Chapter 40
Monday, June 22
The group left Port Hedland early in the morning on the freight train
to Cuncudgerie. Nell, Alisa, Lya, and Mr. Mutsu rode in the
boxcar, while Bruce and Gabby preferred the open air of the flat
car. The weather was unseasonably warm. The land
through which they rode was barren of vegetation and life, with only a
few large birds visible in the distant sky. After a sweaty,
mind-numbingly dull journey of eight hours they arrived in the mining
boom town of Cuncudgerie. Its principal attractions were a Grand
Opera House, an ice plant, numerous saloons, and the Cuncudgerie Grand
Hotel, where a sign proclaimed you could get a bath, a steak, and a
cold beer.
After the group checked into the Cuncudgerie Grand, they split
up. Lya retired to her room to write, under Nell's watchful
supervision. Alisa took her last hot bath for who knows how long,
while Gabby and Bruce went to see the expedition outfitter, Mortimer
Wycroft. He assured them that everything had been done according
to Bruce's instructions. Satisfied, Bruce, and Gabby went
to explore the town's drinking establishments and troll for rumors.
At the Lucky Strike, they heard a story about a fellow named Derby Dave
who was killed in a big mining disaster far to the east. The
company responsible paid off the local politicians and the whole thing
was hushed up. They also heard a story about a crazy American
bloke who took a crew of two dozen men into the bush, had them dig a
shaft thirty feet deep, then told them to stop, gave them a big bonus,
and sent every man jack to Darwin to collect his pay.
At Darwin's Folly (decorated with crude paintings of apes drinking
beer), they talked to a couple of cattle drovers who swore that flying
things the size of bears stole some of their cattle. The attacks
took place about a year ago somewhere east of the Percival Lakes.
Other drovers said the two were barmies and shouldn't be taken
seriously.
Gabby spotted an old pal of his, Mad Ginger Muldoon, sitting alone in a
dark corner of the pub, fairly stupefied after an evening of hard
drinking. Muldoon explained that he was trying to forget what had
happened to him four days ago. He had been camped at a place
called Dingo Falls - why so named he could not say, since he found
neither dingos nor falls, just a water hole from which he drank.
He then settled down for the night. It was a lonely place to
build a fire, but preferable to the company of the only locals, a barmy
drunkard and his two barmy sons. No sooner had he dropped off to
sleep than a light awoke him. He thought it was the locals, come
to drive him off, rob him, or worse. But the thing that
confronted him was immeasurably more horrible and not remotely
human. An effigy of a man, glowing white and red, its flesh
running off its bones, its staring eyes cooking in its skull, its mouth
wide open for a scream that was all the more terrible for being
silent. It advanced on him but he managed to drive it away with a
club. The next day he walked into Cuncudgerie and started
drinking.
Gabby and Bruce spent the rest of the evening gambling and drinking.
Back at the hotel, Nell, Alisa, and Mr. Mutsu had dinner and then
visited the bar. They found a higher-class of patrons than did
Gabby and Bruce and, after some discrete inquiries, heard a few
interesting stories. An American gentleman named John
Carver conducted surveys and exploratory diggings along the Canning
stock route, which crosses the Great Sandy Desert. They also
spoke with a man who had been in this bar when a fellow named MacWhirr
had claimed that he had found huge blocks of worked stone out in the
desert. "And he bought drinks all around to prove it!"
Before retiring for the evening, Nell sent a telegram to Rupert
in Sydney informing him that they would be heading into the desert the
next day.
Tuesday, June 23
The next morning the group met at Mortimer Wycroft's store. Alisa
purchased dynamite and blasting caps. Bruce supervised the
loading of two Daimler trucks with supplies. The first
truck (driven by Bruce, with Nell and Lya as passengers)
contained the blasting caps, spare parts and tools, petrol, food,
and water. The second truck (driven by Gabby, with Alisa and Mr.
Mutsu as passengers) contained the dynamite, personal gear, petrol
food, and water. After loading was completed, the caravan drove
off into the outback.
