第107章

In the course of another day or so I reached a second camp.Into this I decided to venture and explain who I was.Before taking this step, however, I rubbed off all the clayey coating on my skin, trimmed my hair and beard to a respectable length by means of a firestick, and threw away my bow, which was now my only remaining weapon; then I marched boldly into the camp.Some five or six bronzed prospectors were seated at supper round the fire in front of the tent as I approached; and when they caught sight of me they stared, astounded for the moment, and then burst into laughter, under the impression that I was one of their own black servants playing some joke upon them.When I was but a few yards away, however, I called out in English -"Halloa, boys! have you room for me?"

They were too much taken aback to reply immediately, and then one of them said -"Oh yes; come and sit down."

As I seated myself among them they asked -"Have you been out prospecting?"

"Yes," I said quietly, "and I have been away a very long time.""And where did you leave your mates?" was the next question.

"I had no mates," I told them."I undertook my wanderings practically alone."They looked at one another, winked, and smiled incredulously at this.Then one of them asked me if I had found any gold.

I said, "Oh yes, plenty of gold," and then the next query--a most natural one--was, "Well, why have you not brought some of the stuff back with you? How far have you travelled?"I told them I had been tramping through the heart of the Continent for eight or nine months, and that I had no means of carrying nuggets and quartz about with me.But this explanation only served to renew their merriment, which reached its climax when, in an unguarded moment, I put a question which I had been burning to ask -"What year is this?"

"This is Bellamy's 'Looking Backward' with a vengeance," cried one of the prospectors--a sally that was heartily appreciated by the whole of the company, with the exception of myself.I began to think that if this was the reception civilisation had for me, it were better for me to have remained among my faithful savages.

But in a few minutes the men's demeanour changed, and it was obvious that they looked upon me as a harmless lunatic just emerged from the bush.I was assured that this conclusion was correct when I saw the diggers looking at one another significantly and tapping their foreheads.I resolved to tell them nothing further about myself, well knowing that the more I told them the more convinced they would be that I was a wandering lunatic.I learned that these men were a party of decent young fellows from Coolgardie.They offered me a meal of tea and damper, and pressed me to stay the night with them, but I declined their hospitality.I gratefully accepted a pair of trousers, but declined the offer of a pair of boots, feeling certain that I could not yet bear these on my feet.

My rough benefactors told me that I should find many other camps to the south and west; so I wandered off into the bush again and spent the night alone.

My next move was in the direction of Mount Margaret; and along the road which I traversed I came across an interesting variety of picks, shovels, and other mining tools, which had evidently been discarded by disappointed prospectors.I decided not to enter this town but to go round it; then I continued my tramp alone towards Coolgardie and thence to Southern Cross.

After working for some time in the last-named town (my impressions of "civilisation" would make another whole book), I made my way to Perth, the capital of Western Australia.In Perth I was advised that it would be better for me to go to Melbourne, as I would stand a much better chance there of getting a ship on which I might work my passage to Europe.Accordingly I proceeded to Melbourne as soon as I could, and the only noteworthy incident there was my humorous interview with the French Consul.I addressed that dignified functionary in execrable French, telling him that I was a French subject and wanted to be sent back to Europe.I bungled a great deal, and when my French failed I helped myself out with English.

The Consul waited patiently till I had finished, stroking his beard the while, and looking at me in the most suspicious manner.

"You claim this because you are a Frenchman?" he said.

"That is so," I replied, involuntarily relapsing into English once more.

"Well," he said coldly, as he turned away, "the next time you say you are a Frenchman you had better not use any English at all, because you speak that language better than I do."I tried to argue the point with him, and told him I had been shipwrecked, but when I went on to explain how long ago that shipwreck was, he smiled in spite of himself, and I came away.

From Melbourne I went to Sydney, and from Sydney to Brisbane.

About May 1897, I found myself in Wellington, New Zealand, where Iwas advised I stood an excellent chance of getting a ship to take me to England.I sailed in the New Zealand Shipping Company's Waikato, and landed in London in March 1898.

End