Meantime his quick eye had caught sight of something else. “A good deal dinner in dis tree,” said he, and he made the white men observe some slight scratches on the bark. “Possum claws go up tree.” Then he showed them that there were no marks with the claw reversed, a clear proof the animal had not come down. “Possum in tree.”
The white men looked up into the bare tree with a mixture of wonder and incredulity. Jacky cut steps with his tomahawk and went up the main stem, which was short, and then up a fork, one out of about twelve; among all these he jumped about like a monkey till he found one that was hollow at the top.
“Throw Kalingalunga a stone, den he find possum a good deal quick.”
They could not find a stone for their lives, so, being hungry, Robinson threw a small nugget of gold he had in his pocket. Jacky caught it, placed it at the top of the hollow fork and let it drop. Listening keenly, his fine ear heard the nugget go down the fork, striking the wood first one side then another, and then at a certain part sound no more. Down he slips to that silent part, makes a deep cut with his tomahawk just above the spot, thrusts in his hand and pulls out a large opossum, yelling and scratching and emitting a delicious scent in an agony of fear. The tomahawk soon silenced him, and the carcass fell among the applauding whites. Now it was Robinson's turn. He carved the raw animal for greater expedition, and George helped him to wrap each limb and carcass in a thin covering of clay. Thus prepared, it was thrust into the great pile of burning ashes.
“Look yonder, do! look at that Jem! Why, Jem, what are you up to, patroling like a sentinel out there?”
“Never you heed Jem,” was the dry reply; “you mind the roast, captain, and I'll mind—my business;” and Jem continued to parade up and down with his gun cocked and his eye piercing the wood.
To Robinson's repeated and uneasy inquiries what meant this pantomime, Jem persisted in returning no answer but this: “You want your dinner, captain; eat your dinner, and then I'll hoffer a hobservation; meantime, as these woods are queer places, a little hextra caution is no sin.”
The pie dishes were now drawn out of the ashes and broken, and the meat baked with all its juices was greedily devoured. “It tastes like a rabbit stuffed with peppermint,” said George, “and uncommon nice it is. Now I am another man.”
“So am I; Jacky forever!”
“Now, Jem, I have dined. Your story, if you please. Why are you here? for you are a good fellow, but you haven't got gumption enough to say to yourself, 'These two will get lost in the bush, I'll take Jacky and pull them out.'”