for several days after leaving the scene of bob's adventure the travellers struggled over a most disheartening tract of country. the timber belt amid which they had discovered water proved to be but a narrow strip, extending down from the north-west; it evidently marked the course of an ancient river-bed, for immediately beyond its scope the sullen desert appeared bare of all vegetation, save for occasional clumps of saltbush and tufts of spinifex grass. over this barren waste they forced their dogged course, starting at sunrise and halting towards noon, when the heat became too terribly oppressive both for man and beast; then in the evening they would continue the journey, sometimes marching late into the night. it was well for them that water had been found so opportunely, for assuredly none promised in the arid sands they were now encountering. the fifth day, however, brought with it the hope of better things. away to the east the landscape took on a much more broken aspect, a feature which gradually extended right across the line of travel. great dry gullies, starting from apparent nothingness, tore up the plain in all directions, and giant boulders of desert sandstone outcropped in prodigal profusion. and this drastic change[pg 228] in the land surface cheered the wanderers mightily, for though in itself it offered greater obstacles to progress than the weary sand-flats, it relieved the eyes, which had become so weary of gazing at the seemingly everlasting monotonous desert, and uplifted their hearts strangely.
another day, and several mouldering ridges surrounded them; mere hillocks of sand they were, yet, rising as they did abruptly from an even expanse, they appeared in the distance as precipitous mountain steeps, and it was hard to believe that their grandeur would fade away at a closer view. within these guarding barriers, a beautiful white tableland lay spread, so white and pure that it glittered like marble in the sun's rays. the sight was a dazzlingly splendid one, and jack, who had been the first to climb the gentle elevation hiding the valley from the south, had exclaimed in delight—
"what a huge lake we are coming to; it looks like a great frosted christmas card!"
"lake!" mackay had answered, almost sorrowfully. "ay, it's a lake that will give us a maist desperate thirst, instead o' quenching what we've got."
and soon the truth of this remark was borne painfully on them all, for the lake was a mass of crusted and crystallized salt, that crushed like tinder beneath their feet and showered over the heads of the voyagers in sparkling clouds of finest dust. it filled their ears and eyes and nostrils; they inhaled the minute grains with every breath; it covered their tattered clothing in a gauzy film of white.
"well, i'm blest!" ejaculated emu bill, "if this ain't the cruellest joke to play on a thirsty sinner, an' nary a drink within hundreds o' miles!"
[pg 229]
"shut up, bill, an' ye won't swallow so much of it," retorted never never dave, unsympathetically. then he was moved to further speech. "bless yer soul! it's a whole brewery we'll want afore we gets through this, i'm thinking."
"i had an idea," observed mackay, blandly, "that you two had joined the temperance party a week or so before we left, so as to get accustomed to a bit o' a drought."
"temperance party!" stormed the unusually loquacious never never, "i reckon this here circus would break up any anti-thirst campaign in less'n five minutes."
he would have continued, but his companion sternly rebuked him by casting at him the words with which he had himself been silenced. after that not a word was spoken for fully ten minutes, and the camel team staggered blindly on, floundering through intervening salt wreaths like ships in a heavy sea. the lake appeared to be nearly six miles in length, which meant that at least two hours would be spent in the crossing, for their rate of travel seldom exceeded three miles an hour, and was more often considerably less. in that time, if each man satisfied his craving for water from their very limited store, there would be but little left, and by bob's calculations they were yet about thirty miles from the location of fortunate spring. but though each of the little party suffered severely, not one of them made other than jocular mention of his longing, and mackay felt proud of the fortitude and reserve they displayed. he was especially concerned for bob and jack, for they, not having been hardened to such experiences, must have felt the influence of their salt bath most keenly; but if they were in any way incommoded they showed no sign. bob walked by mackay's side,[pg 230] talking at intervals concerning the probable geological history of interior australia—a subject of endless interest to him. jack and the shadow strode at misery's head, for now fireworks needed no guiding hand at his nose-rope, but followed submissively in the rear of repentance, and from snatches of their conversation, which floated to mackay's ears, he gathered that jack was giving his australian comrade a description of the snows and frosts of the old country as a set-off to the blazing heat they were now experiencing.
"yes, i reckon i'll go home with you," the shadow was saying. "it must be a grand country, wi' no snakes nor centipedes nor other crawlers, an' nary muskittie to nibble you in your sleep."
bob laughed. "i'm afraid the confined spaces at home would hardly suit him after this," he said. "i don't think i could stand the nature of things on the other side myself now."
