Port Augusta was incredible to see. There was salt water, so much bigger than a waterhole, boats, and shops where people sold furniture and food. People lived in wooden houses or tents and got water from the hills in pipes. I was fascinated by those pipes, snaking down the hills, filled with precious water.
We couldn’t let the camels walk on the roads where people lived so we camped at Camel Flat away from the town. Mr Giles and Mr Tietkens slept in a boarding house, but returned each morning to check the equipment. Padar and I stayed to look after the camels; the other men and Tommy camped with us.
Mr Giles told us that the loads would need to be rearranged for the long trip. ‘There will be repairs to do,’ Padar added when Mr Giles had gone. So I knew we would stay in Port Augusta until the work was done.
Mr Elder had provided large pairs of leather bags to be slung over the backs of the camels to hang on each side to hold the explorers’ equipment. They were at a shop called Tassie’s Store and I helped Padar take a small string of camels to collect them. Zaitoon was pleased to lead and she nibbled my ear as I led her to the front.
We were fortunate to meet Dost Razool there. He was a friend of Padar’s from Peshawar, a man true to his name, for ‘dost’ means friend.
‘A salaam alaikum.’ Padar and I hugged him.
‘Wa laikum asalaam, I will help you with your work,’ Dost Razool said. That meant I had time to look at the water in the afternoon. Tommy came with me. He had been to Port Augusta before, and he said his first sentence to me. I decided then that water had a powerful effect on people, for he said, ‘White fellas call this fella harbour.’ There were boats floating, tied up at posts. I understood why Padar called the spinifex bushes in the desert ‘boats’. When the wind blew in Port Augusta the boats bobbed in the water like bushes on a sand dune.
‘The boats are so big,’ I said.
Tommy shook his head. ‘Later, bigfella wool ship come, him big as the harbour.’ He stretched his arms wide.
I couldn’t imagine that.
‘He come from other side of the world.’ Tommy made it sound like a magical place. Only my father and the English had seen the other side of the world. Padar had told me stories when I was young about exploring in the old country – there were two-headed sea dragons and giant serpents and magic caves. I was thoughtful for a while wondering about the desert. Snakes I knew about already but Mr Giles had not mentioned giant serpents. It was different in South Australia, I was sure, and hoped it held true for Western Australia as well.
That night at the campfire there was just Padar, Tommy and me. We had already eaten and I watched Padar take out his pipe. There was so much I needed to ask him but as usual I never knew how to start or how it would end up. When my mother left it was like something in him left too. He used to tell me stories; maybe that was a way to start. ‘Tell us a story, Padar. One I haven’t heard.’
Padar’s eyes were surprised but kind as they regarded me. ‘What sort of story, beta?’
‘Are there truly dangerous beasts in the old country?’
Padar thought for a moment. ‘I’ve heard tell of a simurgh.’
‘What’s that?’
‘A giant bird.’
Tommy crossed his legs and stared at Padar with his elbows on his knees.
‘Tell us,’ I said.
Padar checked my face and smiled. He seemed glad that I wanted to listen. ‘Very well, there was one and there was none. Except for God there was no one.’ I grinned; this was always the way Padar had begun stories. ‘Once there lived a giant bird called the simurgh. It nested on the emerald mountain of Qaf.’
‘Where’s Qaf?’ I asked.
‘It is at the edge of the world, a magical place. The simurgh should have been happy with her life but every year when her eggs hatched a giant black snake came to devour her young.’
I shuddered and Tommy made a noise like a hiss.
‘The simurgh flew to the Holy Prophet, Peace Be Upon Him, and said, “I have an enemy who devours my little ones. Have mercy and save them.”
‘The Holy Prophet addressed Hazrat Ali who was seated beside him. “Go slay the serpent.”
‘So the simurgh carried Hazrat Ali to the mountain of Qaf. They reached the serpent’s den and Hazrat Ali drew his sword. But the cobra saw him before he could swing his sword and swallowed him in one gulp.’
‘No,’ I cried, but Padar continued unperturbed.
‘Hazrat Ali was trapped but he gave a loud cry. “Allahu Akbar, God is Great.” He ripped open the belly of the snake with his sword and leapt out. Then he cut off the snake’s head.
‘“Now,” he said to the simurgh, “Live in peace.”
‘There are many stories about the simurgh,’ Padar said, reaching for his tobacco. ‘It was not always Hazrat Ali who killed the serpent either.’ Then Padar said to Tommy, ‘You like this story?’
Tommy shook his head and moved further away as if frightened Padar would tell another one.