Taj and the Great Camel Trek (15 page)

Many things happened the next day: only some were good. Tommy found some long sword-like weapons and brought five of them to camp. They were flat and made from wood and decorated with carvings. Some of the swords were seven feet long. I have heard stories of people being speared by such a weapon. It was very disturbing to see them. Jess Young was very interested and he kept a look out all day on the sandhills with his gun.

Peter did the shooting this time since Jess Young was busy keeping watch. He shot a different bird – like a crow except it was grey. So we had that in soup with our damper in the evening.

Tommy found a nest of scorpions. They strutted into our camp as though we had food they'd like. They had an interesting track on the sand, and Asad thought they would be good to play with but I made sure he kept his distance from those swaying tails.

Perhaps because my attention was on the scorpions I
didn't sense the other danger. It was Tommy who caught my attention. ‘Taj.' He motioned to me to keep still, yet he didn't look worried, and then I heard the sound of scales scraping across the sand. Asad barked joyfully. The snake was so close; if I had kept moving in its direction I could have been bitten. Asad had it by the tail when Mr Giles hurried over.

‘We have to catch it. I can bottle it and show Adelaide what a desert snake is like. Taj, you head it off.' But it was Tommy who rushed to help Mr Giles; I had never learnt my father's skill with snakes.

Both the dogs joined in. Tommy and Mr Giles seemed to be having fun but I watched from a distance. I think the pups got in Tommy's way, for the snake slid away with just one bloody bite in his tail. ‘I wanted to methylate him, but it appears he has other ideas – an interview with his undertaker perhaps?' Mr Giles sat down heavily, but he was laughing with Tommy.

There was nothing I did that pleased Mr Giles as much as the things Tommy could do. But I was thankful that this time Tommy warned me.

That evening Padar decided to teach Tommy about the moon. ‘The moon travel east to west, he like the sun – sun travel west too.'

Tommy shook his head. ‘Moon go the other way.'

‘Never,' Padar said. ‘How could that be?'

Peter Nicholls was asked. ‘Good Lord, I don't know.
It must go the same as the sun. It sets in the west, don't it?'

So Tommy asked Mr Giles. Jess Young had his smirk in place when Mr Giles answered. ‘The moon goes the opposite way to the sun, Tommy.'

Tommy sighed with satisfaction. ‘I told Saleh.'

Mr Tietkens was laughing by then and I thought Padar would have been used to Mr Giles enough to know he was joking, but still he became upset. ‘How can you say such a thing, Mr Gile? The moon, he special, and goes the same way as the sun.'

Mr Giles laughed too. ‘Anyone would think I was trying to convert you to Christianity, Saleh. Look at Tommy – he knows enough about the stars and the planets, the sun and the moon, just like you and me.' Sometimes Mr Giles said surprising things; it was as if he was telling Padar not to worry about Tommy even if he didn't know the right path of the moon, for he could find his way in the desert himself. It made me remember how Tommy found all those water places. He didn't use the sun like Mr Giles, or the moon like Padar, he sang songs. It was as if the songs and the land itself guided him.

I checked my bedroll carefully before sleeping that night. The thought of that snake made me shudder. I also didn't want to get bitten by a scorpion and lose my finger like Padar. Asad licked my nose and settled down
with me, but I knew he would get out in the night to pee.

In the morning I couldn't find Asad. I checked to see if he was playing with Mustara. He wasn't with Dyabun either, for he was nosing around near the cold campfire. Peter's kitchen area was my first place to check as both pups liked Peter and his scraps of dried beef. ‘Have you seen Asad?'

‘No, Taj. Have you tried in the scrub?'

It was Jess Young who found Asad. The pup was under a bush near my bed roll, hidden from view. But he was lifeless, beside him a dead scorpion.

‘Looks as though he saved you from a sting, Taj. And he managed to kill the scorpion after it stung him.' Jess Young was kinder than I thought he would be. He rested his hand on my shoulder. ‘A hound once saved my life too, Taj, at the sacrifice of his own.'

I didn't think I would feel so much. I was the desert after a dust storm had blown through, desolate and dry. Jess Young must have told the others for Padar came and took the pup and buried him in the sand. I went to Padar and helped put the rocks on top of the grave. Asad had been my friend for so short a time.

It was a strange feeling for Padar and me. Neither of us had buried my mother and having spoken about that so recently brought it to mind. It felt as though we were finally able to do so and I wept more than I would
have for Asad. The others watching must have thought I loved my pup very much to show such grief, but you never know what is happening inside people.

Tommy came to say sorry. He stood staring at me. I didn't want him there. Everything went well for Tommy. He was always happy. Mr Giles loved him; he could find water and follow tracks. I didn't want his sympathy when he still had a pup of his own. A voice inside me said I was being unfair but I couldn't help it. I couldn't be happy I was saved from a scorpion. So I ignored Tommy until he went away.

