LIFE OR DEATH?
All that long sultry day Alec fluctuated between hope and despair. At
one moment he thought George better, and the next that he was worse.
Murri, who in his wild, untaught way was as tender and gentle as
possible, found some leaves of a herb which he said would heal the
wound. He moistened them with water and pounded them between two stones
and applied them to George's head. They seemed cool and refreshing.
Alec and Murri had formed a rough sort of couch of tall grasses and
leaves, over which they spread one of their blue blankets, and on this
they had laid George down. Over him Alec, who was as natty and
deft-handed as a sailor, rigged up another blanket as a sort of awning
to protect him from the sun. Sitting by the side of him all that
anxious day, with a heart full of fears for his brother and eyes that
were constantly on the alert for the return of the enemy, Alec swept
away, with a green branch, the noxious black flies that constantly
tried to settle on George's semi-conscious body.
Murri assured him that, after such a terrible loss as they had
sustained that morning, the _myalls_ would not think of returning to
the attack, but Alec could not rest certain of it. He heard at a
distance their wild lament over their dead, the shrieks of the _gins_,
and the weird moans and cries of the men, but it seemed to him that
they were gradually growing fainter and further away.
Murri, like the faithful henchman that he was, undertook all the
management of affairs, whilst Alec devoted his time to his brother. He
it was who hobbled and unloaded all the horses, and saw that they did
not wander far afield, though they were not anxious to go far, even in
search of food, in the great heat of the afternoon. He it was who found
water, and filled the "billies," and led the horses to drink. He it was
who killed the little bandicoot, of which Alec made a sort of barbarous
but nutritious soup for George; he it was in short who did everything
that day, and proved himself to be a true help to them. All day long
Como, who knew that something was amiss, kept wandering aimlessly
about, occasionally going as far as the native well that Murri had
found, to drink a little, but always coming back to lick the inert hand
of his master, which lay weakly and limply by the side of him.
Towards evening, when at sunset a breeze sprang up, and the air grew
cooler, George revived a great deal. He was able to eat some of the
food that Alec had prepared for him, and soon managed to sit up a
little, with Alec as a support to his back, and talk.
"I feel quite well now, Alec, and I mean to talk, so don't try to stop
me. Tell me, first of all, if you were hurt in the fight."
"Nothing to speak of; I got one or two nasty thumps from a _waddy_, and
one rather awkward chop on the shoulder from my man's _nullah-nullah_,
but beyond feeling a little stiff I'm all right, I think."
"Think! Do you mean to say you haven't looked at your shoulder yet?"
"Not yet, I haven't had time; I've been too busy with you. Now don't
you excite yourself, or you will be ill again."
"Excite myself! I should think I will. If you don't instantly take your
shirt off and let me see if you are badly hurt, I'll get up, and jump
about and shout. What a selfish beast I have been to lie here
comfortably insensible whilst you were in such pain. Now then, off with
that shirt."
Alec did as he was bidden, for although George's voice was weak, there
was the old resolute tone about it, and Alec knew that he would do what
he threatened. He was glad, now that he came to think of himself, to
get the shirt off, for his shoulder felt very stiff and sore. Murri had
to help him, for he could not lift his left arm above his head. The
_myall's nullah-nullah_ had made a terrible bruise, which had already
turned black and blue, and in one place, where the flesh had been cut,
the shirt adhered to the wound. But it was nothing of any great
importance, and the hardy fellow scarcely felt anything of it beyond
the stiffness, and a certain amount of pain. Cold water and a little
bandage soon put it all right.
The next day George said that he felt well, and was quite fit to go on,
but Alec utterly refused to do so. He said that a day's rest would do
none of them any harm, and that he thought they might stay there with
comparative safety, as the natives, after securing their dead, seemed
to have gone away. There was plenty of feed for the horses too, which
they might not get again in such abundance on the dry and parched-up
plains between that place and the mountains. George consented to his
brother's plan, though he chafed a little at the delay, for he felt
really well enough to go on. It was wonderful to see the difference
that a night's rest and coolness had made in him. Except that he was a
trifle pale, and that his head was bound up, he looked the same strong
cheery fellow as ever. He had a most wonderful vitality, and his health
being perfect and his constitution sound and strong, he was able to
throw off an illness that would have prostrated another man.
He was up before daylight, and, regardless of Alec's injunctions to
"sit still" and "be quiet," he would insist on doing his share of the
work.
"Fiddlesticks, Alec," was his polite remark to his brother when he
asked him not to get up. "I'm all right and jolly as possible, and if
you think I'm going to let you and Murri do all the work you are
mistaken."
"You want your breakfast," said Alec, with a laugh. "You are hungry,
and think us slow. Don't do the virtuous and pretend it is anything
else--I know better. Well, here you are then, youngster; take this wood
and make the fire up. I'll go and fill the 'billy.'"
After their breakfast, at which George certainly did not behave much
like an invalid, they saw that all the horses were close to, and then
they walked off with Murri to the entrance of the glen, near to which
they were encamped. Across an enormous plain of sand and spinifex and
tangled _mulga_ scrub, that was marked here and there with long dark
lines of bush where the creaks and watercourses ran, lay the great blue
mountains, towering high into the lambent sky, amongst which was hidden
the golden treasure that they sought. It was a glorious sight, for not
a cloud obscured the sky, and in that marvellous atmosphere every ridge
and azure peak stood out as clearly and sharply defined as though no
sixty miles of air lay between the mountain range and the place where
the boys stood.
Whilst the lads were looking at this noble view, which lay spread
before them like a grand panorama, Murri, who did not care to waste his
time in any such unpractical proceedings, was carefully examining the
great trees, under whose shade they stood, to see if he could find
traces of opossum in them. Signs that any one but a native would
completely ignore were all that he had to guide him, and his quickness
of vision in detecting these traces was wonderful. Murri would saunter
to a tree that he thought looked promising, and if an opossum had
climbed it he would instantly detect the little scratches the animal
had made in ascending. He quickly found a massive tree which bore on
its bark the toe-holes of an opossum; he then sought for one of these
that had a little earth still sticking to it. When he had found it he
softly blew on the earth to see if it held together. It did not; it was
dry, and crumbled away at once, telling him by its so doing that the
marks were not very recent ones. If the opossum had climbed the tree
that morning the earth would have been damp, and would have held
together when he blew on it.
"Bail potchum" (no 'possum) "on um tree. Must go catch kangaroo, you
_mil-mil_" (see); "clever fellow, Murri."
The native was away for about two hours, and when he returned he
brought the body of a good large kangaroo with him, which he had
stalked and killed.
This addition to their stores was very useful, and indeed, necessary,
for although they had managed to get Dandy back again, all the
provisions that Prince Tom had stolen from them and packed on him had
utterly and hopelessly vanished. Murri himself cooked the animal, as is
the right and prerogative always of the man who slays the game, and ate
an enormous quantity of it also; but eat as he could there was enough
for all of them that night, and for their first meal next day. They
kept a keen watch that night again, but they neither heard nor saw
anything of the _myalls_.