The Mother River-2nd and Final Excerpt by Austin Mitchell

                                          The Mother River by Austin Mitchell (Second and Final Excerpt)

             

              After people like Abucadizer and Tul died others took their places. But persons from

              far away lands had heard about this river and the precious stones that were believed

              to be in it. They came in droves. At first they talked to the new chief, Balcome, but

              he refused to let them mine the river.  Some of his own people, including people like

              Neddy, Yashimaje and Taroona tried to persuade him to negotiate with the

              newcomers but he refused.

            But these men were determined to claim the precious metals they heard was lying at the bottom of the Mother river.  One night with the aid of their friends they raided the village killing several villagers including Balcome. They stole all the precious metals from the survivors and the dead.

            They spent the following days digging up the river and its banks, gloating over  the precious metals they founds. The surviving villagers soon realized the mistake they had made in helping these men to kill Balcome and steal their jewelry. When they told them that the gods would punish them for digging up the river, they laughed and ran them away from them.

            A month later when they thought they had mined all the precious metals, there was to be had, they woke up the next morning to find the river gone! It was just dry earth they found! When they went to pack up their bags of precious metals, it was just ordinary stones they found! Suspicions immediately fell on the villagers but only their friends were there as all the others had vanished overnight.

            They decided to search all the villages to find the escapees from Dunklet. But to this day they never found the people from Dunklet and the Mother river never returned. People like Neddy, Taroona and Yashimaje went to nearby villages seeking shelter but word has already gone out that had connived with the strangers in what had happened in Dunklet. They therefore had go to far away places to seek shelter. The miners returned home empty handed. Many people believed that those who fled Dunklet that night might have gone to another part of the island. Legend has it that they found another magic river down there but this has never been proven. The End.