The Plague, Pestilence & Apocalypse MEGAPACK™

by Robert Reed

  point, and Jack’s of two three points, two three; that is to say I used

  a bullet and Jack used shot . We were beginning to be favourites, and

  even Bomero himself liked us, for although he showed at first some

  signs of being jealous, we treated him with such deference that he

  soon forgot his jealousy . Jack had a black leather belt for wearing

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  round the waist, and we made Bomero a formal present of this . We

  explained its use to him and put it round his kilt . We could see that

  he was nearly overcome with childish delight, and yet the wily fel-

  low was knowing enough to repress all show of this feeling and to

  receive the gift with stolid gravity . He gave us in turn an eagle’s

  feather each, which he took off the kilt just where the belt would

  cover it, and these we received with becoming gratitude .

  A serious misfortune befell us about the eighth day, which was

  the occasion of another compliment to Bomero . Jack’s horse fell

  dead lame, and we were obliged to let him loose in the bush . We

  presented the saddle to our black prince, and made a throne of it

  for him, and one evening that we camped earlier than usual we per-

  suaded him to hold a levee . Jack explained the matter to Gioro, and

  Gioro to Bomero . This was how Jack explained it .

  Gioro . What’s levee?

  Jack . Boss white fellow stands on daïs . No, sits on throne, throne

  all same saddle and stirrups; other white fellows march up, march

  down again, come this way, go that way, all same little stars and red

  star . Bow to boss white fellow . Boss white fellow bows to them .

  Boss black fellow all same boss white fellow .

  Bomero took readily to the proposal . We picked out a fallen tree

  high enough and wide enough. We fixed up the saddle upon it, the

  stirrups touching the ground . Bomero got astride of this with a spear

  in each hand . I passed before him bowing, and Jack followed me .

  All the others followed him . They took to it as if they had been

  born courtiers. They would not be satisfied until every adult man

  had made his bow, and we had something to do to keep them from

  beginning all over again . It was ludicrous to the last degree . The tall,

  bulky black fellow sat on the saddle with the tree under him like a

  hobby-horse, his head was all stuck over with feathers and the tails

  of opossums; his little cloak of skins and kilt of platted leaves were

  fastened with Jack’s belt, and he held his two spears, one in each

  hand, and he looked as sober and solemn as a judge, and the other

  fellows as much in earnest as if they were freemasons in full regalia,

  or doctors of divinity in academic dress . I stole a look at Jack, and

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  the villain replied with one of those winks which never fail to upset

  me . He let the lid of one eye fall completely, the other eye remain-

  ing wide open, and not a wrinkle in his face . A loud laugh would

  have spoiled the fun, and might even have been dangerous, but I

  saved myself with a fit of coughing. After the levee Bomero told

  off two men to have charge of the saddle . And for the next few days

  Jack and I walked, each of us, half the march, and rode the other .

  Once only during these twelve days did I see anything to give me

  any special uneasiness . One evening we camped a little earlier than

  usual and I noticed that Gioro was watched and dogged by two very

  ill-looking fellows whom I had noticed as being in some sort lead-

  ers . They stepped behind a clump of trees as he was passing, and as

  he returned they hid themselves again while he passed . I mentioned

  this to Gioro and he proved to be aware of their hostility . They were

  big men, he said, in the tribe, but Bomero was the biggest of all the

  men, and he was Gioro’s friend .

  About the morning of the twelfth day there was some trouble .

  We had come to a point where it was necessary to leave the course

  of one creek and to strike that of another. But a very destructive fire

  had passed over the place, followed, as it seemed, by heavy rains,

  and the track was quite obliterated . Certain trees also which would

  have served as guides had been entirely destroyed . And to increase

  the confusion the weather was foggy . Dense clouds rested on and

  hid some hills which might have served as landmarks .

  Bomero went out to reconnoitre, and he took Gioro and another

  with him, and when they returned I could see that his mind was made

  up as to the course he would take, but that he was, nevertheless, as

  much perplexed as ever . He gave the word and we struck out a little

  north of west, and after travelling about three times as far as it had

  yet fallen us to get from water to water we struck another creek . We

  marched along the creek for another day, scarce ever losing sight of

  it, and then we camped by the water again . Next morning we left the

  women and children in camp, and about half the men, and Bomero

  with the ablest and quickest of the men marched away in search

  of another creek . Jack and I went with him, and as my horse was

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  in good working condition we took him with us . We struck water

  somewhat sooner than before and camped for the night . I saw that

  Bomero was still perplexed, and I gathered from Gioro that his per-

  plexity was caused by the conviction that he was now considerably

  out of his course, that he had gone too far north and had overshot the

  mark, and that we should have to go a day’s march south and east

  before we could resume the straight course to the place of meeting .

