The Great Trek

by Zane Grey

  “It was summer, two years ago, when news of your death reached Darwin. I was there at the time.”

  “My death was grossly exaggerated,” returned Dann. “But death visited and dogged our trek, alas.”

  “You trekked across the Never Never?” asked the other wonderingly.

  “We trekked to the Gulf and then across the Never Never. And we lost drovers, five thousand head of cattle, and a hundred horses on the way.”

  “My word! Incredible! Dann, I congratulate you. What great news for Western Australia! I see you have a mob of cattle left. I’m glad to be the first to tell you good news.”

  “Good news?” boomed Dann in echo.

  “Well, rather. Dann, your fortune is made. Cattle are worth unheard-of prices. Horses the same. Reason is that gold has been discovered in the Kimberleys.”

  “Gold?”

  “Yes, gold! There’s been a rush in for months. Mines south of here. Trekkers coming in from Perth and Freemantle. Settlers by ship to Darwin and Wyndham. These ports are humming. I am engaged in freighting supplies in to the gold fields. My name is Horton. We camped here on the return trek. Tomorrow you would have missed me.”

  “Do you hear, all?” boomed Dann to the rapt-eyed girl on the seat beside him, to the Slyters, to the drovers. “What have we come into? Not only the promised land of the Kimberleys, but to gold fields, seaports…the beginnings of the empire I envisioned.”

  “We all hear, Stanley, and our hearts are full,” replied Slyter.

  “What river is this?” queried Dann, shaking off his bedazzlement to point to the shining water through the trees.

  “That is the Ord. You have come down the Elivre,” replied Horton. “The three high mountains nearest are Timerley to the south, Mount Bradley, and Mount Barrett. I don’t know the names of the other peaks in sight, if they have names. Dennison Plains are in sight to the south. The finest country, the finest grazing for stock in the world!”

  “Aye, friend. It looks so. But this road? Where does it lead and how far?”

  “Follows the Ord to the seaport, Wyndham, a good few miles less than two hundred. Darwin farther northeast. There are a few cattle stations near the ports. Sheep drovers working in to the southward. You are in on the ground floor, Dann. The government will sell this land to you or any land you agree to develop so cheap it is unbelievable.”

  “Ha! This land?” called Dann, his voice rolling as he waved his whip to encompass the river junction and the great wedge. His great eyes were blazing gold.

  “Yes, this land here. And to my mind it couldn’t be bested in all Australia.”

  “Dann’s Station!” rang out the leader. What a moment that must have been for him! Sterl’s breast seemed to cave in with his own emotion. “Slyter, come out of your trance. We have reached the Kimberleys. This will be our range. Beryl, do you like your new home?”

  “Lovely beyond compare, Dad,” cried the girl. “If only I am not dreaming.”

  “Stanley, we must send at once for supplies,” said Slyter, rousing. “Horton, do we look like starving trekkers?”

  “Indeed, you do. I never saw such a peak-faced ragamuffin lot of drovers. Or ladies, so charming despite all.”

  “They have lived on meat and dried fruit. And for days now wholly upon meat. I am famished for a cup of tea.”

  “Forgive me, Dann, for not thinking of that. But who could think, meeting you like this? Sam, run and boil the billy. Dann, I can let you have some tea, fruit, sugar, canned milk, and….”

  “Enough, man! Do not overwhelm us! Slyter, what shall we do next…that is, after that cup of tea?”

  “Stanley, we should thank heaven, pitch camp, and plan to send both wagons to Wyndham for supplies.”

  “Right-o. But I’d make it two cups of tea.”

  “Wal, air you gonna ask us to get down an’ come in?” drawled Red. “I shore could guzzle a big pull at red likker. But I reckon I can stand tea.”

  “American!” called out Horton with twinkling eyes.

  “Savvied again. The name is Krehl. An’ heah’s my pard Hazelton.”

  Gaiety, delight, hospitality prevailed for a blissful few moments. Dann could not be expected to rest long with the tired horses in harness and camp to pitch. When he interrogated Horton again about sending his wagons and drivers to Wyndham for supplies, Sterl took occasion to wink at Red and say: “Boss, Red and I want to take that trip. How about it, Red?”

  “I shore had thet very idee,” drawled Red. “Gosh, won’t it be grand to see people again an’ stores, an’ places to eat? An’ drink! An’ girls? Whoopee, pard!”

