"What is the matter, Mac?" I cried, from the opposite bank.
"I dinna see hoo I shood hae tae work like a Clyde steevedore," he answered, "when ony man wi" the sma"est scienteefic abeelities could get as much gold in hauf an hoor as the lot o" us can in a day."
"Explain, Mac. Have you an idea?"
"Ay, thousands o" them. But what"s tae hinder us frae taking a wheen split bamboos an" stringing them thegether like a sheet o" galvanised iron----"
"Nothing. We have our axes. But what----?"
"Turn the affair upside down and lean it against the bank there. Some o"
us could throw the sand on tae the thing and Kaiser could keep it goin"
wi" enough water tae wash the sand awa.""
"But the bamboo is too smooth. The gold would be carried over the edges with the sand."
"Pit a hale bamboo in atween every twa split yins, an" if the gold could rise ow"r that it wad be too licht for savin" ony way."
"All right, Mac," I responded. "You make the affair, and if it works we will appoint you our chief engineer."
Mac did not answer. He knew that all his appointments merely meant so much additional work left to him as a matter of course; and even as things were, he never had "ony time for meeditaishun." He made his corrugated inclined plane, however, and as all his comrades, excepting Kaiser, laughed at his idea, he worked it himself for the first day.
That evening, as we sat in the smoke of our camp-fire, Doc remarked, "Well, boys, I made about an ounce to-day, but I can"t say that I care much about the work."
"I reckon I is good for an ounce too," said Bill.
Sam was cook, Kaiser camp-guard, and I had been writing up my log, so we had nothing to say. Mac evidently--like an Australian bushman--believed that silence was golden, for it was only after being asked several times that he spoke. "Ah, weel," he said reflectively, "there"s some folk in this weary world content tae work awa" frae morn till nicht for a paltry three pounds seventeen an" saxpence worth" (one ounce of gold), "but I"m no ane o" them."
"Mac is home-sick," Doc laughed.
"Has your patent turned out a duffer?" inquired Sam.
"I reckon Scottie is keeping back his gold from his mates," said Bill aggrievedly.
"How much did you get, Mac?" I interrupted soothingly, for Mac had been my companion in many a journey, and I understood his nature well.
"I dinna ken," he answered, handing me a fair-sized pouch; "aboot hauf a pun", I think."
"What!" roared the men, springing to their feet.
"Lor, Scottie! Does ye mean----?"
"Eight ounces exactly," I announced. "Mac has made 30 for one day"s work."
"Scodland for ever!" shouted Kaiser from the midst of a cloud of native tobacco-smoke, and the others echoed his sentiments. Next day all hands a.s.sisted at Mac"s machine, which showed in its construction many signs of that gentleman"s ingenuity; but it had not been designed to bear the strain now put upon it, and after a few hours" work the bamboo ripples fell away. However it may apply in other circ.u.mstances, it is a recognised law among prospectors that misfortunes never come singly, therefore we were not surprised that afternoon when the river suddenly came down "a banker" (in flood) and carried away all our preparations for a new machine. Doc, who was of a philosophical nature, went out shooting when it became apparent that no further work could be done that day. When he returned to camp I saw from his face that the last of our misfortunes had not yet been reached.
"The Papangis and Babagas are out," he said quietly.
"That means----?" I said.
"That we"d better git, quick an" lively too," interrupted Bill.
"This creek runs into a large river about three miles down," continued Doc, "and there is a palisaded village near the junction. I saw some canoes drawn up on the banks, and from their design and peculiar ornamentation I at once guessed who their owners were. There were also some bearing the symbol of the Sizuretas; but probably they were those taken from that tribe when the great ma.s.sacre occurred. I did not see any natives, and as I was quite close to the palisades I therefore concluded that they did not wish to be seen, and you can all guess what that means."
Doc"s words caused great consternation, and when our "boys" gathered that they were in the country of the dreaded Papangi they set up a wailing. "Papangi no good. Hims eat poor black devils. Stick head on pouri dubus" (sorcerer"s house), cried one, on whom we had bestowed the t.i.tle of King George.
"Dinna you be frichtened, ma man," said Mac consolingly. "If ony o" the Papangi heathens come near enough I"ll gie them sic a feed o" lead that their ghosts"ll hae indegeestion." King George did not understand all that Mac said; but he brightened up considerably at his words, and at once began to infuse spirit into his companions. Mac was always delighted at the prospect of a fight; but as these tribes had only a month previously murdered and eaten most of the inhabitants of Angerita, the chief village of the Sizuretas, and afterwards successfully given battle to the Warden of the Northern Division and his police, who had gone to punish them, we thought discretion the better part of valour, and prepared to move, much to Mac"s disgust.
"Are ye gaun to rin awa" again?" he bellowed indignantly. "Let"s get ma gun, an I"ll gang an" fecht them ma"sel."
"An" your head vas look vell on pole-top, Scottie," said Kaiser as he struck our tent.
"We will fight if we can get a good camping-ground where they can"t get behind us," I said, and with that Mac had to be content.
In a marvellously short s.p.a.ce of time our carriers were loaded and across the stream, after which we cast our bridge adrift and started up the north bank, intending to follow the river to its source, and then prospect for the lode from which the gold was shed. The sun had just disappeared as we began our march. We had not stayed for supper, and perhaps this fact had something to do with the depressing influence that seemed to rest upon all. Animal life had suddenly become very active; and to feel a coiling, writhing object among the feet, or to tread upon some nameless amphibious creature, was anything but a pleasant sensation.
The moon shone brightly for the first two hours, and we travelled much faster than is usual in New Guinea. Our dogs, however, seemed conscious of some impending danger that was not yet apparent to us; and it grieved Mac sorely to see how his dumb charges hung so closely to his person, and how spiritless they had become.
