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.’
as they proceeded they came across a number of watercourses and hills and valleys. they climbed to the top of high rocks, and descended again into level lands. at sundown they were tired out, and could hardly eat the supper yacka prepared for them. no sooner had they finished their meal than they were sound asleep. but yacka did not sleep; he stood looking down at them with his big eyes, and seemed to be in deep thought. the moonlight showed his black form standing over the two sleepers, and his attitude was one of dejection.
‘how white they are,’ he muttered, ‘and yacka so black! but they are not as white as enooma, and yacka is her son.’
he sat down, and commenced to reason in his own way as to why he should be black, and the two sleepers white. he could find no satisfactory solution to the problem. yacka knew naught of the white man’s god, but he had a wonderful amount of superstition in his nature, and a firm belief that the white spirit watched over him. yacka had no fear of death; he would have laughed at such a thought, and yet he did not understand what death really meant. had the blackfellow been able to express what he really thought about death, it would have been to the effect that it was merely the white spirit’s way of rewarding him for his work here by carrying him off to a country where he would be happy for ever. yacka slept but little that night, but he was awake early, and ready to start again.
the ranges were passed, and they were now in more open country. on the lowlands were numerous bushes, mulga on the hills, and gum and tea tree in the creeks. plains of salt-bush could be seen, but on to the west they descried grass-land.
for several days they tramped on, living on the simplest fare, and yet feeling strong and well, and fit for almost any exertion.
‘where are all the blacks we heard so much about?’ said edgar. ‘we have met none yet.’
‘we shall be in the enooma country by sunset to-morrow,’ said yacka; ‘then you will see men of my tribe.’
yacka spoke truly. the next night they came across a blacks’ camp. to edgar’s surprise there were between two and three hundred of them. as they approached yacka made a peculiar sound like the shrill cry of a parrot, only with quite a different note, which roused the blacks, and several rushed forward to meet them.
when they saw yacka the effect was astonishing. at first they looked at him in amazement, then an old man cried aloud, ‘yacka! yacka! enooma! enooma!’ and the whole of the blacks, surrounding him, knelt before him.
there was a proud look on yacka’s face as he motioned them to rise. then he spoke rapidly in the native tongue, and pointed to edgar and will.
the blacks gave vent to warlike cries, and, shaking their wooden spears high in the air, drove them into the ground with terrific force.
‘that means they will kill any man who does you harm,’ said yacka. ‘you are safe here, and the whole tribe will protect you.’
they moved towards the camp, and at their approach the blacks stood up and awaited their coming with eager and excited looks.
yacka was known to them, and was evidently an important man with the tribe. edgar fancied they regarded him with something akin to fear, and said to will:
‘we were right to trust yacka, for these blacks stand in awe of him, and we shall be safe with them.’
‘they are a savage-looking lot,’ said will, ‘and i should not care to have come amongst them alone. if these are the men who molest the settlers, i am not surprised at the white men hating them.’
the blacks were tall, powerful men, of a far different stamp to those in the west of new south wales. yacka was small beside some of them, and many were six feet high and over. they were all armed with native weapons, and were well prepared for any encounter. as they were in such strong force, edgar came to the conclusion they must be on the war-path, and questioned yacka.
‘they are always armed,’ said yacka. ‘the curracoo tribe are their deadly enemies, and when they meet they fight.’
‘i never heard of that tribe,’ said edgar.
‘the enooma and the curracoo are not known except in this part of australia,’ said yacka. ‘they are tribes of the macdonnell and musgrave blacks. they fight savagely. the curracoo wish to seize the white spirit of the enooma, and think to capture her; but they know nothing of our country, nor of the caves we are going to.’
the blacks regarded edgar and will with much curiosity, and from the manner in which many of them pointed at their own bodies and then at edgar’s, he thought they could not have seen many white men. it was a strange sensation for the two friends to lie awake in the midst of a camp of over two hundred savage blacks, and wonder what was about to happen.
early in the morning they were aroused by loud warlike cries, and yacka hurried up to them and said:
‘follow me; the curracoo are at hand, and there will be a fight.’
‘and if the enooma are beaten, what will become of us?’ said will.
‘the enooma will win,’ said yacka. ‘if beaten, yacka can save you.’
he led them to a small hill not far distant from the camp, and bade them remain until his return.