"because you're a born wanderer, bob," smiled mackay; "an' the world itself will soon be too small for you."
at last the end of the salt lake was reached, and cheerfully a path was forced over the encircling ridges, for all had high hopes of what might lie beyond. but disappointment again was their portion: the grim, unbroken desert stretched before them in all its hideous dreariness; the land of beau desire had not yet come.
"i remember well," said mackay, "that fortunate spring was in a pretty bare sort o' country, but it certainly wasna as bad as this, although we had a hard tussle before we came to it."
on, on, they struggled; but, if anything, their course became more difficult as they proceeded. on the following[pg 231] morning a gentle wavy outline against the sky in the northerly distance warned them of some impending change, but by this time the members of the expedition had become spied to their comfortless lot, and scarce dared hope for an improvement until they neared the portals of their goal, their shadowy land of el dorado.
gradually the sinuous curves on the horizon loomed up plainer to the view, and lo! as they crested an intervening sand hillock, a strange sight met their gaze. as far as the eye could reach west or north, a sea of undulating sand ridges appeared, rolling down like gigantic breakers from the dim north-west, the mighty valleys between each swelling sand-wave being over a hundred yards apart and fully thirty feet deep. capping these wonderful billows regular rows of saltbush and spinifex, so regularly spread, indeed, that in the rosy morning light the whole scene was like some brobdingnagian field, with furrows bearing luxurious vegetation.
"i reckon we has struck the land o' goschen at last," said the shadow, joyously.
"it does look pretty," jack allowed hesitatingly, as they stood to take in the view, and waited for the others to come up. indeed, so unaccustomed had they grown to seeing such close array of even the wiry desert growths that for the moment all imagined they looked upon a wildering forest. the saltbush was by the fantasy of mirage exalted to lordly proportions, and the spiky spinifex patches drooped in the sun's rays like the spreading fronds of the stately palm.
mackay dispelled the illusion; he of all the party seemed ill at ease.
"i didna think the sand-waves extended so far back,"[pg 232] he muttered, half to himself. then he added, aloud, "it's no' a land o' promise you're lookin' at, boys; it's a deceiving land o' misery an' dispair, where many a good man has lost his life."
"but what about the beautiful trees and shrubs?" asked bob, in wonderment. "they seem to stretch back for miles and miles."
"it's only another case where distance lends enchantment, as the poet says, my lad. your trees are only saltbush, and instead o' growin' closely, there's over fifty yards between each o' them; it's those behind that fill in the gaps. the eye can never understand the perspective o' this country, the air is so clear that distant objects almost blend wi' what is close at hand."
he spoke truly. when they forced their way at a difficult angle across the vast undulations, they discovered to their sorrow that only the sparsest of vegetation found root on the hill crests, while the long interstices were absolutely barren. not only this, but the sand on the inclines and declivities was so loosely packed that the camels sank to the knees in their strenuous efforts to scale them, and had to be pulled over the barring obstacles by sheer force.
"a day of this will just about finish remorse," said mackay, noting how that meek yet willing animal was labouring under its load. "i think, bob, we'd better keep in the trough o' these confounded waves until we run oot o' them, i ken we must be near the edge as it is, for i mind that fortunate spring was a good day's travel past their eastern limit. that was why the chief called it by that name. we were vera nearly lost on those same ridges; we didna find a drop o' water for over a[pg 233] hundred miles, and we were just about dead beat when we came upon it."
"how far do they run towards the north?" questioned bob.
"well, carnegie, who was one o' the finest explorers that ever handled a sextant, calculated they covered nearly three hundred miles o' west australia. what their area is god only knows, yet it must be over fifty thousand square miles."
"i should think this would be nearly as bad as the sahara," said jack, as he tugged at misery's rope. "i haven't seen a drop of water since we started, unless that which bob fell into."