  Consternation in Leslie’s look and the absolutely crushed appearance of Beryl induced Sterl to relent in his little joke. “Boss, on second thought, I’ll take that back. It is very evident my friend Krehl could hardly be trusted in a civilized community so soon after the long trek.”

  Beryl turned an eloquent and grateful glance upon Sterl, then fastened those speaking, violet eyes upon Red.

  “He might not come back,” she said intensely, for the instant seeing no one else.

  “Wal, shore, if you’re all against me,” drawled Red coolly. “I had kind of a notion thet I’d fetch a parson back with me. But if he ain’t needed a-tall….”

  A burst of merriment, in which Beryl, scarlet-faced under her tan, joined unreservedly, interrupted Red’s droll turning of the tables.

  Then Dann said: “I’ll send Benson and Roland. There will be a stupendous list to make out. Everybody make theirs out by tonight, so as to insure an early start…. And now to unpack and pitch temporary camp.”

  But there were frequent rests and much conversation and many visits of the girls to Sterl and Red before sunset ended a momentous day.

  The cook for the freighters served supper for all that evening, and the guests were saved from gastronomic disaster only because of a limited quantity of delicious and forgotten dishes.

  Speech burst out intermittently and irrelevantly, betraying incredulity, rapture, and gratitude. After supper, Beryl and Leslie went into ecstasies and perplexities over the innumerable things they wanted bought. Sterl and Red sat beside a box in the light of a little fire and racked their brains to think up necessities to have purchased in town.

  “Strange, Red, just think!” ejaculated Sterl. “We don’t really need anything. We have lost the sense of need.”

  “But, pard, there’s things to wear. Why, I haven’t had socks for so long I forgot. An’ other things, if you’d only figure ’em out.”

  “Red, I didn’t mean clothes. Of course, we can’t go quite naked, although I’d like that. You’ll find we have learned a great deal from the aborigines. I meant other things.”

  “Yeah? An’ what?”

  “Toothbrushes, powder, soap, towels, iodine, glycerin, combs, scissors to cut hair, and a whole pack of things to wear.”

  “Help! Thet shows how you’ve gone bush, I don’t think.”

  “Red, honest, I’d just as lief go without them all. I’ve been washing my teeth with a rag! How many times have I seen you roast a piece of beef on a stick, salt it, and eat it just like any abo’?”

  “Pard, I don’t know how many. About a thousand times, I reckon. Will we ever get over thet trek?”

  “No, never. And something tells me that is well, although I can’t explain. But it’s on account of the girls that we must get over, if not forget, all these savage habits.”

  “Wal, the girls have shore upset us,” said Red ponderingly. “An’ now we’re heah, on the outskirts…within drivin’ reach of towns an’ people, we gotta face things.”

  “Have you made up your mind about Beryl?” asked Sterl soberly, averting his eyes.

  “Pard, she cared more about me than I deserve…than I ever had a girl care for me before. I tried an’ wanted to doubt thet, but I cain’t.”

  “Well?”

  “Wal, lately, I don’t know for how long, she’s been different. All thet misery gone! She’s forgot Ormist
on an’ every damn’ bit of thet…thet…. An’ she’s been happy. Jest the sweetest, softest, lovingest creature under the sun. An’ I’d be loco, if I didn’t see it’s because of me…thet she takes it for granted. Oh, hell, you know what I mean! She gets hold of my torn clothes…mends them. She’s proud of her needlework. She waits on me. She makes the weak kind of tea I can drink. I’ve caught her tryin’ to make me eat things she should eat herself. An’ every night, when we walk out to see the sunset, an’ come back in the dark, she hangs back, an’ slips close to me into my arms…close an’ warm…an’ lifts her mouth without a word. Never a word, pard! My Gawd, what can a pore feller do?”

  “I should think you’d be the happiest man in the world,” declared Sterl feelingly. “I am.”

  “Wal, I’m glad you air, an’ I reckon I’d be, too, if I’d jest give up.”

  “Red! Then right this minute…give up…for Beryl’s sake…for mine…for Leslie’s!” rang out Sterl.

