He ripped off a sleeve of his garment and handed it to Mackay, and with it Bob's arm was soon tightly dressed. And now the rosy light of approaching dawn began to spread over the scene, and the stars faded out one by one before the radiant sun's advance. Morning had come at last. Yes, morning had come, and with it appeared in all their grim hideousness the evidences of the long night's struggle. There was Never Never Dave stretched beside them, his calm white face gazing peacefully towards the heavens. A little way off four huddled forms lay bent up in the dust, their torn plumes scattered around them. Here and there arrows and clubs were strewn, and gory tracks marked the way towards the subterranean passage wherein the warriors had retreated. Bob surveyed the ghastly relics with a sorrowful countenance. Here to him was a new aspect of the wanderer's life. In the pursuit of Nature's treasure the risks were many if the rewards were great. All was not sunshine and romance and pleasurable excitement. He stood for some minutes in silent contemplation.
"Yes," he said aloud, "and I, too, would have been lying there, had it not been for you, Jack."
"Don't speak about it, Bob," returned the boy at his side, with a shudder. "How could I have gone home without you?"
Mackay had, in the mean time, been examining the discarded weapons of the aborigines with critical interest.
"It seems to me," he said quietly, "that we might all have been lying there if the warriors hadn't imagined us to be asleep. I can only find about twenty arrows altogether. I think they could only have carried one or two each, never dreaming they would have need for more."
"I reckon that is why they tried to rush us every time," remarked Emu Bill. "They were too cock-sure, they were; an' we've got to be thankful for it. But ain't this a funny get up for nigs, even if they is on for a corroborree dance?"
He pointed to the strange habiliments of the dead warriors. Each native was cloaked in a rich opossum robe, suspended from the shoulders almost down to the heels.
"I can't make them out, Bill," said Mackay. "They are different from any tribe I've ever run across before. They're bigger than an ordinary native, and their faces look almost intelligent. But we've forgotten about the mountain passage. Surely the blacks couldn't have made that. There's more o' a mystery here than I can fathom, Bill; but we'll soon know what it all means."
"I just reckon we will," grated Emu Bill as they turned away.