e drove his comebo through her arm, she
was silent. He said, "Come down, and I will chop out the bees' nest."
But she did not answer him, and he saw that she too was dead. Then he
was frightened, and climbed quickly down the gunnyanny tree; taking her
body to the ground with him, he laid it beside her sister's, and
quickly he hurried from the spot, taking no further thought of the
honey. As he neared his camp, two little sisters of his wives ran out
to meet him, thinking their sisters would be with him, and that they
would give them a taste of the honey they knew they had gone out to
get. But to their surprise Narahdarn came alone, and as he drew near to
them they saw his arms were covered with blood. And his face had a
fierce look on it, which frightened them from even asking where their
sisters were. They ran and told their mother that Narahdarn had
returned alone, that he looked fierce and angry, also his arms were
covered with blood. Out went the mother of the Bilbers, and she said,
"Where are my daughters, Narahdarn? Forth went they this morning to
bring home the honey you found. You come back alone. You bring no
honey. Your look is fierce, as of one who fights, and your arms are
covered with blood. Tell me, I say, where are my daughters?"

"Ask me not, Bilber. Ask Wurranunnah the bee, he may know. Narahdarn
the bat knows nothing." And he wrapped himself in a silence which no
questioning could pierce. Leaving him there, before his camp, the
mother of the Bilbers returned to her dardurr and told her tribe that
her daughters were gone, and Narahdarn, their husband, would tell her
nothing of them. But she felt sure he knew their fate, and certain she
was that he had some tale to tell, for his arms were covered with
blood.

The chief of her tribe listened to her. When she had finished and begun
to wail for her daughters, whom she thought she would see no more, he
said, "Mother of the Bilbers, your daughters shall be avenged if aught
has happened to them at the hands of Narahdarn. Fresh are his tracks,
and the young men of your tribe shall follow whence they have come, and
finding what Narahdarn has done, swiftly shall they return. Then shall
we hold a corrobboree, and if your daughters fell at his hand Narahdarn
shall be punished."

The mother of the Bilbers said: "Well have you spoken, oh my relation.
Now speed ye the young men lest the rain fall or the dust blow and the
tracks be lost." Then forth went the fleetes