The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1897-06-03

snow-the first / had seen since leav-
ing England. 1t was snow, sure
enough, and It had fallen heavily.
Wherever the branches and leaves had
thinned overhead II had come down
in great soft drifts, and looking up 1
could see that the clug in fleecy
masses to the larger branches which
bent beneath the unaccustomed weight.
1 looked round In dismay. The grisly
light from the snow mingled with the
gray light of the dawn and made the
forest arcades seem more hopeless than
even the darkness had done. BY what
ever instinct Jacky had been able to
track the man we were in pursuit of
1t must be at fault now. I looked at
him and his eye met mine, but he
seemed only to crouch the closer.
The sergeant awoke with a start
just as my eyes rested on him. Halo!
What the devil?" he exclaimed, as he
shook himself and rose to his feet.
Snow, as I'm a living sinner. I didn't
think we were high enough UP for
that" Then he glanced round him with
a look of surprise and disgust till his
eyes rested on Jacky. "Ah!" he con-
tinued: IT thought so. That comes of
using these confounded Queensland
blacks. You might as well put a croc-
odile in an ice pond as expect any good
of one in the snow. Here, Jacky, you
make look wood, burn plenty smoke"
Jacky shook his big head but didn't
move. "Yes, that's your sort" he
added, contemptuously. You'd sit
there and freeze sooner than face it.
Well. youngster, it can't be helped, for
there's one mercy--the chances are
Mixes as least as badly off as we
are" .
There was, as the sergeant said, no
help for it. He and l collected wood
enough to keep our fire burning, and
then there was nothing to be done but
keep as close to it as we could and
wait for a change. 1t was more than
lucky we had some food left, though
as the day went slowly on we found
that we had none too much of that,
and by the time the gray daylight
had given place once more to the dark
er shades of night we--or at any rate
I-could have wished for a bigger sup
per than the last of the damper af-
forded. / heard no footsteps in the for
est that night during my watch, nor
was my Imagination troubled by vls-
came to rest 1 slept soundly.
1t was bright daylight when 1 awoke,
and the moment did so 1 knew that
the change had come. 1t was warm.
Jacky had let the fire go low, and
could see his small, active figure walk
ing slowly round, his eyes fixed on the
| ground, though still keeping clear of
the spots where the snow had not fully
ell
| a stone examining his carbine with
much interest. "Well youngster," he
said, 'if you've had sleep enough it's
about time we were moving, for we
may have a long tramp before we get
| anything to eat" The recollection was
one calculated to hasten our move
ments, and in less than five minutes
we had started.
! Jacky went slowly at first. for moth
| ing would induce him to set foot on the
| remains of the snow which still lin
gered in patches in the shadier hollows,
but as the sun rose higher these became
less common and we got on better. He
was 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 run down
to swell the tributaries of the Muir
| rumbidgee. The snow had faller
| thickly here, and in the bottom, still
partly imbedded in the drift, there lay
a dark body which we at once recog-
nized as that of horse. A hasty ex-
animation 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 fol-
| nearly an hour we found that we had
| come back again to the spot from
which we started, And so it went or
for what appeared to me at least to be
an almost endless time, now backwards
and now forwards in wanderings that
seemed interminable. And still Jacky
travelled on, his head bent forward, hi:
eyes never lifted from the ground; and
still the sergeant followed doggedly ir
his steps, his face set grim and stern
his carbine gripped tightly in his hand
1 had no choice but to follow them.
For the last two hours or more oul
course, in spite of it's wanderings, hat
taken us steadily down hill. 1t wa:
certainly after midday now, and tht
hot sun was lighting up the depths OF
the forest and falling in bright streams
and patches of gold here anC
there in our path. Jacky stopped sud
denly, just as we came in sight of 6
huge mass Of rock which rose gray
and rugged above the trees in front
Between us and the crag there was {
gully deeper and more densely wooded
than any we had yet passed. Jack!
stood still and peered cautiously dowI
=.
thicker and the dense ?oflage shut ou
the sunbeam. The sergeant glanced a
him, and then he passed him by. "Com
on" he exclaimed, "youngster. Keel
your finger on the trigger, and whei
you see him mind you fire this time.
With his hand on the lock of his car
bine the sergeant crept down through
the trees; with my finger on the trig
ger Of the revolver 1 followed him.
The gully was unusually large an
deep. In nv excitement the time
took us to descend into the bottom
seemed endless. 1t is true we wen
slowly, watching every tree, peerin
into every dim vista, expecting eacl
moment to hear the report of a pisto
shot wake the echoes of the wood. o.
and on, and yet we saw nothing, an
nothing happened. We had reache
the bottom and began cautiously t
ascend the slope beyond. The snoN
had fallen heavily here, and still ther
were patches OF 1t in the darkest place
where the shadows fell the thickest. w
had gone perhaps half way up the shop
when, as l strained my eyes to loo
J along a dim avenue between the gums
} saw something that made me star
and utter an exclamation. The ser