Edgar Foster learned that Walter Hepburn had gone to Redbank a term or two after his father left the school. Hepburn was therefore well acquainted with the prowess of Edgar’s father in the cricket-field. It seemed very strange that they should all meet at Alice Springs, and it was a date to be noted¹ as a red-letter day when the discovery was made. Had Walter Hepburn been free to leave his post, he would, after finding out they were Redbank boys, have joined them in their travels farther north. School ties bind³ men fast together, especially when such a good feeling existed as always did amongst Redbank lads.  
The time came for parting, and when Yacka was sufficiently⁴ recovered they left the station amidst general regret, and a universally expressed wish to see them safe back again.
 
Yacka was quite himself as soon as all traces of civilization were left behind. Once in the ranges he revelled⁵ in the mountain air, and appeared familiar with every pathway. In one place they had a difficult task to perform. Yacka led them up to a gigantic cleft⁶ in the rocks, which towered high above them on either side. Between these high, rocky walls flowed a river, and up it Yacka said they must swim.
 
‘It will save a big climb over the rocks,’ he said, ‘and I can take your clothes on my head.’
 
There was nothing for it but to strip, and Edgar and Will were not averse⁷ to a good swim.
 
Yacka tied their clothes in a bundle, and placing the guns on the top, put them all on his head, far out of the reach of the water. He had tied the bundle under his chin with a strap⁸, and it was marvellous to watch how he swam up the river with such a load on his head.
 
Edgar and Will plunged⁹ in after him, and found the water very cold; but the exertion¹⁰ of swimming kept the circulation of their blood up.
 
‘By Jove! it was a cold bath,’ said Will, as he stood drying himself in the sun. ‘It must be the rocks make it like iced-water.’
 
‘Very refreshing¹¹ on a hot day,’ said Edgar. ‘They would give a trifle to have such a cool bathing-place at Yanda.’
 
As they proceeded they came across a number of watercourses and hills and valleys. They climbed to the top of high rocks, and descended¹² again into level lands. At sundown they were tired out, and could hardly eat the supper Yacka prepared for them. No sooner had they finished their meal than they were sound asleep. But Yacka did not sleep; he stood looking down at them with his big eyes, and seemed to be in deep thought. The moonlight showed his black form standing¹³ over the two sleepers¹⁴, and his attitude was one of dejection.
 
‘How white they are,’ he muttered, ‘and Yacka so black! but they are not as white as Enooma, and Yacka is her son.’
 
He sat down, and commenced to reason in his own way as to why he should be black, and the two sleepers white. He could find no satisfactory solution to the problem. Yacka knew naught¹⁵ of the white man’s God, but he had a wonderful amount of superstition¹⁶ in his nature, and a firm belief that the White Spirit watched over him. Yacka had no fear of death; he would have laughed at such a thought, and yet he did not understand what death really meant. Had the blackfellow been able to express what he really thought about death, it would have been to the effect that it was merely the White Spirit’s way of rewarding him for his work here by carrying him off to a country where he would be happy for ever. Yacka slept but little that night, but he was awake early, and ready to start again.
 
The ranges were passed, and they were now in more open country. On the lowlands were numerous bushes, mulga on the hills, and gum and tea tree in the creeks¹⁸. Plains of salt-bush could be seen, but on to the west they descried¹⁹ grass-land.
 
For several days they tramped on, living on the simplest fare, and yet feeling strong and well, and fit for almost any exertion.
 
‘Where are all the blacks we heard so much about?’ said Edgar. ‘We have met none yet.’
 
‘We shall be in the Enooma country by sunset to-morrow,’ said Yacka; ‘then you will see men of my tribe.’
 
Yacka spoke²⁰ truly. The next night they came across a blacks’ camp. To Edgar’s surprise there were between two and three hundred of them. As they approached Yacka made a peculiar²¹ sound like the shrill²² cry of a parrot, only with quite a different note, which roused the blacks, and several rushed forward to meet them.
 
When they saw Yacka the effect was astonishing. At first they looked at him in amazement²³, then an old man cried aloud, ‘Yacka! Yacka! Enooma! Enooma!’ and the whole of the blacks, surrounding him, knelt before him.
 
There was a proud look on Yacka’s face as he motioned them to rise. Then he spoke rapidly in the native tongue, and pointed²⁴ to Edgar and Will.
 
The blacks gave vent²⁵ to warlike cries, and, shaking their wooden spears high in the air, drove them into the ground with terrific force.
 
‘That means they will kill any man who does you harm,’ said Yacka. ‘You are safe here, and the whole tribe will protect you.’
 
They moved towards the camp, and at their approach the blacks stood up and awaited their coming with eager and excited looks.
 
Yacka was known to them, and was evidently an important man with the tribe. Edgar fancied they regarded him with something akin²⁶ to fear, and said to Will:
 
‘We were right to trust Yacka, for these blacks stand in awe²⁷ of him, and we shall be safe with them.’
 
‘They are a savage²⁸-looking lot,’ said Will, ‘and I should not care to have come amongst them alone. If these are the men who molest²⁹ the settlers, I am not surprised at the white men hating them.’
 
The blacks were tall, powerful men, of a far different stamp to those in the west of New South Wales. Yacka was small beside some of them, and many were six feet high and over. They were all armed with native weapons, and were well prepared............