hey had a few spare horses with them, but, of course, all that I
saw were the four white men. I afterwards learned that, according to our
respective routes, we would have crossed their track, but they would not
have crossed ours. They were going west. They wore the regulation dress
of the Australian--broad sombrero hats, flannel shirts, and rather dirty
white trousers, with long riding-boots. I remember they were moving
along at a wretched pace, which showed that their horses were nearly
spent. Once again, notwithstanding all previous bitter lessons, my
uncontrollable excitement was my undoing. "Civilisation at last!" I
screamed to myself, and then, throwing discretion to the winds, I gave
the war-whoop of the blacks and rushed madly forward, yelling myself
hoarse, and supremely oblivious of the fantastic and savage appearance I
must have presented--with my long hair flowing wildly out behind, and my
skin practically indistinguishable from that of an ordinary black-fellow.
My companions, I afterwards discovered, swept after me as in a furious
charge, _for they thought I wanted to annihilate the white men at sight_.
Naturally, the spectacle unnerved the pioneers, and they proceeded to
repel the supposed attack by firing a volley into the midst of us. Their
horses were terrified, and reared and plunged in a dangerous manner,
thereby greatly adding to the excitement of that terrible moment. The
roar of the volley and the whizz of the shots brought me to my senses,
however, and although I was not hit, I promptly dropped to the ground
amidst the long grass, as also did Yamba and the other blacks. Like a
flash my idiotic blunder came home to me, and then I was ready to dash
out again alone to explain; but Yamba forcibly prevented me from exposing
myself to what she considered certain death.

The moment the horsemen saw us all disappear in the long grass they
wheeled round, changing their course a little more to the south--they had
been going west, so far as I can remember--and their caravan crawled off
in a manner that suggested that the horses were pretty well done for. On
our part, we at once made for the ranges that lay a little to the south.
Here we parted with our friends the blacks, who made off in an east-south-
easterly direction.

The dominant feeling within me as I saw the white men ride off was one of
uncontrollable rage and mad despair. I was apparently a pariah, with the
hand of every white man--when I