  “Holy Mackeli! Don’t knock me down. Words can be as hard as bullets. All right, old pard, I knuckle, I show yellow, I give up! But there’s a queer twist in my mind. I’ve forgiven an’ forgotten all Beryl’s slights to me. Only she always got the best of me. If I could jest think up one more word to get the best of her before, or mebbe better when I tell her how I love her an’ want her…then I’d match you for who’s the luckiest an’ happiest man.”

  “You son-of-a-gun! You same old Red Krehl…cowboy and devil! But big as that Never Never Land we crossed! Grand idea, pard. I’ll think of something.”

  “Make it good an’ pronto. I cain’t stand Beryl’s eyes much longer. Eyes of a lost fawn! Eyes of a dove thet was bein’ starved an’ beaten. My Gawd, what a load off my mind! Sterl, you’re a real friend. I’m glad I ran away from home with you. Now let’s look at practical things. You remember we always wanted to be cattlemen…to own a ranch an’ oodles of hosses? We always had dreams we knew would never come true. We always reckoned on a last trail…gun play, an’ a grave on the lone prairie. Wal, it’s not gonna turn out thet way. Have you looked over this range we been ridin’ for days? Grandest I ever seen! Cattle an’ hosses will multiply heah. The soil is rich an’ will raise anythin’. No droughts where these two rivers meet! Wal, think! I’ve got more money in my kick than I ever earned in my life. An’ you bet I reckon I earned thet. An’ you had a small fortune when I seen yore belt last…’ way back there in thet town where we bought out the store. You haven’t lost it, have you, pard, or lighted cigarettes with some of those big bills?”

  “Red, I’ve thought of that at long intervals. Yes, I have it all packed in my bag.”

  “Good-o! Wal, bright prospect, huh?”

  “Bright? It’s glorious!”

  “We’ve had about enough wild adventure?”

  “Si, señor.”

  “An’ jest ’cause we liked thet sort of thing, an’ cottoned to a grand guy an’ fought for him…we’ve found the pot of gold at the foot of the rainbow.”

  “Yes, pard. Adventure, romance, love, fortune…a story to dream over all our lives!”

  Although Sterl conjured up a number of coups calculated to devastate Beryl for good and all, not one of them did Red care to accept.

  Meanwhile, the October days warmed on, hot in the sun, pleasant in the shade. If there were flies and mosquitoes in this locality, they did not put in an appearance. The nights were cool, starry, still, unbroken by the dingo howl or wild corroboree. It was good to wear a coat, and a campfire added to the charm of this new country. The drovers claimed the mob had reached its home and knew it. The animals waxed fat and increased their numbers with frolicsome calves. Dann counted over a hundred horses, and Slyter seventy-nine. Leslie was happy with the five Thoroughbreds the trek had left her. Lady Jane, King, and Duke had the run of the camp like pet dogs.

  On the eighth day on which Benson and Roland were expected to return with the wagons and supplies, Sterl and Red had progressed well with their cabin building. The site Sterl had selected was one of unbelievable loveliness. It was on the Ord River side of the wooded point, high up on a grassy, flower-spangled bank, shaded by grand trees from the morning sun and facing across the river to the Kimberleys.

  The cabin was to have thatched roof and walls, for which Friday scouted out a wide-leafed palm, perhaps a species of pandamus. Slyter designed the framework, which consisted of long round poles carefully fitted. Larry, who was a good carpenter, often lent a helping hand, while Sterl and Red got in each other’s way in their enthusiasm. Friday’s job was a skillful plaiting and weaving of the long, wide, tough leaves, and it appeared he was a master at such craft. According to Slyter the aborigines were nomads and seldom or never made permanent homes. But this black could lay his sinewy hand to anything. Sterl had specified a solid floor high off the ground. It required a day’s labor to ride up the stream, cut long poles, and snake them down to camp, where one round side had to be rough-hewn with an edge. Very often he halted to rest, wipe his sweaty face, and talk with his helpers, and always look at his surroundings, as if to make sure they were reality.

