* * *
Yet there was a great deal more to the business of Appoota Mbulkara than Twofoot Jack had revealed to his son, on both this occasion and earlier. Much had been withheld, matters the old man had no intention of divulging until his very last hours.
Nor had Tyler and Watts been overly truthful. The fact was they didn’t need a guide. In their Toyota was a computer with a satellite internet connection and a GPS. They could down-load Google Earth images showing in detail the area’s every road, creek, tree, hill and outcrop, and the GPS could deliver them precisely there, even in the trackless spinifex country of the North Simpson Desert.
In addition to that, earlier, in Alice Springs, Sayd Kaseem had let something slip – something Tyler and Watts had later realised would save them a good deal of driving around.
Sayd had mentioned that the outcrop in question was an Aboriginal Secret Place, so all they really needed was someone who knew which particular hill it was.
Then, on approaching the right one, their “guide” would oblige by protesting and try to divert them.
McCullock's Gold Page 15