Weetah put her hand over Tuki’s mouth as she looked warningly into his startled eyes.

“Hss!” she whispered. “Enemies!” She pointed up at the wall of thistles growing away out from the bank. “Be a snake! Follow me! And keep your nose to my heels!”

They crept up the creek bank and noiselessly in amongst the thistle leaves, the giant stalks now high above them. In that smothering weed jungle of broad, mottled green leaves they vanished. Two little black bodies writhing straight in amongst the prickle-edged leaves and tough butts of the giant stalks with no more noise than the rustle of the snake they were so perfectly imitating. In their nostrils was the smell of heavy earth bearing prolific growth, acrid tang from the forest of thistles. When a good way in they came to a rich patch of moist black loam where Mother Earth not only reared her luxuriant thistles eight feet high but proudly bore, too, a prolific growth of brilliantly green clover rioting down there amongst the denseness of the stalks. Here Weetah halted Tuki by holding her foot to his face. She squirmed round like a possum, her eyes staring into his big round ones.

“Tuki!” she whispered, and stretched her arm through the leaves back towards the camp. “Crawl right through—that way—until you come out into the open bush. But before you leave the thistles, be very, very careful! See everything! Hear everything! Be not seen, nor heard! If any sign of an enemy, try to guess how many are there. Then you must creep back into the thistles, and work your way out another way. For you must hurry back to camp and warn Burradella. You must do this thing! But remember! If you are seen, or heard, then they will kill you!”

While talking she had been groping in amongst the thistle stalks and quietly pulling at the long, strong clover vines massed with their little green leaves. Then she was twisting the vines into cords and these with their leaves she twisted round Tuki’s head until his head, his thick black hair was a mass of green. She stood up, reaching up for some of the smaller thistle leaves. She squatted down again beside Tuki and firmly stuck these white and green mottled leaves in among the emerald-green clover covering his head.

“Ah!” She smiled warmly. “Now, when little Tuki peers from the thistle edge no eye of man or animal or bird can possibly see him in his quietness. For remember, Tuki, it is only your eyes that must first peer out on the open bushland. And then you can move your ears that they may hear. And your nostrils that they may smell should there be tang of rancid fat upon the painted bodies of enemies. And now, Tuki, hear me well again. I do not think you will meet any enemies on the other side, on our camp side of these thistles. I think the men whose voices we heard were but scouts who had only just crossed the river shallows and had found our tracks. They will send back word, then wait until their main party comes up. So, if you see and hear no sign of the enemy when you reach the thistle edge, then quickly make down into the creek. Be sure to choose low ground for the best cover. Once you are into the creek its banks will hide you. Run for your life back along the creek to camp. The people will have arrived back by then. Tell Burradella that we heard voices of enemies talking on this side of the river at our crossing place. But of what tribe, or how many others there are, we don’t know. Tell him that Weetah will stop here and try to spy on them and learn who they are and how many there are. Then I shall come back as quickly as I can by the creek way. Now, do you understand all?”