"Do you think we are so cowardly as to desert a comrade?" demanded Fred. "Let them attack us if they will, but we will stick to you and the team as long as life remains."
"I expected the answer," cried Smith, applying his long whip to the sides of the reeking cattle, and starting them into a run. "But if you will not save yourselves, at least take care of the oxen and let me cover the retreat."
"Do you think they will dare to follow us?" I asked.
"Here is your answer," cried the stockman; and as he spoke a slim poled spear whistled within an inch of my head, and passed out of sight, far to the other side of the road.
"And here goes my reply," exclaimed Fred, who held his rifle in his hand ready for use.
He raised it, and hardly took time to sight a naked, black body, which was visible for a moment before he fired.
A yell of bodily pain followed the explosion, and for a moment we could hear a great commotion among the bushes, and then all was still.
"Help me to urge the cattle forward," shouted Smith. "Now is our time to escape, while the devils are with the wounded imp."
We were about to comply, when a club, about three feet long, flew over our heads, touched the ground in advance of the cattle, bounded from the earth, and came towards us with undiminished velocity.
"Look out for their boomerangs," shouted Smith, and we dodged our heads in time to save them from a blow that would have unhorsed us.
That was the first time we made the acquaintance of the most skilful weapon in use by the natives. They throw the boomerang with unerring precision, and had we not heard of the manner of its working, and been apprised of the necessity of avoiding its flight, by the warning voice of Smith, one of us would have made a meal for an Australian native that morning.
The boomerang is a piece of hard wood about three feet long, slightly curved in the form of a bow; and when a native wishes to strike an object, he does not throw his weapon directly at it, but from it, and by some unexplained principle of retrogradation, the boomerang touches the ground, and then flies with great force directly at whatever it is aimed. I have seen the natives exhibit their proficiency a hundred different times--and the more I saw of the game, the more I became bewildered at the science displayed.