CHAPTER V.

A TRAITOR IN THE CAMP.

The journey next day was hotter and more oppressive than the first, for their way led them, in several places, through thick and tangled forest, where the luxuriant undergrowth was so matted and wild that they could not force their way without the greatest labour and loss of time. Here again Murri's knowledge of the country was of the greatest service, for he knew that there was a river thereabouts, which flowed from the ranges, along the dry bed of which they could travel. It was a poor road when he found it, for the sand was very deep in some places and it was so rocky in others, that their horses had no small difficulty in picking a road. It was, however, much easier to travel thus than to be obliged to chop and hew their way through the vine-bound thickets of the bush.

Although they had passed all their lives in Queensland, the boys had never seen such majestic forest as clothed, for the most part, the tops of the banks of this creek, for all the bush within many miles of any European settlements or stations is so frequently the scene of fires, both accidental and intentional, that either it is totally destroyed or its wild beauty is greatly spoiled. Here, it seemed, no devastating flames had ever impaired the grandeur of the primeval forest. The giant trees, of vast age and enormous girth, were bound together by loops and ropes of creepers; every branch and stem was covered with quantities of strange parasitical growths and ferns, and the dead and dying branches of the trees were clothed and draped with hanging masses of grey moss. Every now and then a rotten branch would fall with a crash, startling, with wild echoes, the silence of the bush.

In every cranny of the rocky sides of the ravine some green thing grew, a cluster of drooping ferns or tall rich grasses, and here and there a tapering palm raised its rose of leaves upon the slender column of its graceful stem. About the trees in the golden heat, or in the cool recesses of their shadowy branches, flew flocks of parroquets of every gorgeous hue; bright green and crimson, amethyst and amber, they flashed as they darted hither and thither, with the sunshine gleaming on every burnished feather, till they glowed like living jewels. The cooing of the many sorts of pigeons hidden in the woods, the clear resonant note of the bell bird, and every now and again the grand, pure song of the golden-throated organ magpie made sweet music for them as they rode along.

But, although the beauty around them was so great, the heat was terribly trying in the deep bed of that dry river, and not a drop of water was to be found in the rock pools along the course of the stream.

"I don't know how you feel, Alec," George said, after they had been riding several hours in this blazing heat, "but I am completely parched. My clothes would be wet through with sweat if the sun didn't dry 'em just as quick. I don't believe there's a blessed drop of moisture left in my whole body."

"Beastly, isn't it? I say, Geordie, what fools we were not to have brought some water with us from last night's camp."

"So we should, only that ass of a Prince Tom said we were sure to get plenty in the water holes in the river. River! I call it a jolly old sand pit."

"Well, Murri says we are sure to get some at the place he recommends us to stop at. There is a native well there."

"I hope there is."

Shortly after this Murri overtook them, and said that at the next bend in the river was the place they ought to stay at, as, at this dry season, there was no water beyond that for many miles. So at the place indicated--it was at the junction to the main creek of what, in flood times, would be a freshet, but what was then a dry and rocky little watercourse--they dismounted and unsaddled their horses. They at once followed Murri to the place where he remembered the native well was situated, and found, to their intense disappointment, that it was absolutely dry. There were many traces of blacks on the sand around the well, and traces which both Murri and Prince Tom said were quite recent ones, and if there had been any water there at all, which was doubtful, they had consumed it every drop.

The disappointment was all the keener as they had looked forward with such certainty to finding water there. Still they were in no great straits for it at present, although very thirsty and parched.

"What shall we do? Push on to the next camp?" said George.

"Oh, no, we must put up with it; we can manage to do without drink for a long time yet, and the horses must rest. We must not knock them up whatever else we do."

"All right, I can manage if you can, old fellow. I was thinking of Como more than myself," said the boy, looking down at his dog, who was thrusting his dry, hot nose into his master's hand as though to tell him how much he suffered. "Never mind, Como, old boy, you shall have as much to drink as you like tonight."

So without any useless grumblings they threw themselves down in the shade and kept themselves as quiet and still as the plague of flies would let them. Just then Alec noticed that Prince Tom had not unloaded the pack-horse which had been given into his charge, though he had hobbled her and turned her loose. This was a most absurd and annoying thing to do, as not only was the mare greatly impeded in her feeding, but the pack upon her back was every moment threatened with destruction amongst the rocks and boughs that overhung the sides of the gully. Alec, whose temper was always rather a quick and hasty one, had been a good deal ruffled that day by one or two little signs of Prince Tom's desire to shirk his share of the work, and the heat, and the flies, and the want of water, too, had worried him considerably, so that it is not to be wondered at that he was angry. He jumped up hastily when he saw how Prince Tom had neglected Polly, and caught the skulking fellow--who was leaning against a tree close to him eating a lump of damper--a sounding box on the ears. He was very angry, and the black could see it.

"What for you leave um load on um _yarroman_?" said Alec, advancing towards him as though he would repeat the blow.

Prince Tom danced and leaped backwards with surprising agility to get out of his way.