"the sahara?" echoed mackay. "why, we wouldn't ca' it a desert at all. it's only because it's so near the old country that it is considered to be anything extraordinary. this country, jack, wouldna be an explorer's preserve if it contained as much water as the sahara. it would be overrun in every direction by gold-miners."
then jack was silent, marvelling greatly that in his earlier youth at school he had learned so little concerning the vast sandy wastes of australia. soon, as they kept on their altered course, the retarding undulations began to grow less and less high, and by late afternoon they had merged into the monotonous plains, now welcome indeed to the travellers after their encounter with the formidable sand-ridges. but their progress that day had barely totalled ten miles, and the camels were well-nigh exhausted after their extreme exertions. the poor brutes had had a severe experience from the beginning, and the rough usage was telling heavily upon their strength. that night they could scarcely muster up sufficient[pg 234] spirit to chew their usual meal of saltbush tips, and, after a few weak efforts, remorse and repentance lay down in the sand, while misery and fireworks gazed at the little group around the camp-fire with mute, appealing eyes.
"i hope we don't have any trouble finding that spring," said mackay, anxiously, and instinctively they all turned to bob with a questioning look. the young navigator winced as he took out his notebook and hurriedly checked his previous calculations.
"we were in latitude 28° 24′ 7′′ at noon to-day," he said quietly; "that should make us about seven miles only from the location of fortunate spring, allowing we made five miles since lunch."
"but the longitude, bob?" asked mackay. "how do we stand for that?"
bob again examined his log-book. "i have it marked at 125° 11′ 17′′," he answered, "but we came a good bit easterly since that. i'll try it again in the morning, though i think we're almost on the correct line now, and should hit the spring by going due north."
he handed the book to mackay, who glanced at the figures and mentally checked the simpler calculations, but he did not ask for bob's table of logarithms, and the young man felt satisfied. bob, indeed, was sure of his positions; they had been worked out with painful exactitude, but he could not help feeling anxious about the morrow. the country in the vicinity seemed so utterly arid and barren. could the original figures he received be correct? might not possibly some mistake have crept into bentley's estimates? he shuddered at the thought, then was immediately sorry for the passing doubt. who[pg 235] was he who dared question the accuracy of an old and tried explorer's chart? yet bob went to sleep that night feeling vaguely uneasy, and by early sunrise he was up taking altitudes, jack and the shadow attending him to mark the time of his observations. it was nearly nine o'clock before they were ready to move out that morning; the camels had for a long time refused to be loaded, and when loaded they could not be prevailed upon to arise to their feet, until forced to do so by the necessarily cruel expedient of lighting fires under their noses.
"that's nothing, jack," mackay said with a laugh, for he had noticed the look of pain on the boy's face. "they get up long before they're hurt; their hide is like leather, you know, and camels are vera often stubborn and annoying when there's really no occasion for it."
but he knew well that the poor animals were not refractory without reason on this morning, though he endeavoured to make light of the fact. wearily the heavily laden beasts trudged along, and when the first hour passed, and the sand showed signs of hardening, the shadow made a valiant effort to infuse life into their hulking movements by blowing at his long-unused mouth-organ vociferously, and making the air resound with discordant notes, for his cracked lips could ill glide along the reeds with any degree of certainty. bob, who was striding along well in advance, smiled as he heard the concert thus let loose, and he smiled the more when the dismal voices of emu bill and never never dave were added to the chorus; and, looking back, he observed these two worthies prancing on with martial steps, though certainly not with martial grace, for their bodies were bent as they pulled their reluctant charges onwards,[pg 236] and their feet, notwithstanding their jaunty uplifting, went down almost in the same place. and mackay, looking back at the perspiring musician, nodded encouragingly, much to that alert youth's amazement, for he had expected but a rude check as a reward for his labours. not only did he thus ostensibly appreciate the lively music, but he joined in with his comrades lustily in their vocal exercises; and in this way the labouring train progressed, and almost unnoticeably a thin, straggling array of mallee and mulga shrubs began to dot the hardening sand surface, a slight dip in the land had obscured them from earlier view. by eleven o'clock the sand had merged into the longed-for iron-pebble strewn plains, and now the scrub was comparatively abundant all around, and the tough, wiry grasses which the camels loved appeared in greater profusion. yet no signs of fortunate spring.
"it can't be far off now," said bob, hopefully. "i'd better fix our position again before we go further, in case we might pass it."
"and that would be easily done, my lad," spoke mackay. "i remember well that the water was in a mallee flat, just scrubby country like this, but there was no kind o' landmark except a fair-sized lime tree which grew beside it, an' i canna see any lime trees about here."
