122 TROPIC DAYS 



none responded he railed against all for cowards and 

 sent the boomerang hissing defiance against the blue 

 sky, to fall with mutter and thud at his feet. In his 

 rage the little man became hysterical, and the more he 

 scolded the less important, while the swaying spear 

 emphasised increasing agitation, but brought hii - 

 neither humility nor jibe, for the race does not intention- 

 ally relieve its drama with comedy. 



No more influential personage was present than 

 "Mooty," the crafty, determined, plausible philosopher 

 — the sagest of the counsellors, the most flowery of 

 orators, the most weird of the wizards. Long before he 

 had established his reputation as a medicine-man. A 

 settler had purchased some cast-off goats in a distant 

 town, and had employed a black boy of the district as 

 assistant drover, and the name of the boy was Tom. 

 Since there are many " Toms," a distinguishing surname 

 had to be bestowed, so "Goat" was affixed, and as "Tom 

 Goat" the stranger was known. Having no sweetheart, 

 he made love to several dusky dames, all of whom 

 rejected him because his absurd name made him a 

 figure for fun. Rosey, wife of Jack, was persistently 

 courted, and scornfully she despised her wooer. That 

 individual, however, was not without malignant re- 

 source. Rosey complained of a sore throat, and as she 

 got worse her boy became similarl}^ afflicted. The faces 

 and throats of both swelled alarmingly, so that Moot}', 

 who had the cases in hand, gave up hope. Both were 

 resigned, when Moot}', to his own horror and the dismay 

 of everyone, caught the dread disease. 



No such illness had ever been known in the district, 

 and since it had not only baffled Mooty 's skill, but had 

 irreverently seized him — the only ph3'sician of credit 

 and renown — its cause must be supernatural. Thus 

 did he reason, as he began occult investigations. Jack 



