第67章

On ordinary days we indulged in a variety of games, the principal one being a form of "rounders." I made a ball out of opossum skin, stuffed with the light soft bark of the paper-tree, and stitched with gut.We used a yam-stick to strike it with.My native women attendants often joined in the fun, and our antics provided a vast amount of amusement for the rest of the tribe.The girls taught me cricket, and in due time I tried to induce the blacks to play the British national game, but with little success.We made the necessary bats and stumps out of hard acacia, which I cut down with my tomahawk.The natives themselves, however, made bats much better than mine, simply by whittling flat their waddies; and they soon became expert batsmen.But unfortunately they failed to see why they should run after the ball, especially when they had knocked it a very great distance away.Running about in this manner, they said, was only fit work for women, and was quite beneath their dignity.Yamba and I fielded, but soon found ourselves unequal to the task, owing to the enormous distances we had to travel in search of the ball.Therefore we soon abandoned the cricket, and took up football, which was very much more successful.

We had a nice large football made of soft goose-skin stuffed with the paper bark; and in considering our game you must always bear in mind that boots or footgear of any kind were quite unknown.The great drawback of football, from the native point of view, was that it entailed so much exertion, which could be otherwise expended in a far more profitable and practical manner.They argued that if they put the exertion requisite for a game of football into a hunt for food, they would have enough meat to last them for many days.

It was, of course, utterly impossible to bring them round to my view of sports and games.With regard to the abandoned cricket, they delighted in hitting the ball and in catching it--oh! they were wonderfully expert at this--but as to running after the ball, this was quite impossible.

About this time the girls showed me the steps of an Irish jig, which I quickly picked up and soon became quite an adept, much to the delight of the natives, who never tired of watching my gyrations.I kept them in a constant state of wonderment, so that even my very hair--now about three feet long--commanded their respect and admiration!

Sometimes I would waltz with the younger girl, whilst her sister whistled an old familiar air.When I danced, the blacks would squat in a huge circle around me; those in the front rank keeping time by beating drums that I had made and presented to them.The bodies of the drums were made from sections of trees which I found already hollowed out by the ants.These wonderful little insects would bore through and through the core of the trunk, leaving only the outer shell, which soon became light and dry.I then scraped out with my tomahawk any of the rough inner part that remained, and stretched over the ends of each section a pair of the thinnest wallaby skins I could find; these skins were held taut by sinews from the tail of a kangaroo.I tried emu-skins for the drum-heads, but found they were no good, as they soon became perforated when Iscraped them.

Never a day passed but we eagerly scanned the glistening sea in the hope of sighting a passing sail.One vessel actually came right into our bay from the north, but she suddenly turned right back on the course she had come.She was a cutter-rigged vessel, painted a greyish-white, and of about fifty tons burden.She was probably a Government vessel--possibly the Claud Hamilton, a South Australian revenue boat stationed at Port Darwin--as she flew the British ensign at the mast-head; whereas a pearler would have flown it at the peak.The moment we caught sight of that ship I am afraid we lost our heads.We screamed aloud with excitement, and ran like mad people up and down the beach, waving branches and yelling like maniacs.I even waved wildly my long, luxuriant hair.

Unfortunately, the wind was against us, blowing from the WSW.We were assisted in our frantic demonstration by quite a crowd of natives with branches; and I think it possible that, even if we had been seen, the people on the ship would have mistaken our efforts for a more hostile demonstration.

When it was too late, and the ship almost out of sight, I suddenly realised that I had made another fatal mistake in having the blacks with me.Had I and the two girls been alone on the beach I feel sure the officers of the ship would have detected our white skins through their glasses.But, indeed, we may well have escaped notice altogether.

There was a terrible scene when the supposed Government vessel turned back on her course and passed swiftly out of sight.The girls threw themselves face downwards on the beach, and wept wildly and hysterically in the very depths of violent despair.I can never hope to tell you what a bitter and agonising experience it was--the abrupt change from delirious excitement at seeing a ship steering right into our bay, to the despairing shock of beholding it turn away from us even quicker than it came.