Regardless of losing a pup and discovering my mother had died and that I had a brother on the other side of the world, I was still on an exploring expedition and expected to do my work. Alec and Mr Tietkens returned and even though Asad was only just buried we had to leave Queen Victoria Spring. We headed straight for Mount Churchman but I didn't notice much going on about me. Alec said how sorry he was when he heard about the pup, and I managed a small smile for him. I spent the day in confusion: sad one minute, the next, glad I was loved by my mother. I even wondered what my brother, Jamil, was like. Would he be like Alec?
Perhaps I could write him a letter.

That night we camped in the scrubs and sandhills where Alec and Mr Tietkens had left the troughs of water. It was just enough to fill up the camels. Jess Young was interested in the eucalyptus trees with yellow bark. He collected some flowers and added them to his collection of plant samples.

Mustara kept giving me kisses on my head and blowing around my ears. He knew I was sad about Asad. It was generous of him when he had lost a friend as well.

The next day we camped at the base of a hill. It was the first hill we had seen in 800 miles since Mount Finke. Mr Giles said the hill was 200 feet high. ‘It's made of granite,' he said. ‘Sometimes where there is granite there is water, like at Wynbring.'

I wasn't as interested as I should have been. I helped search among the large granite rocks but, as usual, there was no water.

Tommy found some wallaby traps made of long lines of sticks and bushes. ‘Them wallabies get hunted, then he come alongside the fence. He try jump out but end up in trap.' Tommy made a slapping noise with his hands. ‘Then he get bumped on the head.'

I wished we'd found a wallaby. It would make a change from salty dried beef. I daydreamed about Padar's mutton curries.

The best thing there was the pea-vetch with the purple flower which Mustara loved. I climbed the hill after my jobs were done and saw a ridge to the west. That was the way we would go the next day. I stood there thinking about how much had happened: we had come so far and not only across a country. There was a country inside us that I was learning about, a country that could
also be a desert and needed nourishment and love to survive.

I heard a step and there was Alec. Peter must have told him what Padar and I were talking about during the storm for he started speaking about his mother. At first I didn't want to listen, but then I realised his intent. ‘When I was eleven we all moved up to Umberatana to live with Father on the station. He was the manager.' He paused and I knew that what he was going to tell me was difficult to say, and perhaps to hear as well. I turned to face him. ‘She became ill on my birthday. My sisters still tried to make a happy day for me, but nothing hid their worry. Three days later she died.'

He watched me as he spoke. He'd had six years to become accustomed to his mother's death, but still I recognised the yearning in his eyes. I wanted to say I was sorry – it was the right response to make – but I was still too sorry for myself. I think he knew. He didn't say it would get better in time as Mr Giles said to Tommy. They would have been hollow words for me. His silence showed he understood my pain. I remembered the shadows in his face at the talk of his birthday all those months ago, and his tears at a Scottish song. Didn't the same thing happen to me?

There's a proverb Padar taught me: a true friend is one who takes the hand of his friend in times of distress and helplessness. I wasn't alone and perhaps that was
all Alec wanted me to know. I smiled at him; he stumbled forward and clutched me to him. It was a man's hug – one of sharing strength and knowledge – and when it was finished, I felt I was a child no longer.

Later, as Peter was cooking, I watched Tommy play with his pup. He looked up and grinned at me. Was it possible I had misunderstood those smiles? His smile now looked friendly and he gestured me over. I hesitated.

Then Tommy did something astonishing. He walked to my blanket. He had Dyabun in his arms. ‘Taj.' He was still grinning. ‘You have him. He your pup now.' Tommy put Dyabun into my arms and left before I could say a word.

Tommy would not take Dyabun back. I tried to make him, for it was his pup, but he left the pup by itself when we left the next day. We had gone a mile when I realised that Tommy meant to leave the pup there: it was his no longer. I didn't wait to tell Padar; I wheeled Mustara around and pushed him into a gallop. What if Dyabun had wandered off? Been stung by a scorpion? Someone who owned the spears come to take him?

Mustara skittered into the campsite. ‘Hooshta!' He found a soft place to kneel, and I jumped off before he'd properly settled. I couldn't see Dyabun. I whistled, then I heard a scraping in the scrub. When I found him he
was looking at me, his head to one side. I picked him up, but he didn't whimper. He was my pup now for I had saved him, and I realised that was Tommy's intention. I thought of renaming him Asad but that would not be honouring Tommy. The pup stayed Dyabun, little one. But I didn't know how to thank Tommy. I was in his debt and I knew in my heart I didn't deserve his gift.

