"But we can't carry the hillock away," said Jack, hurriedly.
The difficulties of transport had at once appeared to his practical mind, and his words acted as a restraining tonic on the exhilarating spirits of the others.
"You're right there, Jack," agreed Mackay, with a smile, "but if we get plenty of water on the other side, we could very soon get machinery out here; an' I've a firm idea that our golden land o' promise lies just beyond this barrier." He tapped the rocky surface with his hand meditatively. "And more than that," he continued, with rising excitement, "I believe we'll find rubies and diamonds as well. I mind we picked up some rubies in the gullies around the last camp when I was here before. At least, Phil, the geologist, said they were rubies, an' I'd back his knowledge in that direction against any man's. He said they had been shed from some mountain or other, but, of course, we hadna seen the mountain at this time; and poor Phil never did see it, either."
They commenced to retrace their steps, for the night was fast closing in, and as they walked along, Bob stooped down occasionally to pick up pebbles from the silted driftage at his feet, and unobtrusively placed them in his pocket for future inspection. They had almost reached the place where they had unloaded the camels, when the Shadow shouted out triumphantly—
"Look, boys! I reckon there ain't no mistake about that nigger, is there?"
He was gazing at the ridge forming the summit of the mountain, and looking up, Bob saw a tall, dishevelled figure standing against the sky-line and waving his arms energetically.
"By gum, he is wild!" laughed Emu Bill; "an' what a dandy outfit he's got; why, the beggar's got a 'possum blanket over him."
He raised his rifle mechanically, but Mackay had already levelled his piece at the silhouetted form.
"Please don't shoot," pleaded Bob, staying his hand. "It almost seems like murder to kill a man like that."
Mackay lowered his weapon with a groan, and Bob, looking upwards once more, was astounded to see the object of his commiseration extending his hands as if in benediction. He stood thus for a moment, then, with a despairing gesture, pointed towards the Western desert.