  The side point sloped very gradually to the junction of stream and river. Trees huge and small, plain and showy appeared to have been especially planted for Sterl’s delight. There were crimson flowering gums and other blossoming trees which Slyter could not name, and giants that towered high without a branch for seventy feet. The drover thought this species was the great jarrah. The wattles were there, showering gold amid the green. And Sterl’s favorite gum—the opal-barked monarch with the grand, spreading branches and lacy foliage. Five of these gums grouped around Sterl’s cabin, and these had scaled the balance in his difficult choice of a site. Next in order was the murmur and music of the Elivre as it poured over rocks into the river. The Ord was neither wide nor deep, but it was a gliding stream of crystal water, rocky-banked and bedded, and full of fish, and frequented by flocks of waterfowl. The sunlit bush on the point appeared to be the home of innumerable birds unknown to Sterl. There were kookaburras with blue on their wings, and they were remarkable for their curiosity and friendliness. But they did not chatter and laugh like the laughing-jackass. Other birds, however, filled that grove with melody. Last charm of the place was the view across the river to the bright trees, the sloping, gold-tinged land, and the foothills that led up to the purple range.

  While the cabin was in process of erection, the girls visited there many times a day. They did not like this, and they suggested that, and they were enthusiastic over the beauty all around. They brought tea to the workers and partook of a cup themselves. Red, who was unusually mild and sweet these days, made one characteristic remark.

  “Say, anybody would think you girls expected to live over heah with us fellers!”

  That sally precipitated blushes and a rout, and also, from a little distance, very audible giggles.

  “Red, that was a dig,” remonstrated Sterl. “You are a mean cuss. If you would only take a tumble to yourself, the girls could come over here to live.”

  “Hell! I’ve shore tumbled. What do you want for two bits? Canary-birds? An’ why don’t you figger out thet trick for me to play on Beryl? I cain’t last much longer. Why, when she comes near me, I go plumb loco. You notice I shy away from them little walks we used to have. Fact is, I know I’m a goner, an’, wal, I want to grab her an’ kiss her half to death!”

  “Whoopee! That’s talking. You must give in to it, Red. But not till after the deal I’ve planned.”

  “Yeah? What’s it this time? Wuss than ever, I’ll bet my spurs. You gotta recollect, pard, thet Beryl is a proud little lady.”

  “I haven’t forgotten. But she just can’t be hurt or shocked or shamed over this one, Red. Oh, it’s clever. Even Dann thought so. He agreed. And he was tickled!”

  “You double-crossin’, two-faced, Arizonie geezer!” ejaculated Red. “You told Dann before me?”

  “Sure. I had to get his consent, or there wouldn’t be any sense in telling you at all. Li
sten, pard….”

  Whereupon Sterl briefly confided his newest and profoundest scheme to subjugate Beryl, beautifully and blissfully, while incidentally working the same miracle on Leslie.

  Red appeared stunned, and then frightened, and presently, after he could collect his scattered wits, most tremendously elated.

  “Holy Mackeli!” he babbled, blazing at Sterl. “What an idee! Best you ever figgered out in yore whole life! Nice, too, an’ surprisin, an’ everythin’. So Stanley Dann consented to help us put up thet job on his own daughter? If I’ve only got the nerve! Aw! I swear I’ll do it, Sterl, cool as a cucumber.”

  Excited cries broke in upon their colloquy. The girls appeared off at the edge of the grove, waving and calling. Then Leslie cupped her hands to her lips and shrieked: “Boys! Wagons back! Come!”

  “Gosh, heah thet, pard? Ben an’ Rollie back. Let’s rustle.”

  “You hobble-footed, hoss-ridin’ hombre…I can beat you,” taunted Sterl. They raced like boys, fell headlong to scramble up, and thump over the ground, to draw up abreast and panting before two huge, bulging, canvas-covered wagons and their excited comrades.

  Surely no two freighters in all the annals of Outback Australia’s pioneering days ever received the ovation accorded Benson and Rollie by those with whom they had trekked and suffered for long over two years.

  The wagons were driven into the shade of the great gum tree that sheltered Dann’s camp. The drovers and the women all talked at once, giving the smiling Benson and Roland no chance to reply. But Dann boomed them momentarily quiet.

  “Welcome to Dann’s Station, men,” he called, when he could make himself heard. “Get down and unhitch. Larry, water these teams. Slyter, you and the boys untie these wagon covers. Are you crazy, you womenfolk? Contain yourselves.”

  “Boss, boss,” shouted Benson, beaming. “Ten days going and coming. Fair to middling road. Plenty abo’s, but friendly. One wagon loaded with food supplies, milk, sugar, vegetables, fruit, everything. Other wagon full of personal effects for all. Bought all lists complete. Four freight wagons following us with lumber, mattresses, staples…the biggest order ever filled in Wyndham!”