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Fri 17 Sep 1937 - The Land (Sydney, NSW : 1911 - 1954)
Page 22 - "The Land's" Thrilling New Serial of Australia's Vast Inland Uncivilised
"The Land's" Thrilling New Serial of Australia's Vast" Inland
CHAPTER VI. (continued)
"It's nothing1 anyway," he said.
"Knock up some damper, Shady.
We're out. No use spreading the
flaps. . I'll fix a wurley out of branches
that'll do us till morning." •
; Bluni grunted and leaned his rifllo
against a tree. Soon he had a fire
lit arid wasbusy with flour and water.
"While the damper was baking in
hot ashes he filled two quart-pots and
set them to boil.
"Make coffee, Shady,", said Salter.
"I'm sick of tea."
"Right," replied Blum laconically.
As night came the appetizing od
our of coffee, damper and bacon
floated up . the hill. The fire was in
a glade, the branches of trees form
ing a trellis jaboye it. From high
overhead came the honking of geese
.in flight, the broad-arrow formation
crossing the stars and vanishing into
the east. Down the gorge a dingo
howled, the mournful note causing
the horses to snort a little. But the
trained ears of the bushmen knew
-the cries were genuine; they were
used to the coming and going of day
and night in jungle and on plain,
and they sat with the fire between
them, its flickering light revealing
•Blum's swarthy, sullen features, and
Salter's leathery, deeply-lined face.
They talked While the fire died, and
then crept under the wurley Salter
had thrown together, their rifles
loaded and ready to hand.
"Dawn," said Blum. . "An. I'll be
glad to get going again. I've got a
cold feeling.. . .something queer
right inside me."
Salter looked anxious.
"You ain't -gettiri' that damn' Gulf
fever again, are 3rou?" he asked.
Blum shook his head and then his
hand shot out and gripped his riflle.
From up on the hillside again sounded
that strange cry, rising and falling,
chilling, very close. Farther away an
owl hooted and the cliains of the
hobbles rattled.
"Did you hear—that?"- whispere'd
Salter.
"I heard it," muttered Blum. "An'
I'm going to scatter th' fire right now.
By . ...
CHARLES CHAUVEL
That's a Myall afterblood—maybe
ours."
Rifle in hand he ran to the fire;
Then Salter heard him cough pe
culiarly and saw him pitch face down
aci'oss the red coals. Instantly the
smell of burning flesh clung to the
night air.
"Shady! Shady!" Salter called. ;
He ran to Blum and saw in. the
red glow that a spear was through
his mate's throat. Blum could not
speak, but his hand fluttered, wav
ing Salter away from the fire into
the shadows.
> "Shady!" Salter choked.
Again the hand moved feebly and
then was still. Dragging Blum from
the fire, Salter turned and raced for
. Salter suddenly screamed in agony. .Help
. Salter suddenly screamed in agony. .
the blackness, soundless words bab
bling from his throat. Blum, was
dead, past all sympathy or aid. Rifle
in hand he backed farther into the
deep shadows, his eyes glaring and
watching the smoke rising from
Blum's bui'ning clothes. The flannel
was blazing.
"Christ!" he gasped. ^
Silently, cautiously, lie retreated
step by step, pausing, listening, mov
ing back. But ho could hear- noth
ing, . could see nothing 'except his
mate's clothing alight arid smoking;
Deep in the shadows he waited, r •
But for what? . His head , shook
as he asked himself the question. It.
was as though he stood chained in
some soundless black cavern,' un
able to move forward or back. He
dare not move. He stood under a
stunted bloodwood, and in the black
foliage above him stirred something
blacker than the shadows, Out on'
the limb under which Salter waited,
it glided. No sound. No sound un
til Salter suddenly screamed in agony,
stumbled as a shovel was pulled from
his spurting, pierced body, and then
pitched forward in a sobbing, help
less heap as Blum had done, his rifle
exploding harmlessly. •,
Then rang- that terrible ery.: .The
triumphant, full, tho cry of mad
ness and death.
"Ah-hrh-ah! Ah-li-hrah! Ah-h-h
ah!" it pealed over the dark forest.
While Salter still lived his kidney
fat was taken, the' imthless shovel
opening his back to allow a black
hand to rip the fat from the flesh,
the magical fat that when rubbed
, into a black skin adds the courage
of the victim to that of the killer.
