The daily morning journal and courier., 1895-06-21

| lHGle was no SuCn IllluS. I1OWeNeI
 ghost or no ghost, I was bound to go on
 lso set stout heart to a stey brae; ant when l found that could not force tht terrified brute up the bank dismount ed and tied him to a young gum-tree.
 T had scarcely set my face to tht bank again when the same cry sound | ed out once more. tell you, mates, il
 made the blood run cold round my
 heart, it was so shrilly wild, so unearth. | ly, so despairng; and to make it worse
 the black night came down on me again
 mirk and heavy, like the blackness o1
 the parish morteloth I used to wonder at when l was a boy. I had not the least idea in what direction to turn, and was standing irresolute when I heard
 the cry again, and 1t sounded nearer,
 and was so distinct that I thought ] could go straight to the very spot it came from. The bank was so steep that
 l had to scramble up on my hands and knees, often slipping back and stop
 ping to listen; but I could hear nothing except the soft gurgling plash of the water down beneath me. I was not
 sure which way to turn, when I heard the cry again right out of the scrub be- fore me. l was in the right direction that was one good thing; but will new CT deny that was frightened bit, it
 was such a terrible cry, and the spot
 was so lonely. I had that spirit in me,
 though, that I would not go back; and
 l crept forward on my hands and knees towards the top of the bank, which was covered with a close low bush. It was
 bit of climb, and I had stopped a
 minute to get my breath, when
 thought I heard low moaning noise close to me. I gripped my revolver but
 it was of little use in the darkness, so I
 took out instead big bowie knife I all
 ways carried, and held it ready in my
 hand. The next moment there was
 sort of hurtling rush through the air
 above me, and something leaped right down upon my shoulders. I gave yell, and then another, and then away down the bank we rolled, irving and
 tearing at each other in an agony of
 mortal fright. As soon as I could get my right hand free I gave a, desperate thrust with the knife; and with a yell of rage and pain the creature dropped off from me; and heard the thud that had caught 1t in it's downward descent
 q was more frightened than hurt, and soon scrambled to my feet. As a smok- CT is never without matches, soon had a light, with which I groped my way down to where the creature lay, and what do you think I found?
 "A teeger, may be-" said another old school-fellow
 'Ye silly gowk, there are no tigers in Australia, I found Bill; but my word, he was not the comfortable, well-fed beast he Is to-day. I don't think ever saw such a dog as he looked then either before or since. He was a gaunt, starved skeleton, bleeding slowly from a wound in the side which he had got in his struggle with me. He made no at- tempt to escape, but lifted his head and gave me a look so pathetic, so almost most human in It's mute, reproachful appeal for help that 1t fairly went to my heart. \ spoke gently to him; and he looked up at me as if he would fain have spoken and told me his story. He let me stanch the blood that was trick ling from his side; and I bound up the wound as well as I could. He then staggered to his feet and whined. and caught my sleeve with his teeth, and sIpWGd llc dS ptuAHly dS II lc udu SpOh- an that he wanted me to follow him.
 q took up the lantern and he wagged 1is tail and licked my hand: and we scrambled up the bank together and 1 hen, always whining and looking back, | le led the way into the bush. The 1 1rushwood was so thick and dense that | was almost beat; I could scarcely 1 orce my way through; but whenever I l stopped to get mouthful of breath he | yhined and fawned on me, and pulled | It my sleeve, and showed such an ago. | ly of distress, that I could not but pity t he poor dumb beast and make all the | taste I could to follow By this time he day was beginning to break and it | vas not so dark as 1t had been. He had | ed me to a sort of cave formed by a | helf of rock projecting from the bank, |. md there, wrapped in a tartan shawl | vas sight that brought my heart to ny mouth. A girl, bit lassle so sore y wasted and spent that l lifted her ID in my arms like child and carried CT out to the open. Her eyes were losed and she seemed too far gone for beech; but there was life in her still, s could see by the flickering of her JSiiup NilNAA olbOpNQ hOWll lp lJOh dl I CT.
 "As for the dog, who had crawled af- er Us, he looked up in my face with his athletic eyes full of dumb prayer for elp; and then--for he was fairly beat, nd could not, believe, have dragged is trembling limbs another step-he tretched himself out on the grass be- de her and licked her little wasted and. Iwas In such a state of excite lent myself that fairly trembled. ,arcely knew what to do; but I got )me water and laved her face and her lips; and when she had widowed a few drops she came round , far that she could utter a word or vo in a faint whisper.
 Thus, bit by bit got her story. She nd her father had been on their way ome from the gold-fieIds and he had sum of money on him, how uch she scarcely knew, and it made tile matter, for it was all gone. In a lrksome gully on the road he had zen set upon and robbed and mur- ,red; and she had fled into the bush Se a distracted creature, and wan red about day and night till Bill had . me back to her; and she had followed I m to this cave, where she had lived t r some weeks on such berries and 5 ots as she could find. She was afraid
 leave its poor shelter, for she had y