And so it was arranged; the four tired beasts were unloaded, the bell was unstrapped from Misery's neck, and the Shadow led them out to the plains, manœuvring most carefully in his passage between the bubbling caldrons. In a few minutes he returned, with a somewhat anxious visage.
"I is pretty certain I saw a nig on the top o' the hill when I was out back a bit," he announced.
"On the top o' the hill?" cried Emu Bill, incredulously. "Well, if they don't pop too many spears at us, I don't mind if they stay there until we get up."
"But you couldn't see anything through the haze, Shad," said Bob.
"I just did. The top o' the concern was shining strong in the sun, an' I got a sight o' a big nigger dressed like a corroborree mourner standin' looking' at me."
It was quite possible that the Shadow's information was correct, for the fine haze in the upper air would barely have obscured the bold ridge of the mountain summit, especially with the sun's rays beating strong upon it. Yet it was evident that the young bushman's statement was received with considerable unbelief.
"It's been a hallucination, Shad," laughed Jack.
It was already late in the afternoon, and it would have been useless to attempt the climb that night, so a tour of investigation was made in order to discover the least impregnable aspect of the frowning barrier, and as the little party moved along they carried their rifles ready for immediate action in case of a sudden alarm. But not a sign of natives was observed, and they tramped mile after mile over the jagged rocky débris lining the base of the mountain without once noting an easier place of ascent than that which they had first gazed upon. Not a trace of vegetation showed on the steep declivity; the bare rocks scintillated in the last rays of the setting sun, and showed up barren and forbidding. Here and there deep clefts appeared, striating the gloomy formation, and cutting deep into the heart of the mountain. It was one of these that drew an exclamation from Mackay.
"That looks vera like the cap o' a gold-bearing lode showing at the bottom o' the gully," he cried. He crept carefully into the yawning crevice, and broke off a piece of the supposed auriferous stone with the iron heel of his boot. "Decomposed diorite," he announced, "and showing gold all over. I do believe the whole mountain is just a mass of gold lodes an' leaders."
"Well, I'm blest," murmured Emu Bill, "if that don't beat everything——"