"No, quite drinkable—a slight sweet taste about it."
"I expect there's more water in it than when Stuart was here: these holes get salter as they dry up. Do you think it is the hole he was at?"
"I think it must be," returned Morton, as they turned and rode up the creek. "We ought to be able to get through to the mountain now, even if we don't come across that clay-pan."
"That's good news, at any rate. Did you see anything of that fire?"
"There appears to be a heavy bank of smoke to the eastward, but we must try and find a tree this evening to have a look-out from."
The camp was a fairly good one, although the grass was somewhat dry. After some searching Brown and Morton found a gum-tree which they could climb, but it was not of a sufficient height to afford them a good view of the surrounding country. They made out, however, that an extensive bush fire was raging to the eastward, and when it fell dark the glow was plainly visible. Brown said it was not as bright as when he saw it, as though the fire was now working away from them.
The following day they started on a straight course for the mountain on the creek, and rode the whole day through a barren region of scrub. That night the horses had to be tied up to trees, for there was neither grass nor water for them. However, they felt sure of arriving at the creek the next day.
"We ought to be getting to that big plain pretty soon," said Morton in the morning, as they were making an early start. "That is, if our reckoning is anyway near the mark."
They had scarcely been travelling an hour, when they suddenly rode from the scrub on to the plain, and before them in the distance, with a black haze of smoke as a background, was the mountain they were making for. The fire was seemingly beyond the mountain, as the plain, although covered with dry grass which would have burnt freely enough, had not been burnt.
Once out of the scrub they travelled more rapidly, and in the afternoon once more camped at the base of the mountain. All the eastern side of the creek was burnt bare, and when they ascended the hill they could see that the fire had ravaged most of the spinifex scrub and burnt up the country to the north. The outlook was even drearier than before, for the heat and flames had scorched the leaves of the low trees, and nothing but an expanse of dead foliage was beneath them.