The natives, who had retained their positions around the fire in spite of the burning hut, and danger of their comrade, uttered a low grunt when they saw Smith drag the brute from the flames; but whether that expression was intended for satisfaction or regret, I was too little acquainted with the customs of the tribe to tell. They took no further notice of either their torpid companion or our party, until suddenly an idea appeared to enter the head of one, smarter looking than his fellows. He got with difficulty upon his feet, leaving his burning meat upon the coals, and waddling towards the insensible native, knelt beside him.
"Look!" cried Fred, suspending the operation of eating supper to call attention to the fact. "Look, and never say that the natives are destitute of feeling again."
Fred intended to be particularly severe upon Smith; but that worthy merely glanced in the direction indicated, and, after a brief shrug of his shoulders, took himself to his meal with renewed energy.
"You are convinced, I suppose?" Fred asked.
"Convinced that the lazy scamp recollects where the tobacco was put, and is determined to rob the over-fed brute of his treasure."
We found that the convict was right, for the native, after fumbling at the insensible man's girdle for a moment, reappeared at the fire, and something like a grin of triumph lighted up his greasy features, as he exposed to the admiring gaze the piece of tobacco which Fred had given away.
Tired with our day's journey, and feeling sleepy after our meal, we soon returned to the shelter of the cart for a night's rest; but before we went, we were careful enough to pack up all of our cooking apparatus, and also to place our rifles close at hand, although Smith told us that the precaution was useless, as the natives never waged warfare upon full stomachs.
It was long past daylight, when the hearty voice of the convict roused us from a deep sleep, where dreams of home and comforts of civilization were much pleasanter things to contemplate, than the half-naked bodies of ten natives, who were lying upon the ground, circling the cold ashes, where the night before a fire blazed. They lay like black snakes gorged with carrion—lifeless and torpid, and nothing but repeated doses of water upon their naked backs would rouse them.
"Go and take a bath," cried Smith, as we sat upright and rubbed our eyes, and yawned sleepily.