Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1898-04-23

thoughts went through my mead IN that
brief instant. | recollected all the sto-
ries had ever heard Of men and ami
mails that could make themselves invisi-
BILE, and while / had never believed any
of them / remembered that some scien-
tifc men had held that it was possible
for organic matter to become as trans
parent as inorganic under certain con-
ditions and present neither Of the phe-
nomena Of refraction and reflection Of
light | was convinced in a moment
that some beast possessing such quail
ties was confronting me, and my belief
grew to certainty when / felt hairy
paw caressing my hand. Instead Of be-
ing frightened,a this unexpected dem
onstration | was treasured, for there
was something in the touch that as
sured me that my life was in no dan
ger, but that on the contrary the thing,
whatever it was, was trying to make
friends with me. / grasped the paw in
my hand and was treasured by what
sounded like a grunt of whose existence
had no longer the slightest doubt
Resolved to ascertain what kind of
thing this was, drew it closer to me
and began to feel of it, The thing stood
perfectly quiet, and it was not long be-
fore recognized the fact that it was
kangaroo of enormous size, but abso-
lutely invisible.
"Well, to cut long story short, the
kangaroo developed the strongest at
tachment for me and followed me wher
7 7 - D.,
hills and sometimes across the level
plains, its easy method Of progression
by great jumps carrying me along far
more swiftly than / could have pedaled.
If the kangaroo strayed away, all | had
to do was to whistle and it would come
to me, bounding across the open with
great leaps, the progress of which |
could trace by the depression in the
grass where it alighted, although could
not see the beast itself.
zone day we struck gold mining
camp, and / decided to stay there for a
few days. On the first night of my stay,
however, / got into an alteration with
one of the miners, who was intoxicated,
and he drew his revolver and fired at
l1b4 NY lhltHIul htibShIbOg hhcNbhs
stepped between us and received the
bullet himself, as / afterward learned,
although it was a mystery to me as we'll
as to the bystanders that | did not fall
with bullet in my brain. AT the same
instant the kangaroo struck out with
his powerful hind leg and caught the
miner full in the solar plexus, knocking
Ia, Tho xul,Ola nffair
was so sudden that none realized what
had occurred, and some were inclined
to believe that the ruffian had had a
stroke of apoplexy. Iwent to my hotel,
and they took the miner to his shanty.
"Along toward morning | was awak.
ened by my host, a decent sort of es-
capped convict, and informed that the
miner had died and that some of his
friends were going to carry out the de-
sign which he had formed before his
death of killing me. l don't dare lend
you horse, said the man, but you
get on your wheel and ride away as
fast as you can, or they'll catch you
sure
IT started oct promptly for did not
want to be the object of a vigilance
committees deliberations, and was
soon wheeling over the plains. l had
my faithful kangaroo at my side, and
/ noticed that he coughed and appeared,
from the sound, to be splitting blood.
This puzzled ne at first, but | quickly
realized that he must have been shot in
the lung, and / felt more sorrow than l
can express at the thought.
~ was setting pretty good pace,
but it was not long before l heard the
sound of hoofs far behind me, and look
ing back | saw four horsemen follow
ing me at full gallop. 1 realized that
they were the dead miner friends and
also that there was no chance of escap-
ing them, for my wheel was i'll bad con-
dition, sadly in need of oiling, and it
was impossible to ride it over the rough
surface of the trail as fast as the swift
bush horses could gallop There was
only one thing to do. | called the kan
CARGO toward me and attached my stout
rawhide lariat to his enormous tail,
tying the other end to the head Of my
bicycle. l chirruped, and the faithful
beast started off with leaps and bounds
that nearly unseated me, but | man
aged to stick on, and soon saw that l
was distancing my pursuers was not
satisfied with that, however, but re-
solved that must not slacken speed un-
til safely beyond their radius of action.
/ urged my invisible motive power on
to greater efforts, and before sundown
we were more than 200 miles away
from the mining camp.
at was just as the sun was sinking
over the trees that the kangaroo stopped
short, and as rode forward the wheel
struck his PROSTATE body. | dismounted
and knelt beside him As did so felt
the warm lifeblood pouring from a
great wound in his side, heard faint
moan, and then the poor beast licked my
hand, gasped convulsively and died
He had given his life to save mo-.
The wheelman who had travelled
naused knocked the ashes from the in