"Black fellow werry tired," he answered, sulkily. "Bail water bong, bail work" (no water, no work). "White fellow eat an' drinkee all um day. White fellow strong. You go take pack off _yarroman_."

Alec could hardly help laughing at the impudence of the fellow making such an absurd statement, but he sternly bade him go and unload the horse, and Prince Tom shuffled off and did it. Already several times since they had left Wandaroo Alec had thought that Tom had shown signs of insubordination and disobedience, whilst Murri, on the contrary, cheerfully obeyed their bidding, and did everything that he could to assist them. The fact that Prince Tom was so much less to be trusted than Murri may be accounted for by the fact that Tom was a partly civilised black, having lived about Wandaroo and other stations for some years, whilst Murri had not very long been drafted into the native camp on the station from the wild _myall_ part of his tribe, which hunted in the immediate neighbourhood of Wandaroo.

All that afternoon, whilst they rested thirstily by the dried-up native well, Tom relieved his anger by singing _corroborree_ songs to himself in a low voice, but with flashing eyes and an excited manner. An Australian savage comforts himself with these wild chants at all times of trouble or anger, and as they are short, and are repeated over and over again, perhaps hundreds of times, and as the tune is but a few harsh notes strung together, the effect upon a listener, who is not also a native Australian, becomes exasperating in the extreme.

This is what Prince Tom sang for hours and hours that day:--

"_Marra boor-ba, boor-ba nunga, Marra gul-ga, gul-ga nunga, Marra boor-ba, boor-ba nunga, Marra gul-ga, gul-ga nunga._"

He sang another one just at first, when he felt very angry with Alec, and doubtless it was a great consolation to him, for all the opprobrious terms in it were meant as descriptive of the elder Law:--

"The wooden-headed, Bandy-legged, Thin-thighed fellow. The long-armed Long-shinned, Thin-thighed fellow."

And then every now and then, with a sort of scornful laugh, he would add--

"_Mat-ta, mat-ta, yungore bya, Mat-ta, mat-ta, yungore bya._"

"Oh, what legs, oh, what legs, the kangaroo-like fellow, Oh, what legs, oh, what legs, the kangaroo-like fellow."

This singing did not trouble the boys much; they made Tom move off to a distance, and then the sound of his chanting only made them feel drowsy in the hot afternoon air, and in the shade of the thick bushes they slept till it was time to push on to their camping-place for the night.

They noticed many signs of natives being in the neighbourhood, their steps in the sand and the remains of their fires, but Murri said that the party had gone off towards the west, probably in search of water, as the water holes in that creek were all dried up.

By sunset they were well amongst the hills of the ranges they had been aiming for. They had left the bed of the river soon after they had started again in the afternoon. The country had grown much wilder, there was less bush about it, and the hills themselves were only covered with coarse native grasses, and ti-scrub and _mulga_. They camped that night in a rocky ravine, on either side of which the steep hills rose to a little height, leaving only a broad strip of sky above them. Here they were able to drink--themselves and their thirsting animals for they found a native well which, when they had scraped out the accumulations of sand that had drifted into it, gave them a little supply of water.

That night the boys lay down with their loaded rifles by the side of them. They knew that strange blacks were in the neighbourhood, and although they had not caught sight of them, the keen-eyed savages, as Murri warned them, might have espied them and might make a raid upon their little force for the sake of the horses and the provisions they carried.

Alec thought it wisest that they should keep a watch through the night, and this was done. George took the first, Murri the second, Tom the third, and Alec himself was to watch from about half-past two till dawn.

All went well during the first part of the night. Geordie called Murri at the appointed time, and reported everything quiet, and so it continued through Murri's watch. He roused Prince Tom, who rose with an alacrity that surprised him, and lying down he was soon sound asleep.

No sooner had Prince Tom's quick ears told him that Murri slept than he rose from the side of the tree where he was crouching, and slowly, and noiselessly as a shadow, moved to where Alec and George were lying side by side. He made not the least sound as he stepped; each naked foot fell upon the dry soft sand as quietly as a falling leaf upon the grass. He stood behind them, stiff and motionless as a statue, and listened to their breathing to judge whether they slept soundly. He held his cruel _waddy_ (club) in his hand. Would he murder them? Was he about to revenge himself on Alec thus?

It was well for them that the thought of it never entered his childish, savage brain. He would have killed them ruthlessly had the idea but presented itself to him; but that was not his intention. George rolls over and indistinctly mutters something; the savage grasps his murderous weapon that is half raised for the blow. Lie still, Geordie, _lie still_. But the boy does not wake, he only moves his head upon his saddle-flap and sinks again to deeper slumber.

Having assured himself that all are soundly sleeping, Prince Tom glides silently away; he goes to the little heap that the loads of the two pack-horses make, and with quick hands begins to turn the different sacks and parcels over. Many a backward glance he flings over his shoulder to where the sleeping boys lie. But they do not move. He hastily takes the bags that hold the flour and sugar and rice, and swiftly carries them a little way down the ravine, towards the place where he can hear the cropping of the horses. Once more he comes back and takes another load, of which his saddle and bridle form part, depositing it with the first.

