it proved an exciting chase they had commenced. the thief knew he need expect no mercy if caught, and rode desperately. he knew the country better than edgar and will, which gave him a decided advantage; moreover, he had a good horse, probably stolen, and knew how to ride.
‘he is gaining on us,’ said edgar. ‘i am afraid we shall lose him. there is no chance of hitting either man or horse from this distance.’
mile after mile was traversed, and still the chase went on. the riderless horse stuck close to his companion, but when he began to flag the man took hold of the bridle and urged him on. edgar took no heed where they were going, nor did will. they were too excited to take much notice of the country they passed through. at last the fugitive turned his horse to the left, and plunged into a much more difficult country to travel. the undergrowth became denser and tangled, and it was with difficulty the horses could be forced to go through it. it was not long before they lost sight of the man they were in pursuit of.
‘where can he have got to?’ said will. ‘he would never hide here with two of us after him.’
‘we must ride on,’ replied edgar. ‘it is easy to miss a man and come across his track again in a very short time.’
they rode on at a slow pace, and presently came to a narrow opening in the scrub. here they halted and found recent tracks of horses, so they determined to follow in this direction. the tracks led them in a roundabout way, and presently they came to the conclusion the man had doubled back.
‘he must be heading for our camp again,’ said edgar. ‘strange he should do this unless he fancies[197] we are put off the scent, and he is riding back to rescue his mate.’
‘if that is his game,’ said will, ‘we must follow him hard. he might shoot yacka before we arrive.’
it was, however, difficult for them to find their way. they were not experienced bushmen, and had failed to notice certain signs by which they would know they were on the right track. they saw no signs of the man, nor could they now observe in which direction the horses had gone. to ride on and trust to chance was their only hope. it was quite light now, and this aided them. as time passed they became anxious, and wondered what would become of yacka if they did not arrive on the scene in time, for they had not the least doubt now that their man was heading for the camp to rescue his mate.
‘this chase he has led us has been a blind,’ said edgar. ‘if we had taken ordinary precautions we ought to have found out he was doubling back.’
‘only a bushman would have found that out,’ said will. ‘i do not see how we can blame ourselves.’
‘we have had enough experience the last few months to have found that out,’ said edgar. ‘by jove! there he is, i believe.’
there was a horseman in front of them, but they could not see the second horse. they rode on faster now, but did not gain much ground. a rise in the land hid the man from view, and soon after he disappeared they heard a shot. this made them ride[198] all the faster, and they quickly reached the top of the rise, and had a good view of the plain beyond.
‘he fired that shot to warn his mate,’ said will. ‘we cannot be far from the camp now.’
‘i’ll fire,’ said edgar; ‘and if yacka hears the two shots he will probably divine we are in pursuit.’
he fired a shot from his revolver as they rode on.
‘there’s the place we camped at,’ said edgar, pointing to two or three tall trees: ‘but i see nothing of yacka or the other men.’
they rode up to the place, and found the camp deserted. there was blood upon the ground and signs of a struggle, but they imagined this must have been caused by yacka dragging the wounded man along. edgar called out ‘yacka!’ and gave a loud ‘cooee,’ and after waiting a few moments they heard a faint response. they rode in the direction of the sound, and, rounding a clump of trees on a mound, came upon a strange sight.
stretched on the ground was one of the robbers, the man they supposed they had left with yacka. this man had been strangled, and was dead. near him sat yacka with a strange expression on his face. when the black saw them he gave a faint moan, and pressed his hand to his side.
‘good god! he’s shot!’ said edgar, dismounting and running to the black. he found blood streaming from a deep wound in his side evidently inflicted with a knife. ‘how did this happen?’ asked edgar,[199] as he endeavoured to stanch the flow of blood with a neckerchief he had rapidly pulled off.
yacka pointed to the dead man, and will, who had come up, exclaimed:
‘this is not the fellow we left with yacka. it is the man we have been chasing all this time.’
‘where is the other man?’ asked edgar, who could hardly believe his eyes.
‘i killed him,’ said yacka faintly.
‘where is he?’ asked will.
yacka pointed to some bushes, and will went across and found the body of the man they had left with yacka. this man had also been strangled.
they managed to stop the flow of blood from the deep wound in yacka’s side, but it was some hours before he had sufficiently recovered strength to relate what had happened.
when yacka heard the shot fired, he at once thought the man’s mate had doubled back to rescue him, and had given edgar and will the slip. he knew how easily it could be done by an old hand, and his surmise was confirmed by the expression on the man’s face when he heard the shot. in a moment yacka had made up his mind how to act. he had no gun, for he found that all three had been taken, instead of only those belonging to edgar and will. he seized his prisoner by the throat, and strangled him. then he propped the dead man up with his back to a tree, and tied him to it with one of the tethering ropes. he hid himself behind the tree and waited, and in a short time the other robber came on to the scene. when this man saw his mate bound to the tree, he dismounted and came towards him, evidently thinking yacka had made him fast, that he had fallen asleep, and yacka had gone away.
yacka awaited his coming, crouching down behind the tree. no sooner did the man see his mate was dead than he realized that a trap had been set for him, and ran back to the horses. yacka was quickly after him, and before the man could reach the horses had caught him up. finding yacka at such close quarters, the man drew his knife instead of his revolver, no doubt thinking it would be more effective. a desperate struggle ensued, which yacka described graphically.
