After unpacking and hobbling the horses, they made a thorough investigation of the place to see if any trace of Stuart still existed, but they saw nothing to lead them to suppose that a white man had ever been there.
Columbus, on being appealed to, pointed to the hill, which was scarcely a quarter of a mile away. On going over to it they found what appeared to be a crude kind of barricade built of stones, a work that none of the party had ever before seen done by natives. This was the only indication they found that evening. The next morning early they ascended the hill, and from the top had an extended view all around. They were evidently on the highest point in that part of the continent. To the south and east it appeared to be one vast ocean of scrub, without a break to the horizon. They could trace the course of the creek for some short distance, then it apparently died out and was once more lost. Westward the scrub was broken into belts and patches, until it merged into a wide gray plain, to which they could see no end but the sky-line. Northward was the broken country they had passed over. The mountain was of granite formation, and on a smooth boulder they found some initials plainly chipped on the surface: "C. N. S. 1861".
"Stuart was here, then, right enough. I wonder whether he went on from here."
"He never got into the settled districts at any rate, or we should have heard of it."
Columbus, who had accompanied them, shook his head when asked about the country to the south and east. He made a gesture like a man falling down dead, by which they understood that it was impassable, so that the probability was that Stuart had perished in his attempt to make into civilization.
Brown struck a match and lit his pipe.
"We have come to the end of our tether in this direction," he said.
"I wonder how the lake bears from here," replied Morton. "I suppose the cannibals have a track from the great rock out to it, but if Stuart got down here on foot we ought to be able to find our way across on horseback."
Columbus, on being questioned as to the direction of the lake, pointed north, the way they had come.
"That's a way the niggers have," said Brown. "They always point to the last place they started from; they have no idea of direction. When we got back to the old camp he would point some other way."