CHAPTER XV.
THROUGH THE RANGES.
Edgar Foster learned that Walter Hepburn had gone to Redbank a term or two after his father left the school. Hepburn was therefore well acquainted with the prowess of Edgar’s father in the cricket-field. It seemed very strange that they should all meet at Alice Springs, and it was a date to be noted as a red-letter day when the discovery was made. Had Walter Hepburn been free to leave his post, he would, after finding out they were Redbank boys, have joined them in their travels farther north. School ties bind men fast together, especially when such a good feeling existed as always did amongst Redbank lads.
The time came for parting, and when Yacka was sufficiently recovered they left the station amidst general regret, and a universally expressed wish to see them safe back again.
Yacka was quite himself as soon as all traces of civilization were left behind. Once in the ranges he revelled in the mountain air, and appeared familiar with every pathway. In one place they had a difficult task to perform. Yacka led them up to a gigantic cleft in the rocks, which towered high above them on either side. Between these high, rocky walls flowed a river, and up it Yacka said they must swim.
‘It will save a big climb over the rocks,’ he said, ‘and I can take your clothes on my head.’
There was nothing for it but to strip, and Edgar and Will were not averse to a good swim.
Yacka tied their clothes in a bundle, and placing the guns on the top, put them all on his head, far out of the reach of the water. He had tied the bundle under his chin with a strap, and it was marvellous to watch how he swam up the river with such a load on his head.
Edgar and Will plunged in after him, and found the water very cold; but the exertion of swimming kept the circulation of their blood up.
‘By Jove! it was a cold bath,’ said Will, as he stood drying himself in the sun. ‘It must be the rocks make it like iced-water.’
‘Very refreshing on a hot day,’ said Edgar. ‘They would give a trifle to have such a cool bathing-place at Yanda.’