The National tribune., 1882-03-25


while Braxton remained on guard; and by
midday the cavalcade was in full march
through the forest en- route for Fallen Pine
the rendezvous of the seareh-party. The
wounded man was tied on to q horse in from {,
the other rangers followed on foot for safety,
while the trooper and Chicago brought up
the rear.
There was a sad assemblage at Fallen
Pine. One by one they had dropped in,
tanned with the sun, torn by briers, weaken
ed by the poisonous miasma of the marsh
lands all with the same tale of privation
and failure. Summerville and the inspector
had fallen in with blacks above the upper
ford, and had barely escaped with their lives.
Troopers Foley and Anson were well, though
somewhat gaunt from privation. Hartley
had lost his horse, from the bite of a
bushmaster. Murdoch and Murphy had
secured the bush as far as RathuTst, but
without success. All were detected and
weary. They only waited the arrival of two
of their number to set out on their return
TO Trafalgar.
1t was midday, and the sun was beating
down with pitiless glare on the little clear
ing. The men were lying about on the
shady side Of the trunks, some smoking
some with their hats over their faces, and
half-asleep The horses were tethercd here
and there, looking as listless as their mas
ters. Only the inspectors old charger
seemed superior to the weather-a shrewd
Jlqsc old horse, that had seen the world, and
was nearly as deeply versed in woodcraft as
Iis master. As Chicago said, Short Of
clinibin' tree, there weren't nothin' that
horse couldn't do; an il would make darned
good try at that if it was pushed" Old
Sawbacl seemed III at ease this afternoon.
Twice he had pricked up his ears and once
he had raised his head as if to neigh, but
paused before committing himself The
inspector looked at him curiously and put
his meerschaum back into its case. Meer-
schaums were always a weakness ofpoor jim
Burton's. "Demme il, sir" l have heard
him say, a gentleman is known by his pipe
When he comes down in the world his pipe
has most vitality" He put the case inside
his uniform and went over to the horse.
The ears were still twitching.
"He hears something" said the Inspector
"By Jove, SO do I! Here boys, jump up;
there's a body of men coming!" Every man
sprang to his horses head. "I hear hoofs,
and hear the tramp Of men on foot. They
must be large party. They're heading
straight for US. Get under cover, boys, and
have your guns loose" The men wheeled
right and left, and ia a very few moments
the glade was deserted. Only the brown
barrel OF a gun here aud there among the
long grass and the ferns showed where they
were crouching. Steady, boysu said Burton ;
if they are enemies, don't fire till / give the
word. Then one by one aim low, and let
the smoke clear. Rangers, by Jove!" he
added, as a horseman broke into the clearing
some way down, with his head hanging down
over his horses neck. More" he growled
as several men emerged from the bush at the
same point. "By the living powers, they
are taken! l see the ropes. Hurrah! And
next moment Braxton and Chicago were
mobbel by nine shouting, dancing men, who
pulled them and tugged ut them, and slapped
them on the back, and dragged them about
in such away, that MaIoney whispered with
q sc3wl,
"If we'd had the grit to do rs much, we'd
have been free men this day."
And now our story is nearly done. We
have chroniclcd fact which we think is
worthy Of Il wider circulation than the colon
ial drnEiug-b bar and the sheep farmers fire.
side for Trooper Braxton and his capture Of
the Bluemansdylle' murdcrers have long
been household words among our brothers
in the England Of the Southern seas.
We need not detail that joyful ride to
Trafalgar, nor the welcome, nor the attempt
at IyDching; nor how Maloney, the arch
criminal turned Queens evidence, and so
wriihed a way from the gallows. All that
may he read in the colonial press, more
graphically than ! can tell it. My friend
Jack Braxton is an Office now, as his father
was before him, and still in the Trafalgar
force Bill ! saw last in '6i, when he came
over to London in charge Of the bark of the
Wellingtonia for the international Exhibi-
ton. He IS laying on flesh, fear, since he took
to sheep-lIming; for ne was barely brought
up by seventeen stone, and his fighting
weight use to be fourteen; but he looks well