ly might, what could his mate
do? Nothing. If in waterless country he would have to leave him, or kill
him, or die with him.

Though Luck and I were spared any catastrophes, we often thought of such
things, and therefore felt anxious when either was away for long.

On the 22nd we were surprised at cutting a freshly made dray-track, along
which it was clear that many had passed--and the next day arrived at the
Red Flag, an alluvial rush that had "set in" during our sojourn in the
sand. This came as a great surprise, as we had no idea that gold had been
found so far afield. This camp, some twelve miles North-East of Mount
Margaret, consisted then of only forty or fifty men, though others were
daily arriving. These were the first white men we had seen for seven
weeks, and they were greatly astonished to see us, when they learnt what
direction we had come from.

Here were gathered together men from Coolgardie and Murchison, attracted
by the tales of wealth brought by the first prospectors of the new rush.
Some of them had been longer away from civilisation than we had, and many
arguments were held as to the correct date. Of course I knew, because I
kept a diary; but the Queen's Birthday was celebrated by us on the wrong
day after all, for I had given April thirty-one days! We heard that
hundreds had started for the rush, but this camp represented all who had
persevered, the rest being scared at the distance.

This reads funnily now when Mount Margaret is as civilised as Coolgardie
was then, and is connected by telegraph, and possibly will be soon
boasting of a railway. The blacks had been very troublesome, "sticking up"
swagmen, robbing camps, spearing horses, and the like. It is popularly
supposed that every case of violence on the part of the natives, may be
traced to the brutal white man's interference in their family
arrangements. No doubt it does happen that by coming between man and wife
a white man stirs up the tribe, and violence results, but in the majority
of cases that I know of, the poor black-fellow has recklessly speared,
wounding and killing, prospectors' horses, because he wanted food or
amusement. A man does not travel his packhorses into the bush for the
philanthropic purpose of feeding the aboriginals, and naturally resents
his losses and prevents their recurrence in a practical way.

As a matter of fact, the black population was so small, that even had
every individual of it been shot, the total woul