of all roused by the accidental discovery of a cairn five feet or six feet high, made of loose flat stones My experience was such by this tilance this cairn was not the work of a native

Drawings and figures, and a variety of curious characters, were faintly discernible on soible

On one, however, I distinctly traced the initials ”L L,” which had withstood the ravages of ti them was in a protected place

Naturally the existence of this structure setthe older natives as to whether they ever re a white man before; and then I learned that perhaps twenty years previously a ions, and had died a fewto custoiven birth to the half-caste baby girl, as nooer's nairl, by the as by no , and her skin was decidedly more black than white; I could tell by her hand, however, that she was a half-caste

On the strength of our supposed affinity, she was offered to me as a wife, and I accepted her,else; she was called Luigi Yamba, by the as anxious that I should possess at least half-a-dozen wives, partly because this circu with my rank; but I did not fall in with the idea I had quite enough to do already to e, and did not care to have to rule in addition half-a- dozen woers in irl, who Leichhardt, the lost Australian explorer Mr