Each one of the party was carrying two heads. Page 143.
THE ADVENTURE
OF
THE BROAD ARROW
An Australian Romance
BY
MORLEY ROBERTS
London
Hutchinson & Co.
34 Paternoster Row, E.C.
1897
CONTENTS
Chap.
I. NEW FIND
II. A SPECULATION
III. GOING IT BLIND
IV. TWO IN A DESERT
V. LOOKING FOR WATER
VI. THE BILLABONG
VII. RUNNING UP THE BILLABONG
VIII. THE ASHES OF A FIRE
IX. THE WHITE MAN
X. THE BRODARRO
XI. A SOLUTION
XII. THE BEGINNING OF TROUBLE
XIII. THE FATHER OF THE TRIBE
XIV. THE GOLD OUTCROP
XV. THE FIGHT ON THE RIVER
XVI. THE RIVER SINK
XVII. THE SAND TORNADO
XVIII. THE ROAD WITH PITS
XIX. DELIVERANCE
THE ADVENTURE OF THE BROAD ARROW
CHAPTER I.
NEW FIND.
"It's possible to be damned without beingdead," said Smith, as he drank his nobblerat the Pilbarra Hotel. "And miners arethe men who know it, in such a place asthis."
He looked out of the reeking bar-roomon the light brown glare of waterlessdesert, with a few thirsty trees scatteredover it.
"We're in the pit, so to speak," hecontinued, "but not the lowest, for thereare drinks here still. Fill 'em up again,Bob, and have one yourself. As for me,I feel I could blue my skin and shirt fora last one before I tumble to pieces androt finger by finger in this hole."
The men in the bar stood and drankwith him silently. Yet one who was maddrunk with brandy and sunlight smashedhis tumbler on the bar top, and pitchedthe bottom at a mongrel dog slinkingoutside in a thin shadow.
"What's the best news, Smith?" askedBob, who was the only cheerful man in thecrowd.
"The best news," answered Smith, "isthat we are back, and the water's nearlydone here, and the rain is not coming,and the camp is rotting. Tinned meatsand fever water are doing for us. I mightas well have stayed out yonder and gotsun-dried in mulga and spinifex."
And he went off foolishly into theblazing sun, which came down at a slantof ninety degrees, and shone back fromthe hot dust with a glare that could blistera man under his chin.
The town that he strode through wasof boards and canvas and corrugatediron. It stank in the still air, and, asman, or horse, or camel went by, thedust