Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1896-08-01

a little way ahead of us when he suddenly
stopped When We reached him he stood
at the edge of one of the hollows. through
which, during the rains, the mountain
streams 1un down to swell the tributaries
of the Murrumbidgee. The snow had.
fallen th!ckly here, and In the bottom, still
partly imbedded in the drift, there lay a
dark body. which we at once recognized
as that of a horse. A hasty examination
showed that my shot had avenged Cossack.
Jacky examined the ground carefully, and
at last crossed the hollow and penetrated
farther into the forest, but after travelling
for nearly an hour we found that we had
come back again to the spot from which
we started. And so it went on for what
appeared to me at least to be an almost
endless time, now backward and now for
ward in wanderings that seemed inter-
minable. And still Jacky Travelled on, his
head bent forward, his eyes never lifted
from the ground; and still the sergeant fol-
lowed doggedly in his steps, his face set
grim and stern, his carbine gripped tightly
in his hand. I had no choice but to follow
them.
For the last two hours or more our
course, in spite of it's warderings, had
taken US steadily down hill. 1t was GER
tainly after midday now. and the hot sun
was lighting up the depths of the forest
and falling in bright streams and patches
of gold every here and there in our path.
Jacky stopped suddenly. just as we came
In sight of a huge mass of rock which rose
gray and rugged above the trees in front.
Between us and the crag there was a gully
deeper and more densely wooded than any
we had yet passed. Jacky stood still and
peered cautiously down the dim slope. where
the trees grew thicker and the dense foli-
age shut out the sunbeam. The sergeant
glanced at him, and then he passed him
by. Come on" he exclaimed, "youngster.
Keep your finger on the trigger, and when
you see him mind you fire this time" With
| his hand on the lock Of his carbine the SER
geant crept down through the trees; with
| my finger on the trigger of the revolver
| followed him.
The gully was unusually large and deep.
| In my excitement the time 1t took us to
! to descend into the bottom seemed endless.
| 1t is true we went slowly, watching every
| tree peering into every dim vista, expect
| ing each moment to hear the report Of a
| pistol shot wake the echoes Of the wood.
On, and on, and yet we saw nothing and
nothing happened. We had reached the
bottom and began cautiously to ascend the
| slope beyond. The snow had fallen heavily
here, and still there were patches of it
| in the darkest places where the shadows
| fell the thickest We had gone perhaps
| half way up the slope when. as 1 strained
| my eyes to look along dim avenue be-
| tween the gums, l saw som ethng that
| made me start and utter an exclamation.
| The sergeant Joined me in an instant, and
| side by side we made our way toward the
! spot.
| Nearer and nearer We crept UP between
| the trees, planting our feet cautiously as
| we went that no sound might give him
the alarm: scarcely daring to breathe in
| cur excitement. And now we could make
out plainly that 1t was a man. He was
seated on the ground, his back resting