Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1884-03-13
Iales aud Sketfhts.
PLAYING FOE HIGH STAKES.
An AUSTRALIANS ADVENTURE.
fco.tinuued from yesterday. }

s;tion The sun was now setting, and
was feeling rather faint and chilly. When
conld r reckon upon Toms return to my
side of the river? Twas i'll prepared to
snend the night there. had neither coat.
hat pine. nor matches. My boots and
hreeches bore manifest traces of the wear
and tear of nv recent travels; indeed, the
soles of the former were giving away al
together. A Crimean shirt over my un-
der-vest, a pocket-handkerchief in my
waist belt. and penknife in my fob. COM
pleted nv equipment. There is nothing
for it." thought, ''but to sleep the night
out" So gathered some scrub-s;uf for
a bed. and placed q stone for pillow,
and slept soundly till morning. l woke
up cold, stiff, and hungry. l resolved no
longer to remain where l was, but to get
I'D on higher ground. and steer course
from the river which / understood Toke
intended to take. Having done this, i
found an open park-like country. inter-
spersed with a thick underground OF thorny
bushes and prickly spear-grass. pushed
on for the day under blazing hot sun,
with nv handkerchief and some large
leaves as a protection for my head. and
did I guessed about twenty miles, seeing
nothing but trees and wild BIRDS not a
spring anywhere Night came on but
so faint was |, that did not care to col
lect scrub for bed. The nights sleep
gave me comparative freshness; but
when | tried to move in the morning,
the stiffness was excessive. My hrst
work was to convert my boots into
sandals for / was much iinpeded on the
previous day by the dilapidated soles. l
now altered my course. l thought ii l
were to get to any place alive, | must go
back to the river and follow its direction.
So retraced my steps, but with slower
pace for, in addition to my weakness.
suffered much pain in my feet and legs
from thorn scratches and prickles Day
had passed into night long before again
struck the river, where lay down for my
third nights lonely rest.
Next morning my first care was to
bandage my feet with the strongest part
of my clothes; for this purpose tore up
nv breaches Come what might | was de-
termned to move on as long as l could
crawl, and resolved to keep by the river.
Words cannot describe nv hunger. How
eagerly did examine the bleached bones
of birds which | occasionally saw, in the
hope of finding some flesh upon them
did not know so much of bush-life then
as | learned afterwards, or might have
found some roots or grubs to eat, as
have frequently done since. My resolu-
ton to keep to the river cost me much
pain and labor. Great thorn bushes fire.
quently barred the way. In getting over
or creeping through these. my clothes
were torn into rags. and my body from head
to foot was scratched and bleeding. My
foot-bandages came off early in the day,
and was obliged to take off my under.
vest and tear it into pieces to bind my
feet. else should not be able to get on at
all. Many time in the day did sit down,
feeling as if could not get step farther
vet after little rest. nv courage revived,
and the pluck of youth returned. tor was
scarcely twenty-five years old. "Oh, this
won't do" said to myself. Never say
die here goes for another shy at it :" and
then up would get and scramble on once
more. Perhaps what tried me as much as
any thing was the mvcking of the parrots
and cockatoes, of which there were thou
sands. Sometimes | thought | heard a
.cooee," which drew from me a faint
effort to ''cooee" myself; but my disap.
| pointment was most bitter when found
that the replies were the mocking cries OF
birds. In the afternoon. my feet were
perfectly bare, and had nothing where.
with to cover them. The prickly creep
ers got between my toes, and my progress:
was literally snail-like in pace. When
sat down for the fourth night, felt light
headed and altogether queer.
! Soon after daylight next morning. as
lay on the ground. | distinctly heard &
'cooee," second. and third but fol
some time | seemed too dazed and stupid
/ to take any notice, or imagined the mock
ing birds were busy again. At length i
| louder "cooee' reused me from stupor
| | stood up and cooeed family in return
Then came shout: keep on talking
that may know where you are
In few moments afterwards. Ton
Toke was standing at my side. He i'm
mediately gave me some damper which
tried to eat, but couldn't He then lit his
pipe and handed it to me. | took a few
pulls at it, and felt a wonderful change
| made another attempt at the damper
and contrived to swallow a few mouth
fuls. draught of water, another smoke
and some more damper. and then felt
was myself again.
Toxic. in spite of the gravity of the sit
uation, could not help laughing at me. fo
| was wretched object. Excepting tn,
rag of the Crimean shirt, which only par
TALLY covered me. and a handk erchief OIL
my head. | was nearly destitute of cloth
ing. Indeed. could not refrain from
joining in the laugh at my miserable APP
pearance. We told each other of gu
Adventures since parting. He said tina
he had only ridden a short distance wheI
his mare knocked up. and compelled hin
to camp for the night. Next morning, tn
two horses were missing. and were not re
covered until afternoon After that h
lost his bearings; but at sunset on tn
following day he reached an out-statio,
hut occupied by some stock riders, wher
he told his tale and passed the night. III
asked the men to join him in the searcI
Tor me, as he was sure that | would tur,
up. and would certainly pay them for thei
trouble. They answered. that as Their
was little chance of finding me alive. an,
as they had some mastering to do. da,
or two would make no difference to me
and then they would help in the search
But Tom would not delay. and started OF
alone and SO found me.
We now set off in the direction of tn
stockmen's hut, Tom took off his boot
and put them on my feet: but | suffere,