The landscape slowly increased in desolation the further they travelled
from Cuncudgerie, with little to see but scrub brush, dust, and
rock. Every few miles they crossed burro or camel tracks, or the
ruts from a vehicle. Gabby said that there was no way to tell
when the tracks were made - the desert is so dry that tracks may stay
visible for years.
About 1 PM that afternoon Bruce's truck had a blowout.
While Bruce and Gabby repaired the tire, Mr. Mutsu scanned the horizon
and satisfied himself that no one was following them.
After resuming their travels the group drove until dusk, then made
camp. Bruce slept in his truck.
There were two watches: Mr. Mutsu and Alisa, and Nell and Lya.
Wednesday, June
24
Continuing their trek, the group noticed a group of aborigines several
miles away. The aborigines moved away from the group and avoided
making contact with them.
At evening they camped at Dingo Falls. Great red rocks jetted up
from
a rocky, scalloped ridge, the formations in part resembling a wave of
surf about to crash down, frozen in stone. The formation made a
catchment pool shielded from quick evaporation by the sun. Above
the
pool were three caves.
The group parked the trucks a hundred yards from the pool, built a
campfire, and bedded down for the night. During
the first watch, Alisa and Mr. Mutsu saw the luminous figure of a weary
swagman, who beckoned upward at one of the caves before vanishing.
Thursday, June 25
The next morning Bruce, Alisa, and Mr. Mutsu went to recover supplies
from the first cache. They found the cache but it had been
plundered -
the water and petrol were still there but the tinned foods had been
taken. Alisa noticed two sets of bootprints leading from the
cache
northward. Bruce followed the bootprints to the top of a ridge
and saw
that they led to a shack about a mile away. Bruce returned to the
group and quickly loaded the trucks.
Meanwhile Nell and Gabby investigated the caves. The first cave
was empty, the second contained several snakes (which Gabby killed),
but the third contained charred human bones and scraps of cloth.
This panicked Gabby who fled back to the trucks.
After Nell and Bruce refilled the tanks, the group continued on their
way.
Friday, June 26
The group continued their trek into the desert, camping that night at
Balfour Downs.
Saturday, June 27
Just before noon the group drove into a sandstorm. Bruce and
Gabby parked the trucks and covered the engines with tarps. After
about an hour the storm passed and the group resumed their travel
(after disassembling and cleaning the carburetors). That evening
the group reached Jiggalong and recovered an intact cache of petrol,
water, and tinned food.
Sunday, June 28
In the morning the group encountered group of aborigines, who fled from
them.
Monday, June 29
Just before lunch Gabby misjudged a turn and drove his truck off the
road. He confessed to the group that he really wasn't very
skilled as a driver, and Alisa replaced him as driver. A few
hours later they met a prospector riding on a camel. He was
suspicious of them until Alisa offered him some cigarettes. He
told them that he was leaving the area because strange things were
happening. Bat swarms, earth tremors, the aborigines fleeing - he
was going to Meekatharra, where it's civilized, and to hell with this
place.
At evening the group reached Kunanaggi Wells, on the shores of Lake
Disappointment. Bruce retrieved an intact cache.
Tuesday, June 30
Another sandstorm forced the group to park the trucks and take shelter
for three hours. Afterwards Gabby spotted big birds to the
north. Delayed by the sandstorm, the group did not reach their
planned destination (Nimberra Well) and camped where they were at
sunset.
Wednesday, July 1
The group reached Nimberra Well (a brackish pond edged by green scum)
at mid-morning. Bruce was distressed to find that his supply
cache had
been completely plundered - the contents gone and replaced with human
bones. "This could be trouble, mates", he said. If the next
cache was also gone the group would have to turn back or risk
starvation. Gabby boiled some water and refilled the empty water
jugs.
Having now reached the stock trail, the group turned north, toward the
coordinates of their mysterious destination. Signs of long-past
cattle drives were evident in the form of bleached bones along the
trail. At sunset the group made camp near a parched depression
marked on their maps as "Lake George", under the brilliant
constellations of the southern sky.