"I fancy we should have stayed and risked a fight," Doc said at length, as we paused at the mouth of a narrow ravine through which the stream rushed furiously. "Our boys will never face that."
"Can"t we get over the top?" I suggested; but Bill and Sam, who had been reconnoitring, said our only possible course was to traverse the stream and trust to there being no pools. This prospect was not very pleasing.
We did not know the length of the ravine, nor what animals might have their homes in its depths, and our nerves were already at high tension.
The moon was now obscured with banks of dark clouds that had suddenly shot up from beneath Mount Victoria, and the birds of night, before so noisy, were now strangely silent. The atmosphere had also become oppressively close, and we had to throw down our loads, from sheer physical inability to longer sustain them.
"It"s a "buster" comin"," Sam gasped; "git up the flies--quick!" A flash of lightning lit up the valley as he spoke, and a terrific thunder-clap reverberated through the ravine. A minute of what felt unnatural silence pa.s.sed, during which we all struggled with our long canvas "fly," and then the storm burst. We had got our flour-and rice-sacks under cover, and following Kaiser"s example, crawled in under the folds beside them.
The rain was the heaviest I have ever experienced, and soon we were drenched to the skin, even through the thick canvas. Suddenly one of the dogs started up, and instinctively fearing some new calamity, I gripped his nostrils tightly, while Doc crawled to the edge of our covering.
"It"s them," he whispered. "They are on the other bank; Heaven help us if we are discovered!"
"Let me oot!" growled Mac; "I"m no gaun to be speared like a rabbit in a hole."
"Shut up, Mac," I remonstrated. "It"s too dark for them to see, and they cannot cross the water in any case." The patter of feet could now be heard on the opposite bank, and an occasional Che-ep (battle-cry) showed that we were not mistaken. In this new excitement we soon forgot our miserable condition; and from the characteristic behaviour of the individual members of the party, it was evident that the actual presence of danger had dispelled the strange feeling of depression which previously had almost unnerved us. Mac was muttering to his dogs, Bill and Sam were--unconsciously, I believe--pouring out a torrent of Australian bush words which, as Kaiser afterwards said, "sounded like poedry." Kaiser himself, I knew, was munching a piece of damper, which with thoughtful precaution he had carried from our last camp. Our boys lay still, as if asleep. I was so engrossed in the study of my comrades that events outside pa.s.sed unnoticed until Doc"s voice startled us.
"Come out, boys!" he cried; "all is clear." We crawled from under our soaked covering, and found Doc puffing at his pipe as serenely as if he had just risen from supper. The storm had ceased, the moon was shining again, and the dark clouds were speeding towards the Yodda Valley.
"Evidently our friends were surprised by the "buster" as much as we were," Doc said; "at any rate, they have gone home to dine on something else."
"That minds me that I"m hungry tae," cried Mac; "come on, Kaiser; gi"e us a haun.""
By some miraculous means these two worthies got a fire kindled, and while we dried ourselves by the blaze of the gum-logs, the "billies"
were boiled, and soon some copious draughts of thick black tea made us feel quite recovered. When morning came the waters in the gorge had subsided, and after a hasty breakfast we forced a pa.s.sage up the stream, and finally emerged on the wooded slopes of the mountains.
The details of our journey from thence onwards would require too much s.p.a.ce to enumerate. We steered for the distant ranges, because we wished to prospect them before the state of our stores rendered that impossible, knowing that, if unlucky, we could always come back to the sands of the river. We were attacked twice by hunting tribes of what must have been the notorious Tugeris; but we were no longer inclined to run away, and for the benefit of the gold-seeker who might come after us, we taught them that it was dangerous to interfere with prospectors.
One day in the middle ranges we traced up a rich gold formation, and by the primitive method of dollying with improvised tools obtained 110 ounces from it in three days. In this region--near the source of the Gira--signs of gold were everywhere; but we were not equipped for systematic mining, and could only treat the rich free ore or the alluvial deposits. There seemed to be few natives here, and owing to the height above sea-level the country was much healthier than in the lower valleys. One day we came on a deserted village, in the stockaded garden of which were cocoanut and betel palms, and the usual taro and sweet-potatoes. The sugar-cane and tobacco-plant were also much in evidence, showing that some civilising influence--probably that of the missionaries--had been at work among the former inhabitants. We saw no sign of life, however, and therefore concluded that the fierce Tugeris had recently raided the place.
Another day Doc and I, while climbing up the mountain-side from our camp, found our progress suddenly barred by a steep gully that cut transversely along the slope. Descending with difficulty into the valley, and following up the course of an old water-channel, we found a heterogeneous deposit of zircons, sapphires, topazes, and many other gemstones amidst the _debris_ of an extinct blowhole. We gathered some of what appeared to be the best, intending to find out their value at the earliest possible opportunity. The valley formation itself would have gladdened the heart of any geologist; from any point lower down the mountain the slope seemed continuous, and only when at the edge of the "breakaway" was the valley evident.
We were now near the German boundary, and hesitated between our desires and our duty as law-abiding prospectors. While camped on doubtful territory an incident occurred that may serve to ill.u.s.trate more than one thing. We were satisfied with our luck so far; and therefore light-hearted, so much so that one night Mac began to sing, and soon we all joined him. The air was very clear on the mountains, but it struck me that the echoes lingered strangely; and after we had turned in for the night, volumes of sound still rose and fell on the atmosphere, sweeter far than that produced by our own rough voices. Next night, as we sat at supper regarding ruefully our fast-diminishing stores, we were startled by a loud "Hallo!" "Hallo!" we shouted back, and then to our astonishment four men and six carriers marched into our fire-lit circle.
"It"s a graun" nicht," cried one. "Hae ye onything for eatin"?"