Long-shinned,
Thin-thighed fellow."
And then every now and then, with a sort of scornful laugh, he would add—
"Mat-ta, mat-ta, yungore bya,
Mat-ta, mat-ta, yungore bya."
"Oh, what legs, oh, what legs, the kangaroo-like fellow,
Oh, what legs, oh, what legs, the kangaroo-like fellow."
This singing did not trouble the boys much; they made Tom move off to a distance, and then the sound of his chanting only made them feel drowsy in the hot afternoon air, and in the shade of the thick bushes they slept till it was time to push on to their camping-place for the night.
They noticed many signs of natives being in the neighbourhood, their steps in the sand and the remains of their fires, but Murri said that the party had gone off towards the west, probably in search of water, as the water holes in that creek were all dried up.
By sunset they were well amongst the hills of the ranges they had been aiming for. They had left the bed of the river soon after they had started again in the afternoon. The country had grown much wilder, there was less bush about it, and the hills themselves were only covered with coarse native grasses, and ti-scrub and mulga. They camped that night in a rocky ravine, on either side of which the steep hills rose to a little height, leaving only a broad strip of sky above them. Here they were able to drink—themselves and their thirsting animals for they found a native well which, when they had scraped out the accumulations of sand that had drifted into it, gave them a little supply of water.