Arthur Upfield - Man of Two Tribes

Here they made a fire and brewed a half-billy of tea, and Bony did his best to interest them in the habits of this rodent bearing the scientific name ofLeporillus. Their houses were different in size and shape, but all were expertly constructed of woven bush, and all but two had roofs weighted with stones to defy the wind.

Jenks banged the side of his foot against a house, and Brennan removed the stones from the roof of another, when out sped a rodent of the size of a common rat, leaping in hops, its long hind legs and short fore-legs giving it the appearance of the genuine marsupial.

Bony allowed two hours’ rest. Maddoch and Myra lay face down, pressing their eyes into their arms to defeat the flies, which were not really vicious. Only Lucy was happy. She snuffled at the rats’ houses, and Brennan laughed uproariously when a rat bolted from the back door of one and a rabbit fled through the front door, and Lucy couldn’t make up her mind which to chase.

Jenks was the most restless. He stood often to gaze at thePlain, eyes small, lips betraying nervous reaction to something his mind could not accept.

“How far we come today?” asked Riddell. “Only seven blasted miles! And half the day gone! We onlydoin ’ fourteen miles a day?”

“We should cover more when we become hardened, Joe.” Bony said.

“Howjaknow we done seven miles?” pressed the big man.

“By the sun we have walked for three separate hours. Walking speed of the normal man unencumbered is two and a half miles to the hour. As we are all encumbered and weary, I am being generous in estimating our speed at only a fraction under the two and a half.”

“Then how far are we from them caverns?”

“About forty miles.”

“And how far to this Bumblefoot Holeyou beentellin ’ us about?”

“I cannot say with any degree of accuracy, Joe. I am hoping it will be a little less than fifty miles.”

“So!” Riddell pondered.“Oughtado it on our heads.”

“Of course we’ll do it. And another hundred miles beyond Bumblefoot Hole. Were you doubtful?”

“Well…”

“We’ll get there,” he was assured, and noting the glint in the blue eyes, he turned to gaze with Jenks at the absence of scenery.

“Think we bluffed theabos?” asked Brennan, sitting with Bony.

“I’ll be more confident of that, say, tomorrow night. It’s quite possible, youknow, that they may never discover our departure. Having visited us the other day, they could think we were safe enough, and go off on their own affairs for several weeks. Think you could also carry Myra’s swag this afternoon?”

“Sure!” drawled Brennan.“Anything to help a lady. Let’s get going.”

Left… right… left. Nothing to look at. The endless shuffle of left foot… right foot… left foot. Eyes front and directed to the heels of the man ahead. Sing! To hell with singing. Talk! What’s the use? Daydream of city lights, of wallowing in beer, of a feast of women! Lights and beer and women! What in hell are they? Saltbush and jerboa rats! Crawling like lice on a two-bob bit! Better to have stayed with old doc in those caverns where there’s water and no flies, no need to think, only listen to old doc’s stories. Ruddy fool to take on this.

It was after four o’clock when Bony saw a shadow where none should be, a black line some five hundred yards to the right. He veered towards it, and hope was born, grew to maturity when the shadow thickened, and he saw whatwas a miniature Bumblefoot Hole.

Lucy ran on and disappeared, and presently they stood at the lip of a shelving bank, ending in a rocky floor sloping to the foot of a cliff at the far side. There were the shadows-of small eaves. There werea dozen old-man saltbush offering real wood instead of light brush, a fire to bake bread. If only water!

“Looks good to me,” cried Mark Brennan. “A hole’s better than all of this Plain.”

Bony agreed, and turned to share their relief. His brows straightened in a swift frown. His eyes narrowed as their glance swept over the Plain. Sharply he asked:

“Where’s Maddoch?”

They looked at each other, then down at the saltbush into the small depression less than half an acre in extent.

“When I looked back about half an hour ago, Maddoch was walking ahead of you, Jenks. What happened to Maddoch?”

The sailor’s eyes opened wide, despite the flies. He regarded Bony as though being asked the most ridiculous question. He glanced at Myra Thomas: he gazed all about him, his jaw slack.

“Cliff!” he exclaimed. “He was in front of me at that. Where’s he got to? I don’t know. Must be down there. Must have got ahead of us without seeing him.”

“You hit him with a rock or something?” mildly enquiredBrennan, and the subtlety of the suggestion didn’t even register.

Bony focused the picture he had seen when last he had looked back. They had not been strictly in line of file, but Maddoch was certainly of the number of those who followed his lead. Everyone was walking with face down and shoulders humped under the load carried. It was probable, almost certain, that Jenks and Brennan who came after him had at the same time been mentally occupied elsewhere than on the Nullarbor Plain, and could, therefore, easily have failed to notice Maddoch drop out.

“He’s gone back to the caverns,” guessed the girl.“Said he wanted to. The idiot.”

“Ought to see him,” shouted Jenks, staring to the east, and Brennan agreed, although he gazed to the west, and Riddell, catching the idea, looked to the north.

Bony was sure he could see any object within three miles, as high as Maddoch stood. Half an hour back, when he had seen Maddoch with the party, they were about a mile, or a little more, from this place where he was missed.

Assuming that Maddoch had dropped out without being seen, and having the intention of returning to the caverns, he would start walking to the north, simply because it was opposite to the line ofmarch. But not for long would he continue northwards. Within minutes he would veer to the left or the right, according to which leg was longer than the other.

There being no natural objects to guide him, to lure him, he would inevitably walk in a circle, the problem being how far would Maddoch walk before making a halt, after which he would set off on another circle.

That he, Bony, could see a walking man clearly for three miles meant little on this tricky Plain, where distance is distorted, and sound judgment not possible.

“You must camp and I’ll go back to look for him.” Bony led the way down to the floor of the hole. They helped to make a fire, and then Bony, noticing that Lucy’s muzzle was wet, found a rock-hole half-filled with water, and covered with green slime.

“You may use this water sparingly to wash with,” he said, “but not to drink unless first boiled. Brennan, I am placing the drum of clean water in your charge. You see that bush?”

“Yes.”

“If I am not back by sun-rise tomorrow, make a fire under it. Make a smoke. Understand?”

“Yes, but… you can’t leave us like this. What’ll we do if you can’t find your way back?”

“Yes, what’ll we do, Inspector?” echoed Jenks.“If Maddoch chooses to clear out, let him go. He’saskin ’ for what he gets.”

“Too right! Too ruddy right!” snarled Riddell. “Let him rot.”

Bony stared at each man, stared them down.

“Leave Maddoch. I can’t leave Maddoch. I don’t yet know who murdered Mitski, and I’m taking Mitski’s murderer all the way.”

It is said that a man spends his life struggling to return to the protection of the womb, and it was this impulse which drove the little man who loved peace and security to seek the mother he had lost when as a small child he was left, sensitive and alone. He married, not the comforter, the protective mother, but a shrew, and the climax of the tragedy was inevitable.