‘you can see the fight,’ he said, ‘and there is no danger.’
‘this is a lively situation,’ said edgar. ‘with all due respect to yacka, if his tribe is defeated, the curracoo will make short work of us.’
‘there they are!’ said will, pointing excitedly to a dark mass moving across the open country.
‘it seems to me there are some hundreds of them,’ said edgar; ‘far more than the enooma. this is a poor look-out, will. we must be prepared to fight for our lives.’
as they stood on the rising ground they had a splendid view of the plain below, and were soon absorbed in the scene before them. the two bodies of blacks were approaching nearer and nearer, and neither tribe shirked an encounter. they could see yacka standing some distance apart, and evidently directing the movements of the enooma.
‘yacka has learned something in the big cities,’ said edgar; ‘look where he has sent about fifty men round that clump of trees, where they are hidden from the enemy. they intend to make an attack on the rear that will prove successful.’
suddenly, and without a moment’s warning, the whole scene changed. on the plain, that a moment before had contained two bodies of blacks advancing towards each other, there was now a confused mass of figures, uttering terrible cries and fighting like furies. the sound of blows could be heard above the din, and the grass was dotted with the forms of fallen blacks. they were at too close quarters for spears, and were using heavy nulla-nullas, and warding off the blows with wooden shields.
they saw yacka quietly surveying the scene, and wondered why he did not join in.
‘he is waiting for a favourable opportunity,’ said edgar. ‘those men behind the trees have not moved yet.’
the cries of the fighting blacks became more and more wild and furious. they looked like fiends dancing about in a frenzy, and dealing blows on every hand. one huge fellow, a chief of the enooma, did terrible execution with an enormous weapon which he whirled about like a battle-axe, and edgar and will watched him with a fascination that deadened all sense of their own danger if the tribe suffered defeat.
‘look at him!’ said edgar. ‘he’s mowing them down like grass. no one can stand in his way. his wrist play is splendid—it reminds me of club exercise at school.’
‘it’s a trifle more exciting than that,’ said will. ‘what strength the fellow has! he could fell an ox with one of those terrible blows. nothing can stop him.’
as though to give the lie to his words, a black, nearly as big as the enooma chief, barred his way, and a desperate combat took place. both men had wooden shields with which they dexterously warded off the blows. they were evenly matched, although the enooma black was a shade taller than his opponent. both were mad with rage and thirst for blood, and it was a duel to the death.
‘he’s down!’ shouted edgar, as the enooma chief slipped; but it was only a feint, as the black, dodging a blow aimed at his head by his opponent, suddenly raised himself. the curracoo overbalanced himself with the force of the blow, and fell forward. as he stumbled along, the enooma, raising his huge club on high, brought it down with tremendous force on the back of the curracoo’s head. where they stood they could hear the blow, and edgar shuddered as he saw the black’s head split open, and he fell dead on the ground.
seeing their champion killed, the curracoo wavered; and, seizing this favourable opportunity, yacka, uttering a loud war-yell, sprang forward and called upon the men in ambush to follow him. in a few minutes the enooma blacks were furiously attacking the curracoos in the rear. unaccustomed to these tactics, the curracoos were terrified, and at once tried to run away from the danger. this, however, was impossible; they were hemmed in on all sides, and by merciless foes who knew not the meaning of the word ‘quarter.’ it was a fearful sight to see these blacks felled to the ground by the heavy blows rained upon them on all sides. the enooma were bent upon slaughter, and killed their enemies without mercy. the plain had every appearance of a battle-field, and in some places half a dozen blacks were piled in a heap, dead.
at a signal from yacka the enooma ceased fighting, and, surrounding the blacks still left alive, held them prisoners. these men were disarmed and marched off towards the camp. a few of the curracoos could be seen flying from the scene of the battle which had proved so fatal to them, but comparatively few of them escaped.
yacka came to edgar and will, and they saw he was almost covered with blood, and his club was dripping dark-red drops. the black’s eyes shone with the light of battle and thirst for blood. all the savage nature of this strange being was roused, and the cruelty in him was uppermost. he shook the blood-stained club over his head, and said:
‘victory to the enooma. there has been a terrible slaughter. come and see. yacka will show you how the enooma strike their enemies.’
edgar and will descended from the hill where they had witnessed the fight, and followed yacka on to the field of battle.
