Chapter 9 Summary and Analysis

Robyn quickly finds that she loves travelling with Eddie, her old Aborigine chaperone. Eddie shows her all kinds of things about the desert that she would not normally have noticed and Robyn begins to adjust to Eddie's slower, more leisurely pace, rather than hurrying from here to there. Soon Robyn asks Eddie to accompany her the two hundred miles to Warburton as well, and he agrees excitedly, especially when promised a rifle just like Robyn's. As they travel, the Aborigines that they interact with accept Robyn because she is with Eddie, and they have a wonderful time laughing and sharing food with Aboriginal travelers. Once, they run into some tourists, who condescendingly tell Eddie to pose next to a camel for a photo. Rather than get angry at their racism, Eddie plays up the part of the dangerous, kooky savage, and...