he harsh cackle of a wild pheasant sounded from the
branches of a Leichhardt tree near by, and was answered by the shrill,
screaming notes of a flock of king-parrots which the storm had driven to
settle amidst the thick, dense scrub on the bank of the creek.

Quite suddenly she became aware that something was moving about in the
grass outside the tent, and a thrill of alarm made her instinctively
clutch the Winchester rifle beside her. Surely there was some one there,
whispering! Very quietly she sat up and waited. Yes, there certainly
were people outside, and a cold chill of terror possessed her when
the whisperings changed to a rapid and louder muttering in an unknown
tongue, and she knew that her visitors were blacks!

Unable to even speak, she heard the soft rustle of footsteps drawing
nearer and nearer, and then the closed flap of the tent was pulled
slowly aside by a long black hand, and the wicked eyes of the bearded
face of a huge aboriginal, naked to the waist, gazed into hers. For a
second or two he looked at her, watching her terrified expression as a
snake watches the fascinated bird; then he drew back his lips and showed
two rows of gleaming teeth in a fierce smile of exultation. By a mighty
effort she tried to raise the Winchester, and in another moment the
blackfellow sprang at her, covered her head with a filthy kangaroo skin
and silently bore her outside.

For quite ten minates she felt herself being carried swiftly along, till
her captor came to the creek, which he crossed. Then he uncovered her
face and spoke to her in English.

"If you make a noise I will kill you, and throw your body in the creek.
I am Sandy the Trooper."

She gazed at him mechanically, too horrified at her surroundings
to utter a sound. For dawn had just broken and she saw that she was
standing in a small open space in the midst of a sandalwood scrub, and
encircled by twenty or thirty ferocious-looking myall blacks all armed
with spears and waddies. The strong ant-like odour which emanated from
their jet-black skins filled her nostrils and, putting her hands to her
eyes, she shuddered and fell upon her knees with a choking sob.

"Come, none of that, missie," said another voice in English, and her
hands were rudely pulled aside; "you must get up and walk. Perhaps we
won't hurt you. But if you make a noise I'll give you a tap on the head
with this waddy," and the speaker flourished a short club over her head.
"Come! get up!"