. The book of the long trail. them was trembling as if in could get only one intelligible word from them,and that was Gow, which means Go on. Theyoffered an older man a knife, if he would guide them ;but he bolted up a tree, jabbering incessantly andpointing towards Coopers Creek. On September 9 and 10 more natives were metwith, but they also were unintelligible. On the 13thand 14th tracks of stray camels were seen, and on the15th some horse tracks and the handle of a clasp now had strong hopes of picking up Burkestrail. In the afternoon he crossed a large reach ofwa
. The book of the long trail. them was trembling as if in could get only one intelligible word from them,and that was Gow, which means Go on. Theyoffered an older man a knife, if he would guide them ;but he bolted up a tree, jabbering incessantly andpointing towards Coopers Creek. On September 9 and 10 more natives were metwith, but they also were unintelligible. On the 13thand 14th tracks of stray camels were seen, and on the15th some horse tracks and the handle of a clasp now had strong hopes of picking up Burkestrail. In the afternoon he crossed a large reach ofwater and followed the track of a camel going up thecreek. Soon afterwards he found a native who beganto gesticulate in a very excited manner, pointing downthe creek and bawling Gow, gow ! as loud as hecould. Howitt, finding that the man only ran awaywhen he tried to approach him, turned back and crossed BURKE AND WILLS 163 the creek to rejoin his own party. In doing so, hecame upon three pounds of tobacco, which had evidently. Waving branches, and jabbering very excitedly. been lying for some time. This, together with theknife handle, the fresh horse tracks and the cameltrack going eastward, puzzled him extremely, and ledhim into a hundred conjectures. He could not guess 164 THE BOOK OF THE LONG TRAIL the riddle; but the answer was not far off, and beforethe end of this day of hopes and fears and mysterieshe found it. At the lower end of the reach of waterwhich he had recrossed he saw two of his own mencoming to meet him. Evidently they had news forhim, but he could not tell whether good or bad. It wasin fact both good and bad. King had been found ;but he was the only survivor of Burkes advance went forward, to where the rest of his menwere halted, walked across to the .blacks camp closeby, and there found King sitting in a hut which thenatives had made for him. He was wasted to a shadow,with only remnants of civilised clothing upon him, andso weak that what he said
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectexplorers, bookyear19