  The horizon was still clouded, and there was no sign at present of

  the clouds lifting soon .

  All this, however, was by no means enough to account for Bome-

  ro’s evident perturbation of mind . He was undoubtedly a clever and

  cool fellow, and one of much resource; there was abundance of water

  and food, we could not be far out of he track, and we had plenty of

  time, for as far as I could judge by the astronomical indications, we

  were a great many days and even weeks too soon; and the weather,

  barring the clouds, was everything that could be wished .

  Jack and I talked it over, and Jack reminded me of Gioro’s tale of

  the “dibble dibble all same white man” that Bomero had seen in the

  far west . “Depend upon it,” said Jack, “he thinks he is coming upon

  them again . The place, as Gioro said, was ‘more far’ than the place

  of meeting for the great Corrobboree, and he thinks that he is now

  getting ‘more far’ than there .”

  “And what of the dibble dibble that he saw there?” said I .

  “Oh, that’s the point,” said Jack . “No doubt they were white men;

  some pioneers from the north coast, perhaps, or maybe the men on

  some outlying station of some western squatter’s run, and if so we

  shall get back to civillsatlon sooner than we think .”

  “I don’t see much in it, Jack,” said I; “we’re not far enough west

  for that; if we were on the head-waters of the western slope we

>   might be on the look-out for white pioneers, but I am afraid we are

  near as far from there as from the telegraph wire . Bomero’s ‘dibble

  dibble’ was either a pure invention or the suggestion of a dream, or

  if he did come across white men he must have been farther west than

  he is here .”

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  On the morning of the fourteenth day Bomero harangued the men

  who were with him; he stood upon a veritable stump, a huge tree

  near the creek had been undermined by the flood waters and had

  fallen and lay along the ground roofs and all . Bomero stood upon it

  and spoke, Jack and I stood by and listened, Gioro stood between us;

  he was in a state of great excitement, and he threw in every now and

  then a word of interpretation for our benefit, but indeed, by this time,

  we were able to follow the speaker fairly enough ourselves . It very

  soon became quite evident that Gioro’s tale of “dibble dibble” was

  at the bottom of our trouble; it was quite evident also that the spirit

  of the prophet was no longer subject to the prophet . Bomero pointed

  westward, where the clouds were now slowly rising from some not

  very distant hills, and what he said was to this effect .

  There was a hill away west where certain doleful creatures dwelt .

  He had once been very near there, and they had tried to take his

  llfe . They had tried to spear him through the air, and he who never

  feared men, feared them . He should know in a few minutes if that

  hill yonder was their hill; and if it was then he and his people must

  run and run till they got well out of sight of that hill . They had

  missed the way to the great Corroboree, but that was no matter; they

  would easily find it again, and there was plenty of time yet before

  the red star and the little stars would be gone . If they saw when the

  clouds rose (and they were now rising) that the hill was not their hill,

  then they would stay where they were to-day, and the witch fellows

  would dance the witch dance until all was clear, and on the next day

  they would go back to where the women were, and then they would

  strike the track, and be the first at the meeting-place. But if when the

  clouds rose, and they were now rising, they saw three peaks, a tall

  one in the middle, a crooked one on one side, and a straight one on

  the other, then Bomero and Bomero’s men must run, run, run, and

  never stop, except to breathe, while any one of the three peaks was

  to be seen . Let the black man knock his brains ou with his waddy,

  or let the white man spear him with his fire spear, but the devils that

  rode through the air on clouds, faster than eagles, were worse than

  any black men or white men .”

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  Bomero was evidently no longer master of himself or of his men .

  Whatever the cause of it was, there was a dreadful panic imminent,

  and no one could tell what was going to happen .

  Just then the clouds lifted quite away from the hill, and there,

  sure enough, were the three peaks, the tall one in the middle, and the

  crooked one and the straight one on either side .

  A low murmur burst from the men, and Bomero uttered a fright-

  ful howl, and plunged away madly round a hill that rose gently from

  the creek, and right on into the forest . All the men ran after him,

  most of them howling and shrieking; and my horse, which hung by

  the bridle to a branch close by, started, and snorted, and broke his

  rein, and rushed away before them at full gallop .

  The catastrophe, was so sudden that our breath seemed to be

  taken away, and I don’t know how many minutes passed before ei-

  ther spoke . I know that every man of the blacks had got clean out of

  sight, and my horse, too, and there was as dead a silence as before

  the world was made, and still there was not a word from either of us .

