No such comfort, however, was allowed them. First one, and then another, became restless; a gnawing pain devoured their stomachs; an insatiable thirst consumed them; and then the first painful wail was heard that proclaimed the poison at its work. The wail increased; the agonies of the victims became insufferable; and, in their anguish and suffering, many rushed to the river to drink their last draught; while others threw themselves into the fires or on the ground, gnashing their teeth and biting the earth in the intensity of their torments. All now bemoaned their fate, and cursed their participation in what they plainly saw was their funeral feast.
Jemmy Davies calmly, though sorrowfully, gazed upon the scene. He imagined the cause of his countrymen's sufferings, for he had, in the days of his civilisation, seen his master poison meat for the native dogs, and he had seen them die from the effects of the poison. He therefore understood its mysterious workings, and at once detected its operations in the suffering beings before him. Not so his countrymen; they imagined their fate was produced by his curse; believing that he possessed the secret power of working their death by some spells or occult influence he had acquired from the whites; and they therefore crouched before him and implored his relief. But he, poor semi-savage, could do nothing for them, and he knew they must die. The melancholy scene before him overcame his fortitude, and he burst into tears as he exclaimed:
"I can't help you, my brothers; I do not kill you, it is the white fellow that kills you for stealing his rations. He has made his meat to kill you because you eat it; if you had not eaten it you would have lived."
CHAPTER VIII.
"In Lybian groves, where damned rites are done,
That bathe the rocks in blood, and veil the sun."
Campbell.
As the residents of Fern Vale early bestirred themselves on this eventful morning their astonishment was great at the continued altercations which seemed to agitate the black's camp. None of the party had ever heard them continue their discussions so unceasingly; and the Fergusons and their friends were disposed to think that it presaged some evil. They therefore proposed, that their intended visit for that day should be made at once, so that they might learn the cause of the strange agitation; and acting on this decision the four horsemen were speedily mounted and on their way to the "flats."