Before dawn two of Burradella’s young warriors and two boys, Bagor and Kyari, had crept down close to the camp from separate vantage points to spy on the enemy. The Cassilis warriors seemed in no hurry as they gossiped round their fires, occasionally pointing up towards the Black Hill and Carrowreer look-outs, then towards the edge of the long, dark line of scrub.

Burradella had been right. This war party was not collected together yet. Half of them were scouting round the Burrell Lagoon country and along the Namoi, seeking to make sure there was no large camp of the Gunn-e-darr men hidden away waiting to take them in flank or rear. They now knew the exact number that had been in the Mullibah Lagoon camp by counting the tracks. But—where were the remainder of the Gunn-e-darr warriors?

The Cassilis men decided that their second party would spend the day scouting, trying to find out. Their chief men were suspicious of entering that big scrub otherwise, believing it could be a dangerous trap concealing all the warriors of Gunn-e-darr. And they believed, as they had for long, the strength of the Gunn-e-darr tribe to be three times what it was.

Meanwhile their party here would hold the Mullibah Lagoon and watch the line of scrub on this side. These tactics at first puzzled the Red Chief, gazing down from the Porcupine Ridge by the scrub edge with Burradella and their few men. Twenty-one, twenty-three counting the Red Chief and Burradella. And fourteen others, but these were deep within the scrub guarding the Secret Camp.

Suddenly a warning yell, abrupt movement in the camp below as warriors snatched weapons and started running, their yells coming plainly up to the edge of the scrub.

It was the boy Bagor. In his anxiety to distinguish himself he had crept right up to the enemy camp, eager to worm his way close enough to a group of warriors to overhear their talk. Out of the corner of his eye an enemy warrior had noticed the grass tops moving and the chase was on.

Young Bagor ran for his life, twisting and turning like a startled eel amongst reeds, the pursuing warriors leaping high in the effort to keep the crouching, racing little figure in sight. To piercing yells they spread out, racing to form a big circle and trap him within it.

But Bagor knew every inch of this his country, and around this camp he knew every tree, every shrub, almost every blade of grass. He got away and came gasping to the Red Chief at the edge of the scrub. Bagor could not speak for quite a time—he felt sure his heart would burst.

XXXI

THE GREAT PLAN

An hour later the Red Chief’s men watched Cassilis scouts from Mullibah camp come taking their time along the tracks of the women and children. They found the old women’s tracks, too, and four of them branched off to follow these up.

“Looks bad!” Burradella frowned.