  Then Jack said in a hollow voice:

  “Why wasn’t the horse hobbled, Bob?”

  “Why, Jack, I had just taken the hobbles off, and made him ready

  for the road .”

  “Never mind, old fellow, I hardly know what I said; Gioro will

  come back .”

  “Yes,” I said, “Gioro will come back .”

  And then, as if our confidence in Gioro’s fidelity cleared the air,

  we sat down and lit our pipes . I don’t know how much time passed,

  it seemed to be hours, but it couldn’t have been near an hour, and

  Jack and I never exchanged a word . Then, sure enough, we saw

  Gioro coming, and he was leading my horse. I saw him first, and I

  jumped up and shouted for joy . Then Jack jumped up, but the shout

  died on his lips, and he said only, “There is something the matter .”

  And so there was . Both Gioro and the horse were wounded, and

  the wounds were deadly, for the spears that inflicted them were poi-

  soned. The horse died first. I took Gioro’s head on my lap, and gave

  him a few drops of water . He told me that he had caught the horse

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  by the bridle in passing, and that then he stopped and returned . He

  had not forgotten us, he said, not for a moment, nor would he have

  started at all if the horse had not started . The horse had stopped sev-

  eral times, and when he had come up with him had gone on again .

  But at last he had secured him and was returning . But several spears

  were flung at him, and many missed him, but the big men who had

  watched and dogged him took better aim, and struck both horse and

  man. At first he thought nothing of it, but presently he knew that the

  spears were poisoned, and now he must die .

  “Take care,” said the poor fellow, almost with his last breath,

  “keep away, kill you too, like Gioro; back, back to the big long wire .”

  He died quite easily, and I felt as he lay in my arms that it would

  be the best thing that could happen us [sic] if the poisoned arrows

  of the blacks had made an end of us as well as of him . The poor

  fellow’s faithfulness would have helped us to face death without

  flinching.

  We found a large hole in the earth where a tree had been uprooted

  by a storm, and there, with the help of his boomerang and our own

  knives, we managed to give him decent burial . We both fell on our

  knees for a few minutes, but no words passcd our lips, although I am

  sure our hearts were full enough .

  Then we stood up, and with one impulse held out a hand each

  to the other . The grip that followed was a silent English grip . But it

  meant that we knew that our case was desperate, and that we would

  stand by one another to the last .

  CHAPTER VI

  LEFT ALONE

  All the events described at the close of the last chapter succeeded

  one another very rapidly . I do not think that four hours in all could

  have passed from the beginning of Bomero’s last harangue until Jack

  and I stood together over Gioro’s grave . The sun had not reached the

  meridian; the atmosphere was perfectly clear; and the triple peak

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  which had been the signal of so much dis
aster stood out clear and

  well-defined in the west.

  What were we to do now? Were we to stay here and die like

  starved handicoots when the first drought should come on? That was

  the question in both our minds, and that was the form in which Jack

  expressed it. “Let us get some food first,” said I, “and then we shall

  see. Thank God it is easy enough still to get food.” We soon lit a fire

  and shot some duck, with the help of some of the wild fruit already

  mentioned and the water of the creek we did well enough . Then we

  talked over the situation, and it soon became clear that only two

  courses were open to us if we were to return to civilisation, or even

  to live . The one course was to push backward by the way we came .

  And if it had not been for the last two days’ journey we should prob-

  ably have chosen that way without hesitation . And even now if we

  could be sure of not meeting the blacks again, I think we might have

  tried it . It was true that we might wait here long enough to make

  sure that the blacks would have gone west-ward, but all the while we

  should wait, the tracks and the other waymarks would be gradually

  becoming obliterated . Besides, it was certain that we could not live

  by snaring birds and spearing fish for food as the blacks could, and

  our powder and shot would soon be done . Our better hope seemed

  to lie in the chance of finding white men somewhere near, and the

  strange proceedings of Bomero seemed surely to indicate the near

  presence of white men . He must have met some pioneers from the

  west coast . Such men were often known to treat the blacks as if

  they were mere wild beasts, and it seemed not unlikely that some

  act of reckless cruelty on the part of the white men might have been

  witnessed by him, or, at least, that he might have heard of such from

  some other blacks .

  Jack had a little pocket telescope, and he examined the hill to

  westward with it . After a careful scrutiny he declared that he saw

  a man in one of the gaps on the top of the hill and that he was a

  white man . “Yes, I see him,” said I, for I thought I observed some-

  thing moving, “but I cannot say whether he is black or white .” Jack

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  handed me the glass, but I could not now distinguish even with the