On the eleventh day of October it took Padar and I many hours to find the camels and even then they didn't want to come to camp to be loaded. ‘Salmah is even grumpier than usual,' I complained to Padar. I felt grumpy myself, but I had no sympathy for them.

‘They all are, beta, they haven't eaten for two nights.'

When we finally set off there were many salt lakes and Mr Giles wanted to cross the longest one to save the camels' strength. It would have taken days to go around it.

Padar warned Mr Giles, ‘We had trouble near Beltana with salt lakes.' Mr Giles listened to Padar but still he gave the order to march forward. Padar drove Roshni on first; the string followed him. Tommy rode Salmah beside Roshni.

I was watching when suddenly Padar shouted, ‘Rocko! Rocko! Stop! Pull off nose ropes!' He turned his head so we all could hear. ‘Do not follow!'

‘What the devil–' Jess Young reined in beside me.

Then I could see the problem. Mr Giles was
close enough that I heard his bad words. The salt had cracked and Roshni was slipping knee-deep in a bog. Wild Gazelle and Rajah had heavy loads and they were sinking swifter than Roshni. Salmah was floundering. Tommy tried to back her up. ‘Hoy hoy!' he shouted. He even kicked her flank but she roared at him and sank further.

I worried we'd lose the camels – how far would they sink? Until they drowned? What if they broke their legs in the mud? Mr Giles called out orders and every one jumped off their camels and helped. I rushed to help Tommy pull out Salmah. Alec and Peter waded in and helped Padar undo Rajah's and Wild Gazelle's loads. It was difficult, for the camels couldn't kneel. Jess Young and Mr Tietkens carried a water cask each on their backs. How they did that when they were nearly up to their necks in the salty mud themselves I couldn't fathom. All the men helped carry pack saddles and instrument boxes out of the mud, even Mr Giles. Jess Young was much stronger than he looked. He had heavy equipment boxes on his shoulder; Padar carried a few boxes on his head.

With the loads on dry ground Padar and I pulled the camels' legs carefully with ropes while Mr Giles pressed tarpaulins in the holes left behind. Tommy pulled at their nose ropes until they dragged themselves free. Truly, a camel in a bog is like a baby lost in the desert.

Rajah was the last. He was so much heavier than the others that I wondered if we could save him at all. That thought must have been on Mr Giles' mind too. ‘Jess, William, here quickly. Bring shovels.'

With tarpaulins and the men using the shovels, Padar finally pulled Rajah free of the bog. Rajah growled and held one leg high on the sand, then another as if he could still feel the bog dragging him down.

After we had the camels on dry ground, Mr Giles didn't let us rest. ‘Load up again. It's too hot, and there's nothing for the camels to eat here.'

The men groaned as loudly as the camels.

We travelled along the shore of the salt lake where we finally camped, exhausted. Our clothes were like tin sheets and we had no way of washing them. There still wasn't feed for the camels. They'd had nothing to eat for three days and it was 98 degrees in the shade. Mustara's eyes were woeful as they stared at me. He was sure I was being unkind in not showing him where the pea-vetch bushes he liked were.

After unloading yet again, I brought Dyabun with me to help Tommy start the fire for Peter. He grinned at me. ‘Nice pup you got.' I realised he was joking and I smiled. ‘Thank you.' There was more I needed to say to Tommy but I wasn't sure which words were best.

It wasn't until the next day that we found a few bushes for the camels to eat. I was glad for I was sure Mustara's hump was shrinking and that morning I caught him nibbling at Peter's cooking tent. I pushed him through to the bushes between Malik and Tameem to make sure he found some leaves, for all the camels were grumpy and might not have let him get close. Mustara had marched four days without eating and he purred like a cat as he chewed.

We saw smoke from campfires so while the string was getting ready to march along the lake, Mr Giles told Tommy and I to walk across it to see if we could find water or anyone to tell us where it was. ‘You are the lightest,' he said, ‘and you won't break through the crust. Jess, you stay behind with the camels; you can catch up the string when they return.'

The salt crunched as we walked on it. What if Mr Giles was wrong about our weight and even Tommy and I sank into a bog? How would we get out without the others to help? But Tommy wasn't worried. Although we searched and called we couldn't find anyone so we returned to Jess Young.

‘Did you find any natives?' We shook our heads. He was relieved and I understood why, but whatever fears we had, we needed to find people to tell us where water was.

The string had gone sixteen miles before we caught them up. They had stopped and were investigating a rock
hole. There was a tiny amount of water – not enough to water the camels. So we carried on and camped in the scrub yet again. We pitched the tents near some quandong and currajong trees.

‘By the look of the land no rain has fallen for a long time,' Mr Giles said, ‘perhaps a hundred years.'

I stared at the ground that powdered as we walked on it. Perhaps he was right.