Then again the shovtel slashed, and
Salter's right hand, then that of
Blum, were- taken from the wrists;
thick, grinning black lips sucking
out the blood that dripped from
them. Then they were thrown far,
away so that the ghosts of the dead
would be handless' when they
searched .for a weapon. . . .
Not again was Moopil's crs* heard.
Blum's clothes burnt themselves out.
Back under the bloodwood tree
Salter lay on his chest, his twisted
face grinning still in his final agony.
:Prom afar in the dusk the fire of
Blum and Salter had -been seen by
the lceeri eyes of the police patrol,
and Mounted Constable King laughed
as. he looked up at the red pin-point
on this liillsido.
"They've" camped; Bandy,' 'he said.
"In an hour' I'll have the cuffs on
them."
A diminutive : aborigine was
Bandy,'; as .'sharp as a needle .and
with the eyes of a hawk. , He
slouched in his saddle staring up at
the fire, his bare, black toes, toying
with the stirrup-irons.
"Him fool," ho grunted. :
King shook his head arid glanced
at the revolver lying snug in its
holster. Tall, wide of shoulder and
lean of hip, he was a splendid type
of the men who rode for law and
justice along- the far, dangerous
tracks.
"Wrong, Bandy. They're not fools.
Another day and they would have
slipped through," lie said.
"What them pfella do?" asked the
black-tracker.
"Orders say I'm to arrest them
both and search the outfits. Keep
your eyes sldnned: "
He broke off as a scream followed
by the dull report of a rifle, sounded
up near the lire. The patrol halted.
"What's that one, Bandy?" asked
King, his cool blue eyes probing the
shadows.
Bandy trembled.
"Moopil, that one!" he hissed. "He
kill 'em finish. Then him howl like
debbil."
"We'll go ahead," said King, the
revolver from its holster.
Bandy's teeth chattered. The teeth
of the tracker behind him chattered.
"Him kill 'em finish you," began
Bandy. "He kill 'em finish pfella
O'Neill."
"My job at the moment is not
Moopil, but Blum and Salter," said
the olficer. "Careful, now—if any
thing moves, drop it! I'll have a
crack at Moopil ... later."
Jerry, Bandy's mate, edged his
horso closer. Moopil's feai'ful cry
made him shiver as he rode.
Beside the lire King dismounted,
and a glance showed him Blum was
dead. Salter was not to be seen, but
the constable knew he also was
dead and would be lying close. He
threw wood on the fire.
"Moopil," he muttered, "got them
both."
He turned to hi3 trackers.
"Find Salter," he said.
Unhesitatingly in tho rising light
they followed the boot-tracks while
King seai-ehed the packs. Grimly he
stared at certain flat tins and then
turned and lo.olced at'Blum.'
"Prepared opium in tins. Radcliffe.
was right." '' -
Bandy and Jerry brought Salter
to the fire and King, spoke again.
"They'll overland no more dope,
poor devils. Bandy, get a pick and
spade from the \ packs. We'll bury
them and then; camp. I'll make a
cross..... maybe it'll help."
Bandy's sharp eyes found the
quart-pots, and the . remnants of the
damper and bacon. ' M
"This pfella no want ,'em," he said
to Jerry.
Jerry grinned, and munching
hungrily they ate Blum and Salter's
food while digging ' their; graves.
Article identifier
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article104181373
Page identifier
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-page11247107
APA citation
"The Land's" Thrilling New Serial of Australia's Vast Inland Uncivilised (1937, September 17).The Land (Sydney, NSW : 1911 - 1954), p. 22. Retrieved November 26, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article104181373
MLA citation
""The Land's" Thrilling New Serial of Australia's Vast Inland Uncivilised"The Land (Sydney, NSW : 1911 - 1954) 17 September 1937: 22. Web. 26 Nov 2025 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article104181373>.
Harvard/Australian citation
1937 '"The Land's" Thrilling New Serial of Australia's Vast Inland Uncivilised',The Land (Sydney, NSW : 1911 - 1954), 17 September, p. 22. , viewed 26 Nov 2025, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article104181373
Wikipedia citation
{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article104181373 |title="The Land's" Thrilling New Serial of Australia's Vast Inland Uncivilised |newspaper=[[The Land]] |issue=1372 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=17 September 1937 |accessdate=26 November 2025 |page=22 |via=National Library of Australia}}

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Funding for digitisation contributed byNew South Wales Government
Funding for digitisation contributed byState Library of NSW Digital Excellence Program
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