‘Expect you have not come back loaded with wealth?’ said Will Henton.
‘Wait and see,’ said Edgar. ‘I rather fancy we have a surprise in store for you.’
‘Have you had a good time?’ said Ben Brody.
‘It has been a wonderful time, and we have seen many strange things, and gone through a good deal of hard work. I’m heartily glad to see Yanda again, but I would not have missed our experiences for the world.’
‘Same here,’ said Will Brown, ‘but I never wish to go through such a time again.’
Yacka rode quietly behind, a lonely black figure, the pain in his face showing how he still suffered. He was glad to see this hearty welcome, but it made him feel lonely. He had no friends such as these men at Yanda were. He was a wanderer, an outcast, a black, a despised native of the country these white men had taken from his people. But Yacka was, through all this, white enough at heart to know it was all for the best. His people could never become like these people, and the country in the hands of blacks, he knew, would still have been wild and desolate.
CHAPTER XXII.
TIME FLIES.
The hands at Yanda marvelled greatly at the tale Edgar told of their adventures, and they marvelled still more when the treasure they brought with them was shown.
‘And to think that black fellow knew all about it, and kept the secret so long,’ said Ben Brody. ‘I can hardly believe it is true. You must have travelled thousands of miles. All I can say is you deserve what you have got.’
After staying a few weeks at Yanda, where he received letters from home, and from Wal Jessop, Edgar decided to go to Sydney and see Eva again. Will Brown remained at Yanda, in order to gain more experience of station life.