42 
HAMBLETON 
CHAI\ 
possible it seems to be that white labour can ever be 
much utilised or relied on to do physical work amid 
such moisture and under such a sun. 
But where was the camp we were seeking ? We 
rode on and on, and still no sign ; on through another 
plantation and into scrub with not the faintest trace of 
a track, then out again and over an old wooden bridge, 
several planks of which gave way, and my horse’s hind 
leg went through. It seemed that Sammy and Jacky 
were out in their reckoning, and by way of an experi- 
ment we all halted and cooeed together, but only the 
weird echoes came back to us ; so we took another 
turn of exploring. The clouds were now growing 
blacker and blacker, and the road becoming rougher at 
each step that we took, so at last Jacky was put on one 
of our horses and sent off to try if he could find the 
camp. We all waited, while, to pass the time, one after 
the other told ghost and snake stories, bush tales of 
long ago, of creeping horrors, or of hairbreadth escapes 
from natives and bushrangers. Under the shadow of 
the moonlight every bough and tree seemed woven into 
human form, and the soughing of the passing wind as 
it swept through the tall tree tops sounded like the 
sigh of a weary spirit let loose, as it sank away into 
the darkness beyond. 
I shivered and wished myself back. Presently, 
away in the distance, we heard the peculiar long 
cooeeing of our black boys, and the still more distant 
answer from many others, and before long our two 
black envoys returned. They had seen the natives, 
who were afraid of us. “ What did the white men 
want ? ” “ Had they come to frighten them away ? ” 
and so on. When they were assured that we only 
wanted to see them as friends, and had brought them 
tobacco, two of them were persuaded to return as 
