y
running, up into the mountains. Yarloo, who was the real leader of the
party, advised that the horses be left here. The camp was not far off,
and the approach to it was quite free from any cover for a mounted man.
So they hitched their horses to separate trees in such a way that they
could be unfastened in the shortest possible time.

They walked stealthily through the timber to the side of the valley,
where they began to crawl from boulder to boulder. It was slow work.
They dared not wait till dark. Each moment might decide the fate of
the man they had come to rescue. For half a mile they approached the
camp in this way, noiselessly, and completely hidden by the rocks.
They saw no sign of natives.

All at once a thin, high, quavering sound rose just ahead of them.
Others joined it like a pack of dingoes howling in the night. Then the
note trembled and came down, getting louder as it descended the scale
till it was a deep muttering of great anguish. It started again and
again. Every native of the little party shivered. It was a death-wail.

Yarloo turned to Mick, and said hoarsely: "Old man bin die. We hurry,
I think."

The rescuers sprang to their feet and ran, stooping low and keeping out
of sight. They need not have taken these precautions. Every warragul
of the tribe was engaged at the camp, where death-wails rose and fell.

Suddenly a Musgrave native confronted the rescue party. He lifted his
left hand and signed to them to stop. There were only two fingers and
a thumb on that hand. It was Coiloo. He was armed with spears and
boomerangs and a shield. Mick raised his rifle, but Yarloo leaped in
front of it. A shot at this time would warn the camp and spoil any
chance of success. It was more important to rescue Stobart than to
settle a private quarrel.

Coiloo cast a look of deadly hatred towards Mick. He longed to hurl
one of these slender spears of his at his enemy, and bury the poisonous
head deep in the white man's heart. But he too had a more important
task to perform just then. He grabbed Sax by the wrist and sprang up
the valley with incredible swiftness. The startled white boy was
carried along and quickly outdistanced the others. Coiloo gave no
explanation of his strange behaviour. He must reach the blacks' camp
as soon as possible. The wailing became louder and louder, and
presently Sax heard a sound which gave such fleetness to his limbs that
his wiry companion could hard