Chapter 2

That first evening we grilled steaks. "First night is meat night," the professor said. "I freeze them and wrap them and put them into an insulated bag. And they're still good that evening. Never try to carry fresh meat in the field otherwise."

They seemed delicious. We stuffed ourselves, banked the ashes and turned in.

When I got up in the morning the shadows were long and there were three aborigines standing a few meters away, casting long shadows in the rising sun.

"G'day," I said. "You Pila Nguru? Murrdi-fellas?"

The oldest of the three said: "Not Spinifex people. Murri. These fellas on long walkabout."

"My dad's got Murri on his land."

"Where at?"

"Near Mitchell."

They conferred for a moment. Dr. Challis emerged at that moment.

"That fella know Holli-man by Mitchell."

"My dad."

"Your dad goodfella. What you do here?"

"Lookin' at ants. This my bossman."

"Plenty ants. No honey ants here. Witchety grubs there," he pointed at tha acacias.

"I study ants at Uni."

"Hmm." He said something to the two younger men. They both laughed. One said something.

"What?"

"He say you cook big ant yestiddy." They all laughed. "We go now. Bye."

"Bye," I said. Dr. Challis echoed me. Logan still hadn't appeared.

"Interesting encounter."

"Yes."

"They're trending a bit north of west. I wonder why."

"Most likely water, sir. There are a number of places where there's water down a ways and they know where."

"Yes. I've seen a few excavated lost wells." He raised his voice: "LO-GAN! You've missed half the day!"

"I hear you. I've been awake, listening in."

"And you concluded?"

"Dinner tonight or tomorrow comes from the acacias."

"Do you know what kind they are?"

"Not yet. Probably Ligulata. Possibly, either Acacia salicina which is a thornless species; or A. victoriae known as Gundabluie. It's the primary species used to produce 'wattle seed' in bushfood; or maybe A. falcata which is good for stabilizing otherwise barren sand."

"Okay. Good marks. Want some tea?"

"Yes sir. Then I'll get to work."

"What are you getting up to, Gordy?"

"I'm going to trench on the lee of the shrubbery."

"Fine. I'm going to dig on the shady side of the Rover."

"Gordy?"

"Yes, Logan?"

"When the abos were here, you asked them pili something."

"Pila Nguru, Spinifex people. I asked if they were part of a tribe named after the grass."

"Thanks."

I walked about halfway to the shrubs. The ground sloped upwards slightly to where they were. A shrub relatively far away now looked lumpy. I shook my head and decided to ask about it later. I drew a line about a meter long with my trowel and began to dig along it. About five centimeters down I came up with several large ants. I put three of them in a vial and labeled it. I then looked closely and realized they were hoppers. I bent over so that my eyes were closer to the ground and looked about. What looked like a small heap of sand was a few meters away. I decided to report my find before digging further.

"Dr. Challis?"

"Yes?"

"I think I've found a jack jumper nest. Want to take a look?"

"I certainly do!"

The jack jumper ant, hopper ant, jumper ant or jumping jack, Myrmecia pilosula, is a species of bull ant.

Their nests may be inconspicuously hidden under a rock, or may be formed from a 20 to 60 cm diameter mound of finely granular gravel.

"You're right, Gordy."

"Should we dig it up?"

"Do you have any specimens?"

"Three workers."

"Then leave them. We don't need more samples. We need to know what's here."

"Right. I thought I saw several Iridomyrmex and possibly Solenopsis."

"Fine. Note it down." He walked back toward the Rover. I returned to my trench. A few unproductive hours later, I went to the campsite and set up a billie.