Wake, Alec! Wake, George! Treachery and robbery are going on. Wake up, wake up! But they lie still as death, unconscious of all that goes on so near them.

No sooner has Prince Tom taken as much as he thinks one horse can carry, and rather more, than he steals away to where the horses are feeding. He can only see them very indistinctly, for a pale, blue mist hangs above the damp, sour ground--it is an impassable swamp in the wet season--where they are feeding, but his quick ears guide him, and he hurries rapidly towards them. He thinks he will take Amber, for he knows how Alec values him, and it will be sweet to be revenged. He creeps up quite close to the animal, and is stretching out his hand to seize his forelock, when the horse perceives him and turns sharply round. Amber always hates the black boys, and never has let one touch him, and he thinks it cannot, under the circumstances, be wrong to bestow a gentle kick upon this one. Like a wise animal he acts upon what he thinks right, and lifting up his heels as quick as thought, he catches Tom such a kick upon the shin of one of his legs as would have disabled any one less hardy than a savage. As it is he suffers intensely, but silently, and hobbles off towards the horse he has been riding, which he catches without much difficulty. Saddling the creature, and securing his booty of food, over which he gloats with the gaze of a miser, he quickly mounts and rides slowly away. He walks his horse at first that the sound of hurried footsteps may not arouse the sleeping men, and enters the thin, blue sea of mist slowly, like a dusky vision, but he quickens his pace as he leaves the camp behind, and soon vanishes in the pale clouds of vapour that lie along the bottom of the valley.

The night wears away apace, and at last, when Alec awakes, the dawn is close upon them. He feels chilly and shudders, and looking up he sees that the night has almost gone. He soon remembers that he ought to have been called for his watch, but as he sees George by his side he thinks that nothing more is amiss than that Tom has fallen asleep at his post and has not called him, as he should have done, three hours or so ago. He jumps up and looks round, and directly that his glance falls upon the little tumbled heap of provisions he knows what has happened.

"Geordie, Geordie, wake up!" he cries.

"Well, what is it? Good morning," says George, as cheerfully as anything, and waking up at once, as wide awake as possible, like a bird.

"Oh, only that all our provisions are gone in the night, and that dirty black thief, Tom, with them."

"Nonsense!"

But so it is. It is only too plain, for when they all three--for Murri has joined them, looking the picture of fright, and thinking that he will be punished for Prince Tom's fault--come to examine the remaining part of the two spare horses' loads they find very little remaining. It is principally flour that Tom has taken, the very thing of all others that they chiefly require; he has left them one bag of it, one parcel of rice, all the tea and some sugar, and some tins of American salmon. All the things that they might manage to do without he has generously left behind, and those to which they trusted for their stay in the mountains he has taken!

Murri was most anxious that they should follow Tom; he said that it would be quite easy for him to track him, and that they would in all probability catch him in the course of the day.

"Mine can _mil-mil_" (I can see) "where him go. You soon cotch along o' black fellow. Um _yarroman_ go slow, plenty much heavy on um back. Missa Law chewt him with umriple" (rifle); "Prince Tom fall dead bong;" and here Murri slapped his naked thigh and laughed with delight at the thought.

"We can't do that," said George, "it would only be wasting time, for he has a four hours' start of us, and would take good care we didn't come up with him."

"We must go back, of course," said Alec, with a hard tone in his voice which told how much it cost him to say the words.

"Go back! not we indeed," said George, laying his arm about his brother's shoulders, and looking at him with such a cheering smile on his winsome face as would have inspirited the most desponding.

"It is not for myself, lad, but for you. I would go on if I hadn't a crumb of bread or an ounce of flour," said he, with his old determination; "but I promised mother that I would look after you, and I will."

"Look after me, of course you will, and I after you, you jolly old goose; but go back, _I shan't_. You may if you like. I shall go on with Murri. I am not afraid."

"Do you mean it?" said Alec, eagerly, and with a glad light once more shining in his eye. "Yes, you do, I see. You are a good plucked one, Geordie. We _will_ go on!"

"You white fellow _patter_" (eat) "kangaroo and potchum and wallaby?" here suddenly asked Murri, who had been listening intently and trying to understand what they were saying.

"_Yohi_, Murri, possum and wallaby, eat um all," said George, laughing, "or any other blessed thing you can catch us, old man," he added.

"No go back then," said Murri, grinning and nodding his head like a mandarin; "plenty much kangaroo all along o' that place. Mine can catch um. Prince Tom him _debbil-debbil_; him go find _myall_ in bush, him no go back Wandaroo."

This was a danger that the boys had not thought of, for if Tom managed to join any of the wild tribes thereabouts, as seemed the most probable thing for him to do, they would very quickly consume all the provisions he had stolen, and would want to possess themselves of all that the boys still had with them. Alec saw this at once, and determined to hasten on and endeavour by forced marches to put such a distance between them as would prevent any possibility of their being overtaken.