t the poison neutralised the potent draught, and poor Cato
showed no indication of having swallowed anything stronger than water.
With the superstition inherent in the blacks, he had made up his mind
to die, and his broken English, as he moaned out, "Plenty soon this
fellow go bong," was painful in the extreme.

"It's no use," said Dunmore. "I know these fellows better than any of
you, and Cato will never recover. I had a boy down on the Mary River,
who was knocked down with low fever. Half a pennyweight of quinine
would have put him to rights, but he had made up his mind to die, and
when once they have done that, all the drugs in a doctor's shop won't
do them any good."

Everything we could think of was proposed, but speedily rejected as
useless.

"Pour a charge of powder on the wound," said Jack Clarke, "and then
fire it, that will take the part out clean enough;" but we agreed that
it would be putting the boy to unnecessary pain, for the poison must be
already in the system and beyond the reach of local remedy; and the
patient had become drowsy, and repeatedly begged to be left alone and
allowed to go to sleep.

"We must walk him about," said Dunmore, "it is the only chance, and
painful as it is, I must have it done. Remember, I'm responsible for
the boy, and no means must be left untried."

I had withdrawn a little from the group, and as I stood some distance
off, outside the circle of light thrown by the fire, I could not help
thinking what a scene for the painter's brush was here presented. The
dark outline of the lofty gums looked black and forbidding as funeral
plumes, against the leaden sky. The rugged range starting up in the
rear, cast a threatening gloom over the little valley in which we were
encamped, and the distant thunder of a falling torrent could, with
little effort, be interpreted as a dull voice of warning from the
mountain. The fitful glare of the fire, now sinking, now rising as a
fresh brand was added, threw a ruddy glare over the actors in this
strange scene; showing the hopeless face of the poor patient, the
undemonstrative countenances of his sable companions, and the anxious
air apparent in the white men, more particularly in Dunmore, as he
knelt over his follower, and tried to inspirit a little hope by
dwelling on the chances of recovery. The fantastic dresses, and the
wildness of the spot, all combined to add a weird aspect to the group;
and recalled forcibly to the mind those