But Stewart was still uneasy. "Their spears ha' an ex-tra-or'-nar' bluid-thirsty look," he grumbled again, examining the double-barbed weapons he had collected, "an' I hae nae faith whitever in they black-skinned heathen."
However, the night passed without alarm, though we kept a careful watch and were ready for an attack should any have been attempted.
We continued our march next morning, and in less than half an hour had emerged into open country, but now the surface soil was of a hard, gravelly nature, liberally strewn with the iron pebbles so abundant in more southerly latitudes. Straggling growths of mallee and mulga spread everywhere, and at their roots reptiles and numberless nameless pests seemed to abide. Black snakes writhed across our path, centipedes squirmed over our boots, iguanas in myriads started before our approach, and flying creatures with hard, scaly wings rose from the shadeless branches and dashed into our faces. Flies in dense clouds assailed us, causing indescribable torture, and the diminutive sand insect was also extremely active, seeking into our socks and ragged clothing despite our most stringent precautions.
For over a week we journeyed across this dreary wilderness, nor did we once observe a break in the horizon's even curve; the weather, meanwhile, being of sweltering description. Then a dim haze towards the north-east gradually outlined into a well-defined mountain range as we advanced, and the country in general took on a more irregular appearance. We were now nearing the line of the explorer Wells's northward march, and I altered our course slightly in order to intersect it at a point where a good water supply was charted, for four days had elapsed since we had last discovered any trace of moisture.
All that day we forced onwards wearily, the sun beating down upon us mercilessly the while. No more desolate tract could be imagined than that which lies in these latitudes: the motionless mallee and mulga shrubs, the glistening beady surface over which we dragged our feet, the quivering heat haze that so distorted our vision, and the solemn stillness—the awful stillness of a tomb—all tended to overwhelm the mind. A broken range of sandstone hills loomed clearly out of the haze early in the afternoon, directly in our track, and I again shifted the course so as to round their southern extremity. Towards the south the sand wastes extended far as the eye could reach, but east and north many mouldering peaks now interrupted our view.
We found the spring without difficulty; it contained about forty gallons of muddy water, over which a thick green scum had gathered, and it was simply moving with animal life. Many bones of doubtful origin lay heaped near to it; some were probably the remains of kangaroos killed by the natives, of whom there were numerous signs in the neighbourhood, but Phil insisted that not a few human bones were among the bleaching mass. At the bottom of the spring the complete vertebræ of several snakes and similar reptiles almost wholly covered the chalky, impervious base, but how these came to be there was a matter beyond my comprehension.
"Most probably," said Phil, "the natives like a snaky flavour in the water."
"It mak's it extra paleetable tae them, nae doot," groaned Mac with a shudder, "but I hae nae parshiality fur crawly bastes, even when they're deid."
Stewart had by this time acquired a philosophical turn of mind. "What's the guid o' growlin', Mac?" he snorted. "There's mebbe waur than that tae come yet."
That we were in a district favoured by the blacks was very certain, although we had not yet observed any of the dusky savages; three or four breakwinds sheltered a space close to the spring, and the ground was black with burnt-out smokes and charred logs. The water, notwithstanding its pronounced medicinal flavour, was a great improvement on the fetid solutions of the various soaks we had encountered, and we decided to camp by it for several days, so as to test the auriferous resources of the surface sands, which looked rather promising, and also to give us time to make some much-needed repairs in our tattered wardrobe.