"i'll have another shot at the sun," decided bob, and at once the team came to a halt, while jack hastily unstrapped the sextant and chronometer from misery's back.
a few minutes more and bob had worked out the necessary calculation.
[pg 237]
"i make the latitude come out exactly," he said gravely.
"try again, bob; try again," urged mackay.
with sinking heart bob once more levelled his sextant; the horizon was easily discernible through the scraggy bush, and the flat itself was level as could be.
"i find the latitude reading correct," he repeated, with bloodless lips; "and the longitude," he added, after a pause, "is the same as it was this morning, the same as is marked on my chart over the location of the spring."
"we'll soon find it, if it is near abouts," cried emu bill, cheerily. "don't fret, bob, them springs have a habit of getting lost at times. come on, never never, come an' help me to smell it out wi' that tender nose o' yours."
and they rushed off into the bush towards the west. the shadow and jack started to follow, but mackay recalled them.
"you two had better look around due north," he said, "and i'll tackle the east myself. now don't go further than a mile, an' signal wi' a revolver-shot if ye find anything."
without a word they departed on their quest, and mackay and bob were left alone. calmly the elder man interrogated the lad, who was standing in an attitude of deepest dejection, the sextant hanging loosely in his hand.
"and is there no room for a mistake in any o' your figures, bob?"
"none, none, that i can imagine. i have been particularly careful——"
bob could not finish his sentence, a flood of emotion[pg 238] swept over him, and he sat down in the sand and covered his face with his hands.
"why, my laddie, ye mustn't blame yoursel' for no error o' yours," spoke mackay, kindly, gazing at the despondent youth with a strange light in his keen grey eyes. "brace yoursel' up, bob; we'll likely find the spring at no great distance, an' if we don't, well—we'll look for another one if the camels stand by us."
he hurried away into the eastward scrub. bob arose and gazed after him with quivering eyelids.
"yes," he murmured brokenly, "i have brought you all to your death, and i can do nothing now to save.... i know the error is not mine, but i cannot and will not blame a dead man.... i wonder what can possibly be wrong."
he shook his head in utter hopelessness, then he glanced at the sextant, lying as he had left it, half buried in the sand. he took it up and brushed the silvered arc carefully with the ragged sleeve of his shirt, and was preparing to place it in its case when a new idea seemed to strike him. he grasped the instrument with a firmer grip and stood erect, a new light, a light of gladness shining in his eyes.
"it's strange i never thought of it before," he said aloud; "a minute or two either way would make all the difference." he picked up the chronometer, which lay idly at his feet, and examined it critically. "it's just possible," he muttered, "the jolting of the camel may have made it go a bit fast; i wonder if i can check it. i am going to try."
long and eagerly he gazed at the sun through the powerful telescope of the sextant, and every now and then[pg 239] he would note down his observations, and consult the nautical almanac which lay open before him. in the midst of these proceedings, emu bill and never never dave returned, after a fruitless search, and while they stood watching him, jack and the shadow also made their appearance, and lined up beside the other two in solemn silence. there was no need to ask them if they had been successful, their faces plainly indicated disappointment, though they both strove hard to hide their feelings. as for the first arrivals, their rugged countenances betrayed not the slightest trace of emotion. bill calmly chewed a quid of tobacco, and dave reflectively pulled at his pipe. to them it did not seem to be a matter of much moment whether they found the spring or not. at length bob threw down the sextant with a weary sigh.
"the chronometer is right," said he, sadly; then, as his comrades looked at him questioningly, he faltered: "i've done my best, boys ... the fault may not be altogether mine, but ... i am responsible to you.... what can you think of me——?" he gave way completely.
then out spoke emu bill, and his voice rang firm and true—
"shoot me fur a dingo if i'll listen to you miscallin' yourself, bob. you has shown us afore what ye were made o', an' hang me for a cross-eyed chinese if i'll believe you've made the mistake."
"i'm right with ye thar, bill," grunted never never.
bob looked at them in silent gratitude that was more potent than words.
"blow me!" blurted out the shadow, "this ain't no funeral circus." he strode aside and examined the canvas bags overlapping remorse's tough hide; they were flat[pg 240] and empty, the last drop had gone. he rejoined the little circle quietly, and held out his hand to bob, who was gazing with unseeing eyes into the horizon. "i knows it ain't your fault," he said simply.
jack alone had not spoken, but bob knew his comrade's thoughts; he knew the loyal courage and devotion of the boy's heart.
and all this time mackay had not come back, nor had any welcome signal been heard. bob commenced to fear that he would not come back unless he had something to report.
