‘Then we are to suppose that you made the attempt and succeeded?’ said Ardmillan. ‘I confess that I envy you. But how did you manage by yourself?’
‘You remember the day I left your place?’ said Gyp Warleigh, nodding to Wilfred. ‘I felt so savage and ashamed of myself that I determined to do something, or get rubbed out in the attempt. So I made through Monaro, crossed the Snowy River near Buckley’s crossing, and made straight for the foot of the big range. I was well armed, and had as much rations as I could carry. I knew the blacks were bad, but I had lived with more than one tribe, and thought I could manage them. I set myself to track the man old Tom spoke of. Of course, I’m a fair bushman,’ he added gravely. ‘I’ve never done anything else much all my life, so there’s no great credit in it.’
‘Had you no compass with you?’ inquired Argyll. ‘No? Then I differ from you in thinking there was nothing extraordinary in the adventure. Not one man in ten thousand would have risked it, or come out with his life.’
‘What does a man want with a compass who can see the sun now and then?’ asked the Australian. ‘He can steer by the lie of the country, the course of the water, if he has the bushman’s eye. I tracked up the old man’s mate, and found his first camp on the table land. It was easy after that. He couldn’t help but follow the leading range. It wasn’t such rough country after the first day. Game was plenty, so I lived well.’
‘How about the niggers?’ asked Churbett. ‘I should have felt too nervous to sketch or make any use of my opportunities. Fancy going to sleep at night and thinking you mightn’t want any breakfast!’
‘I had a better chance than most men. I’m half a blackfellow myself in the way of knowing their language and most of their ways. I did one of their old men a service, and he taught me a secret that saved my life more than once. Still, I didn’t want to run across them if I could help it.’
‘I should have thought you couldn’t avoid them,’ said Hamilton. ‘They are great trackers, and have eyes like hawks.’
‘I know that, but I could see their smokes a long way. I lay by during the day and travelled late and early. One day I climbed a tree on the top of a range, when I saw a cluster of snowy mountains, and on the far side of them the waters of a lake. I had found Omeo.’
‘You must have felt like Columbus or Cortez gazing upon the two oceans,’ said Ardmillan. ‘What a grand sensation.’
‘Columbus discovered America, didn’t he? The other chap I don’t remember hearing about. Well, I partly discovered Omeo, I suppose, and a bitter cold morning it was. I crawled down to the shore, and before I got there could see miles and miles of splendid open country, stretching away to the west. There were no more mountains; and as I pulled up next day, on the bank of a big river, I found myself surrounded by a tribe of blacks.’