CHAPTER IX.
Deciphering the Contents of the Pocket-book—An Exciting Discovery—Another Survivor of Leichhardt's Party, perhaps still living with a Tribe to the Westward—Charlie makes another Proposal.
As their camp was in every way a good one, and they wanted leisure to decide on their future movements, they determined to remain where they were for a few days.
Brown and Morton set themselves to sort out the contents of the old pocket-book, and Charlie and Billy went fishing and shooting, diversifying their sport with attempts at teaching Columbus to ride.
The pocket-book was found to contain many pages of faded writing, which would evidently take some time to decipher. Some parts were still legible enough, others had suffered mutilation and damage from water and smoke. Fortunately the handwriting appeared to be that of an educated man, so that once they got accustomed to it they would be able to piece it together with a fair amount of ease.
It took them nearly all day to sort the leaves out into the proper sequence of dates, and in doing so they gained a rough idea of the contents. They found that the journal was written by one of three survivors of Dr. Leichhardt's party, named Stuart. He and two others (Kelly and Murphy) had been living for some time with a tribe of friendly blacks to the westward. Kelly had been killed during a fight with the cannibal tribe whose annihilation they had witnessed. The journal recorded up to the death of Kelly and a few weeks beyond, but gave no clue to the subsequent life or fate of the survivors. One of them, Brown and Morton agreed, was the old white man who had died in the cave, but they did not believe that he was the writer of the journal. It was more likely to have been written by Stuart, and the fate of this man greatly excited their curiosity and sympathy. Was he still living with the friendly tribe to the westward?
This question, they felt with sorrow, must be answered in the negative. The presence of his companion, the old white man, evidently a prisoner amongst the cannibals for years, and the strangely preserved unfinished journal, pointed conclusively to another fight, the probable death of Stuart, and the capture of Murphy.
"But," suggested Morton hopefully, "those captives they brought in possibly came from this friendly tribe, which proves that they are still in existence. Why should not Stuart be yet amongst them?"
"I hope so, but cannot think it likely," said Brown. "What sort of a man should you think him to be by the rough idea we have of his journal?"
"A good, self-reliant man."
"Exactly. And I think that if he was still alive he would have trained his tribe up to fight these cannibals, and probably have wiped them out before now and rescued his comrade."
"I must confess that your reasoning sounds conclusive enough, but I won't give up the hope of finding him alive."
"Nor I, although it is hoping against hope."
"We must try and find out from Columbus whether this last batch of victims came from Stuart's tribe; he might know whether he is dead or alive."
That evening Columbus, who had had several spills during his riding-lessons, much to Billy's delight, was interrogated about the tribe to the westward. It came out that there were two tribes which the cannibals harassed, one to the south and one to the west. To the north Columbus intimated that there were no natives. The last raid had been made on the tribe to the westward, who lived by a lake. Further examination elicited the fact that Murphy had been brought from there a long, long time ago; also, that another white man was there who had killed a lot of cannibals and frightened them; but that was also long ago, and now they had been there two or three times and not seen him. They learnt also that he went about everywhere, for he was with the tribe to the south one time when they went there, and had killed some of them there. The southern tribe lived near a mountain.
This was the extent of the information which, after much puzzling on both sides, was gleaned from the cannibal chief.
It rather complicated matters. Was Stuart to the west or south? Which way would they go first? On going into the subject again it appeared that the way to the south was the easier; to the west, as was evident by Stuart's journal, a long stage of dry desert country had to be crossed.
"At any rate," said Morton, "we have a couple of days to think it over. We must make a legible transcription of that journal, and I propose that we make two copies; I will keep one, Charlie another, and you, Brown, stick to the original. This will ensure us somewhat against accident."
"Can I go and explore that hole where the crater disappeared while you're busy at that?" said Charlie.
"Go by yourself?" asked Morton.
"No. I'll take Billy and Columbus."
"And supposing these missing men, the six sent to take the corpse to the cemetery, turn up while you are in amongst the rocks? What chance would you and Billy have, especially if Columbus went over to their side?"
"I'd take care Columbus didn't turn traitor," said Charlie viciously.
"What do you say, Brown?" inquired Morton. "Shall we let Charlie go?"
"How do you propose getting down the hole?" asked Brown.
"We can climb down," returned Charlie.
"I don't think you'll find either Billy or Columbus go far with you," said Morton. "If we had any sort of a rope I should not mind, but there's nothing but the tent-line, and that's not strong enough."
"I'll take great care," pleaded Charlie.
"No doubt you will, but if you make a slip and flop down some thirty or forty feet, no amount of care will get you back again with sound bones."
Charlie looked unconvinced.
"We could keep a look-out for the absent natives," said Brown. "They are bound to come along this track, I suppose."
"Could not Columbus make some sort of a mark to stop them?"
"I'm afraid not. Blacks can communicate in some way—you have seen their 'yabber-sticks', I suppose,—but I don't think we could make Columbus understand what we wanted, nor do I suppose he would do it if we could."
"Strange how they can communicate, though. The time Faithful's party were murdered in Victoria, the blacks in the settled districts knew of it long before the whites did."
"Well, can I go or not?" demanded Charlie.
"I'll sleep on it," replied Morton. "I think you can take care of yourself, and I can trust Billy as far as one can trust a blackfellow. But remember, I am responsible for you, and if anything happened to you I should be to blame."
With this Charlie had to content himself until the next morning.
Morton and Brown stopped up late, smoking by the fire.
"Shall you let the boy go?" asked Brown.
"I think so, but I'm doubtful of those fellows behind; they might slip past us in the dark and fall foul of Charlie when he was not expecting them. If they had fair play Charlie and Billy could hold their own, but they might take them at a disadvantage in amongst those boulders."
At this moment a wailing cry in the distance made them both start. The cry exactly resembled the mourning lamentations they had heard in the scrub.
"That settles one part of the question," said Brown. "Those fellows are on their way back. Kick old Columbus up and get him to answer them."
Morton promptly roused the slumbering chieftain, and when he heard the approaching cry he at once answered it. Then he went out to meet them. Apparently he soon told them all about the catastrophe that had taken place, for presently a great cry went up. Columbus soon after appeared, leading them into the firelight. Six truculent-looking ruffians they were, but it was evident that Columbus had impressed them with a due respect for the power of the whites, to whose anger he attributed the misfortune that had befallen their tribe, for they all wore a very humble and downcast air.
Charlie, who had come out of the tent on hearing the noise, gave them some food, and they made a fire apart and squatted beside it, Columbus being cautioned against allowing them to sneak off during the night. As the blacks were unarmed, and they now had all the survivors under their direct observation, no watch was kept, and the late enemies soon slept soundly without any misgivings.