The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1898-04-28

nomena OF refraotiOn and reflection of
light. l 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 at this unexpected dem.
onstration was reassured, 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 1t was was trying to make
friends with me. grasped the paw in
my hand and was reassured by what
sounded like grunt of whose existence
l had no longer the slightest doubt.
Resolved to ascertain what kind of
a thing this was, drew it closer to me
and began to feel of it. The thing stood
perfectly quiet, and It wns not long be-
fore recognized the fact that it was a
kangaroo Of enormous size, but ahso.
lutely invisible.
well, to cut long story short, She
| kangaroo developed the strongest at.
tachment for me and followed me wher.
ever went. trained it to tow me up
| hills and sometimes across the level
plains, its easy method Of progression
by great jumps carrying me along far
more swiftly than l 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 talighted, although could
not see the beast itself.
lone 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
me. Ny faithful kangaroo, unseen,
stepped between us and received the
bullet himself, as l 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
him out completely. The whole affair
was so sudden that none realized what
had occurred, and some were inclined
to believe that the ruflian 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 ne had formed before his
death of killing me. i 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,
81 started out promptly, for did not
want to be the object Of a vigilance
committees deliberations, and was
soon wheeling over the plains. had
my faithful kangaroo at my side, and
l noticed that he coughed and appeared,
from the sound, to be splitting blood
This puzzled me 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.
81 was setting pretty good pace
but it was not long before heard the
sound Of hoofs far behind me- and look.
ing back saw four horsemen follow
ing me at full gallop. l realized that
they were the dead miner s friends, and
also that there was no chance Of escap-
ing them, for my wheel was in 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
garoo toward me and attached my stout
rawhide lariat to his enormous tail,
tying the other end to the head Of my
bicycle. l ohirruped, and the faithful
beast started off with leaps and bounds
that nearly unseated me, but l man
aged to stick on, and soon saw that
was distancing my pursuers. I was not
satisfied with that, however, but re,
solved that I 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 400 miles away
from the mining camp.
1T 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 oonvulsively and died,
He had given his life to save me. D"
The wheelman who had Travelled
paused, knocked the ashes from the in,
visible pipe, replaced it in its case and
wiped away tear.
"But what OF the piper" asked one
Of the members.
"Oh, yes--the pipe. Well, rode on
toward civilization, not daring to stay
in those parts much longer and the
following spring went over the same
ground again with a large party, We
found at the spot where l had left the
dead kangaroo the skeleton bodies of
four horses and their riders. realized
at once what had happened. My pursu,
ers had followed me. their horses had
stumbled over the invisible body of the
dead kangaroo, and they had all been
killed. The fact that the neck of each
corpse was broken proved my theory. !
CROPPED among the bones for those of my
faithful friend and soon found them.
| Dlaced several of them in NV Travelling