"what did ye mean by sayin' the chronometer was right, bob?" asked emu bill, suddenly.
"if it had gone fast or slow, my longitude, which i calculated by it, would have been out accordingly," replied bob, listlessly. "i thought the jolting might have affected it."
"why then," returned bill, "ain't it more likely that bentley's time was wrong? if he came in from the west across the whole darned stretch o' sand-ridges, i reckon he would bust things up a bit."
bob was startled into fresh energy. "of course, you're right, bill!" he cried excitedly. "i've been so anxiously looking for a possible error in my own instrument, i never thought of it occurring with bentley's. i believe you've hit the solution of the whole difficulty. we'll find fortunate spring due east of us in that case, for his latitude would be sure to be right."
"we'll get under way at oncet then," grunted never never dave. "we're bound to meet mackay comin' back."
at once jack rushed to misery's head, and the[pg 241] others hastened to their posts. bob picked up the sextant and chronometer, and with a surging hope in his heart led the way in the direction that mackay had taken. slowly, slowly, they broke through the scrub, misery's bell sending out its melancholy note, and shattering the oppressive stillness which had prevailed but a few minutes before. onward they went and onward, and yet no sign of mackay, and no sign of a spring to gladden their weary eyes. about two miles had been traversed, and the spirits of the forlorn party were drooping fast, when from the bush but a few hundred yards ahead a revolver shot boomed out loudly. with one accord the camels stopped dead. they seemed to realize that something was about to happen. again came the sonorous echoes of an exploding cartridge, and a hoarse cheer burst from the eagerly listening quartet.
"mackay has found it! hurrah! hurrah!" roared the shadow, and with renewed effort a path was forced on towards the origin of the welcome sound. five minutes more and they broke into a rough clearing in the bush in the centre of which a tall lime tree reared high above its dwarfed surroundings; and seated by the tree gazing at some rude markings that showed faintly on the gaunt white trunk, was mackay. at his feet, sunk among the spreading roots, and half hidden by enclustering grassy growths, gleamed the water of the spring. bob gave a gasp of relief and thankfulness. emu bill and never never dave calmly began to unload the camels, the shadow after vainly trying to find his speech, mechanically pulled out his musical instrument, and sought to indicate his joy thereon.
then mackay arose to his feet, "dinna desecrate the[pg 242] place, shadow," said he, in gentle reproach. "remember this is a monument to the dead."
he motioned bob and jack to come forward and view the mossy inscription on the tree, and silently they obeyed his summons. deep graven in the wood was the legend: "fortunate spring, 1898. bentley's expedition. lat. 28° 17′ 5′′, long. 125° 19′ 6′′ (dead reck.) course e." then followed a list of the initials of the party headed by those of mackay: "j. m."
by this time emu bill, never never dave, and the shadow had also gathered round to view the symbols left by mackay's old leader, and as each man traced out the lettering for himself, he doffed his tattered hat reverently.
"ay, boys," spoke mackay, breaking the solemn hush that reigned, "it was a fortunate spring for us then, and it's a fortunate spring for this expedition now. but how did you manage to come straight for it, bob? it took me a good time zig-zagging through the bush before i sighted the tree."
in a few words the young navigator explained the cause of their coming, then he pointed to the inscription "dead reck." "that shows that bentley did not think his readings altogether accurate," he said gravely, "and he meant it as a warning to others, though why he didn't put it on his chart is strange to me."
mackay looked at the speaker with a troubled countenance.
"it's been my fault, bob. when i copied the figures into my own book i didna think it necessary to put the qualification down."
"i wants to say here," interjected emu bill, "that in my humble opinion bob can steer a course wi' any man,[pg 243] an' my ole carcase is here to prove it. a hundred an' eighty miles he's took us across the miserablest country on god's earth, an' nary time has i heard him grumble."
"i goes nap on bob every time," concurred never never.
a light of real happiness overspread mackay's bronzed features.
"what more can you ask, bob?" he said earnestly, "than the testimony o' the pioneer, wha' lends his life to your guidance."
"hurrah for fortunate spring!" shouted jack, unable to contain himself longer.
"hurrah! hurrah! hurrah!" roared the answering chorus.
