‘A formidable weapon,’ he said, holding it out to Edgar.
‘That is a nulla-nulla,’ said Yacka. ‘Crack a man’s skull easily.’
‘What is it weighted with?’ asked Edgar.
‘Nothing,’ said Yacka. ‘Very hard, heavy wood, all smoothed down with sharp stone and rubbed with coarse sand. Never break it. Hard as iron.’
‘Are they used in your tribal wars?’ asked Will.
Yacka nodded and said:
‘Terrible blows from them. Split a man’s head right open. See!’ He took the weapon from Edgar, and with one blow shattered the dead kangaroo’s skull. It split in two, and Yacka scooped out the brains. He then cut off the tail, and said, ‘Have good soup to-night. This fellow make better soup than ox-tail.’
They shook their heads sceptically; the tail did not look very inviting then.
Yacka selected a spot to camp in near a small spring of water. He then proceeded to make a fire, collecting sundry dry pieces of wood and a kind of moss for the purpose. He filled the large ‘billy’ can he carried during the day slung across his back with sundry other articles, and, having skinned the kangaroo’s tail, cut it up into small pieces, and put it in the can.
How he managed to make it so tasty Edgar could not imagine, but it was delicious, and they voted Yacka was right when he said it was better than ox-tail.