A couple of days after their meeting with the telegraph repairers the party arrived at Alice Springs—the most interesting of all the stations on the overland telegraph line. Alice Springs stands high above the sea-level, and there is magnificent and interesting scenery in the district, the valley in which it lies being of exceptional beauty.
As Edgar looked at the scene mapped out before him, he could not help expressing astonishment1 at what he saw. Alice Springs he had imagined as a bare, desolate2 spot, and here he saw the great MacDonnell Ranges lying to the north, the source of rivers, creeks3, and springs, the valley stretching far away to east and west. The River Todd, running close by, lends a picturesque4 charm to the scene.
There were numerous people about when the party arrived, as Alice Springs is the repeating station on the line, and consequently a considerable number of officers were employed. The buildings were not particularly enchanting5, but they were useful and commodious6. Several trees were scattered7 about, affording a comfortable shade, and the hot winds had not scorched8 up all vegetation.
The officers employed at Alice Springs Station were a genial9, jovial10 lot of fellows; and when Edgar and Will had been duly introduced by Walter Hepburn, they were at once made at home. After travelling so many miles, and living on the produce of their guns and Yacka’s ingenuity11, it was a treat for them once more to come across civilization. They were feasted and made much of, and the inevitable12 race-meeting was got up in their honour.
Edgar noticed there were a good many men about besides the officers employed on the station, and he did not like the look of some of them. They had a hang-dog expression on their faces, and a lazy, loafing way of idling about that spoke13 ill for the manner in which they managed to knock out a living.
‘You have some queer customers about here,’ said Edgar to Walter Hepburn.
‘You mean those fellows over yonder,’ he replied.
‘I guess you’re about right—they are queer customers. They are out-and-out “spielers,” and you generally find them loafing about in the interior wherever there is a new settlement. They are always in fairly strong force around here, and when we have races they are only too ready to make wagers14 which they have no intention of paying. Some of our fellows are foolish enough to bet with them, and out of sheer despair at getting up a game of cards, I have known them play with these men. Needless to say, our fellows never win. These “spielers” know too much for them. In my opinion, they are worse than the blacks, and a greater danger to settlers. Horse-stealing and swindling they are always ready for; but they are cowards when fairly tackled, and soon seek fresh fields when a place becomes too hot to hold them.’
‘Strange how such men can find occupation here,’ said Edgar.
‘Well, you see, it’s this way,’ said Walter Hepburn. ‘Settlers in a new country, where white men are scarce, and blacks are dangerous and hostile, are only too glad to give a white man a welcome. No questions are asked as to who or what the white man may be, but they take it for granted his company must be an improvement on their black, quarrelsome neighbours. I’ve known blackguards like those you see over yonder stay at a place for a week, and then clear out with the best horses and anything else they could conveniently take away.’
‘I saw a couple of them eyeing our horses over a short time back,’ said Will Brown, who came up and heard the conversation. ‘Yacka says we had better leave our horses behind when we go beyond the Ranges, and call for them as we return; that is, if they will care to have them here.’
‘You can leave them with pleasure if you wish,’ said Walter Hepburn, ‘and I’ll promise to look after them for you as well as I can. You will certainly not have much use for horses if you are going west after you cross the ranges. It is, so far as we know, very little else but desert between here and West Australia. As I told you before, I am afraid you are undertaking15 a great risk, and all to very little purpose. You may as well remain here a week or two, and then return south towards Adelaide. You’ll have had enough of it when you reach there, without going farther north.’
‘I’ll consult Yacka, and hear what he has to say,’ said Edgar, and walked towards the black, leaving Will with Walter Hepburn.
Edgar explained what Hepburn had said, and Yacka replied:
‘I will go with you to Adelaide, if you wish; but you will be sorry for it. We have come so far, let us go on. These men know nothing of Enooma’s country. They have been lost in the desert and never found the green land. Come with me, and I[133] will show you much. Yacka has said he will make you rich. Come and see if the son of Enooma speaks true.’
‘You say we had better leave our horses here until we return,’ said Edgar. ‘How far have we to go beyond the ranges?’
‘Long way,’ said Yacka, ‘but fine country. We soon leave the sand behind, and then you will see much better place than Yanda.’
‘I will go with you,’ said Edgar, and Yacka was pleased. ‘We will leave here in a few days.’
During the time they remained at Alice Springs there was plenty of amusement. Local races, and a cricket match filled in the time, and Edgar managed to impress it upon them that he could handle a bat.
Yacka amused himself in various ways. He kept aloof16 from everyone, and sat looking on at the various games in a contemplative style that amused Edgar.
The numerous ‘spielers’ about the place found time hang heavily on their hands, and two or three of them thought to pass a few hours away by teasing Yacka, and trying to work him into a frenzy17. These vile18 wretches19 were adepts20 in the art of ill-using and insulting not only blacks, but white men, when they got the chance, and when there was but little danger connected with it.
Yacka was quietly carving21 a stick, when three of these vagabonds came up to him. One jerked the stick out of his hand and flung it away, another upset the log upon which he was sitting, and the third kicked him in the ribs22 as he lay on the floor.
Then these three white men with black hearts got a surprise from the black man with a white heart. Yacka sprang to his feet with a yell. He seized the nearest man round the waist, lifted him off his feet, and flung him over his shoulder, as easily as only a practised wrestler23 could. The man fell with a heavy thud upon the ground and lay there. Yacka bounded upon the next man before he had recovered from his surprise, and would have treated him in a similar way. The noise, however, attracted the attention of the ‘spielers’ mates, who came running up, and Yacka was surrounded by enemies.
The blac............