‘we rolled over and over,’ said yacka. ‘i had no knife, and he was a powerful man. i caught him by the throat, and he lost the grip of his knife. i clung to him with both hands, and he managed to get his knife and stuck it in my side. i did not let go my hold. i became fainter and fainter, but clung to his throat. then i fell across him, and when i came to my senses again, which could not have been long, he was dead. it was their lives or mine, and they were not fit to live.’
as they listened to yacka’s story of this terrible struggle and awful end of the thieves, they wondered if many men would have had the courage to act as he had done.
‘the horses will not have gone far,’ said yacka.[201] ‘they were dead tired, i could see, when the man dismounted.’
while will attended to yacka, edgar went in search of the two stray horses, and found them about a couple of miles away, quietly cropping the scanty herbage. he secured them without trouble, and was glad to see their precious treasure was safe, and also their guns.
they had to remain in this spot for a week before yacka was fit to be removed, and during that time they buried the bodies of the robbers as well as they were able with the primitive means at hand.
their progress was slow, because yacka could not ride far, and had to be helped off one of the horses at different times to rest. it was lucky for them they had the two captured horses in addition to their own. yacka guided them, and seemed to take a delight in hiding from them how far they were from yanda.
‘surely we must be somewhere near yanda by this time,’ said edgar. ‘i almost fancy i can recognise the country.’
‘you ought to,’ said yacka, ‘for we are on yanda station now, and we shall reach the homestead to-night.’
they could not suppress their feelings, and gave a loud hurrah.
yacka had spoken correctly, for towards sundown the familiar homestead came in sight.
yacka wished them to gallop on and leave him, but this they declined to do, saying he had done so[202] much for them, it was only making a small return to remain with him.
as they neared the homestead they noticed several figures moving about, evidently in an excited way, on the veranda.
‘there’s ben brody!’ said edgar eagerly. ‘he has recognised us. what a time we shall have to-night!’
ben brody was standing leaning against the door-post when he saw something moving across the plain in front of him. he went inside for his glasses, and, after looking through them for several minutes, he gave a loud shout.
it was such an unusual thing for ben brody to shout, except when issuing orders, or expressing his feelings to some unfortunate new-chum, that the hands about the place fancied the homestead must have caught fire. several of them rushed round to the front, and found ben brody executing a kind of war-dance on the veranda.
‘what’s up now?’ asked will henton. ‘something stinging you?’
‘no, you fool,’ roared brody. ‘do you think i’m as tender as you? it’s them lads coming back!’
‘not foster and brown?’ asked will.
‘that’s just it, you bet,’ said brody.
off ran will henton, and in a few moments harry noke, jim lee, and two or three more came round.
‘give me the glasses,’ said noke.
‘no need for that,’ said jim lee. ‘i can spot ’em from here.’
‘we must go and meet them,’ said will henton.
‘right you are,’ said brody. ‘boys, we’ll have a terrible night of it.’
they mounted their horses, and in less time than it takes to write it down were galloping towards the home-comers.
the scene was one to be remembered. they sprang from their horses, and pulled edgar and will out of their saddles, and shook them by the hands, cheered and hallooed until the plain rang with their hearty shouts. yacka stood quietly looking on, and when they had almost wrung edgar’s and will’s hands off they tackled him.
‘don’t handle yacka as roughly as you have handled us,’ laughed edgar; ‘he’s got a bad wound.’
then came a string of questions as to how yacka received his wound, and who had given it him. such a rain of questions was showered at them that at last ben brody said:
‘give them breathing-time, lads. we shall hear all about their adventures later on. we’re right glad to see you back again safe and sound.’
a general chorus of assent followed this remark.
‘expect you have not come back loaded with wealth?’ said will henton.
‘wait and see,’ said edgar. ‘i rather fancy we have a surprise in store for you.’
‘have you had a good time?’ said ben brody.
‘it has been a wonderful time, and we have seen many strange things, and gone through a good deal of hard work. i’m heartily glad to see yanda again, but i would not have missed our experiences for the world.’
‘same here,’ said will brown, ‘but i never wish to go through such a time again.’
yacka rode quietly behind, a lonely black figure, the pain in his face showing how he still suffered. he was glad to see this hearty welcome, but it made him feel lonely. he had no friends such as these men at yanda were. he was a wanderer, an outcast, a black, a despised native of the country these white men had taken from his people. but yacka was, through all this, white enough at heart to know it was all for the best. his people could never become like these people, and the country in the hands of blacks, he knew, would still have been wild and desolate.
