SULTAN PUNJAB Way up and out on lonely stage Up in the Kimberley With no acclaim from audience Of sightless rocks and trees - A cast of bushman ride the scene With grim and keen intent The drama there - was search and find The way that Punjab went. Somewhere, twixt Moonlight and Kurange Old Sultan missed the track His thirsty miles then strayed the night And quickly doubled back. |
2. In vain he searched afar for them This search was doubly vain As he became completely lost Within this wild terrain. No mules he found, where was his camp Oh! How he wished he knew; Now water must be quickly found Where water holes are few. So with his dog, he wandered (It kept Sultan in its sights) Together they would curl for warmth Throughout the chilling nights. The straying mules now reappeared Nearby a mustering camp; The call went out; A search crew formed All other duties shrank. |
3. Lead by long, lean Jack Campbell This search would test their skills To follow fading tracks and signs Throughout those rugged hills. At last, one morn at distance A telltale sight was seen A circling flock of kites and crows; They knew what that could mean. Three weeks he had been missing Alas, how well they knew That he could not be living still This man aged eighty-two. |
4. A feeble bark of dog was heard From yonder waterway And there - too weak to rise, but still alive ... Old Sultan Punjab lay. Through faithful presence of his dog The crows could not contrive To pick the eyes from off his face While yet he was alive. Such fortitude is legend Up in the Kimberley Such tracking skills are witnessed - By only rocks and trees. Clarry Dunstan |
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