In
the midst of this she heard a sound; and turning about, waved a hand
excitedly toward a distant figure on the far side of a near-by field.
Meanwhile Smith had managed to get in touch with Dulnop. He found the
young man engaged in work which did not, at first, become clear to the
engineer. Then he saw that the chap was simply sorting over big piles of
broken rock, selecting certain fragments which he placed in separate
heaps. Not far away two assistants were pounding these fragments to
powder, using rude pestles, in great, nature-made mortars--"pot-holes,"
from some river-bed.
It was this powder, beyond a doubt, that Rolla was using in her work. To
Smith, Dunlop's task seemed like a ridiculously simple occupation for a
nearly grown man, until he reflected that these aborigines were exactly
like toddling children in intellects.
Van Emmon had no trouble in making connections with Corrus. The herdsman
was in charge of a dozen cows, wild looking creatures which would have
been far too much for the man had they been horned, which they were not.
He handled them by sheer force, using the great club he always carried.
Once while Van Emmon was watching, a cow tried to break away from the
group; but Corrus, with an agility amazing in so short and heavy a man,
dashed after the creature and tapped her lightly on the top of her head.
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