What did he see when he got there?
To the westward the forest soon came to an abrupt stop, and beyond stretched a great gray plain, bounded by something that Charlie could not make out, and which had evidently puzzled Brown and Morton. It was not water, although it looked something like it; it was a broad sheet of pale blue, glistening in places under the sun's rays, and beyond, above a quivering haze, was a dark object like a distant ridge.
"What name, Billy?" said Charlie to the black boy, who had climbed up after him. "Water?"
"Bal," said Billy decidedly. "Water sit down here, close up," he added, pointing to the edge of the forest.
"What name, then?" repeated Charlie.
"Mine think it mud, where water bin go bung," was the blackfellow's opinion, and with this they both descended.
"Well, Charlie, what do you make of it?" asked Morton.
"Billy thinks it's mud where the water has dried up," returned Charlie, as he had no opinion of his own to offer.
"And Billy's right, I believe. It must be the bed of a dry salt lake; but we'll get along to the edge of the timber and camp."
On the margin of the plain they came to some fine lagoons, with good grass for the horses, but nothing could be seen of the mysterious object ahead, excepting from the top of a tree.