Page:The romance of Runnibede (IA romanceofrunnibe00rudd).pdf/120

from the silent rocks and scrub! Gad! And how I shook in the saddle!

In an instant the camp was awake and on the alert. From every gunyah voices called the alarm. Even the miserable dogs set up a chorus of snappy barks. Nude men were on their feet, their hands reaching for war weapons, and the camp became a bedlam of excited jargon.

Again the Governor called those names. We, sitting in the saddle, listened intently. In the dead silence that followed he added: "Gov'nor Runnibede here, want yabba alonga you."

Then rang out yells of recognition. A rush of men, their black silky skins shining in the moonlight, came hurrying forward, giving our horses a start. What feelings of surprise and curiosity and joy our visit seemed to give them as they crowded round us. They knocked and rapped their war weapons together in their wonder and delight. Though their attitude was full of friendship, I could feel my hair rising on end. The Governor dismounted from Hyperion, and, standing calmly in the centre of them, spoke with the "King," "Curricomb," "Combo" and the "Captain," telling them in their own dialect and broken English the object of our visit. Then he questioned them to ascertain if they knew anything of Dorothy. Eustace and Tom Merton put questions to others of the tribe whom they knew. How the horses distrusted them — snorting in their faces, and turning this way and that. White Wings, when a tall, long whiskered warrior attempted to put his hand on her mane, reared on