Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1898-06-24

of them | remembered that some scien-
tiic 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 l felt a hairy
paw caressing my hand. Instead Of be-
ing frightened at 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. I grasped the paw in
my hand and was treasured by what
sounded like a grunt of whose existence
I 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 al not long be-
fore l recognized the fact that it was q
kangaroo of enormous size, but abso-
lutely invisible.
well, to cut a long story short, the
kangaroo developed the strongest at
tachment for me and followed me wher-
ever ! went. I 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 I could have pedaled.
If the kangaroo strayed away, all l had
to do was to whistle, and it would come
to me, bounding across the open with
great leaps, the progress of which l
could trace by the depression in the
grass where it alighted, although I could
not see the beast itself.
Zone day we struck a gold mining
camp, and l decided to stay there for a
few days. On the first night of my stay,
however, I got into an alteration with
n Of the miners, who vas intoxicated,
and he drew his revolver and fired at
me. My 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 a 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 ruffian had had a
stroke Of apoplexy. Invent to my hotel,
and they took the miner to his shanty.
"Along toward morning l vas 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. Il don dare lend
you a horse said the man, but you
get on your wheel and ride away as
fast as you can, or they'll catch you
sure
II started out promptly, for I did not
want to be the object Of a vigilance
committees deliberations, and was
soon wheeling over the plains. I had
my faithful kangaroo at my side, and
/ noticed that he coughed and appeared,
from the sound, to be splitting blood.
This puzzled me at first, but I quickly
realized that he must have been shot in
the lung, and I felt nor sorrow than I
can express at the thought.
II was setting a pretty good pace,
but it was not long before / heard the
sound of hoofs far behind me, and look
ing back I saw four horsemen follow
ing me at full gallop. I realized that
they were the dead miners 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. l 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. I c%hirruped, and the faithful
beast started off with leaps and bounds
that nearly unseated me, but / 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.
I urged my invisible motive power on
to greater efforts, and before shutdown
we were more than 200 miles away
from the mining camp.
cit was Just as the sun was sinking
over the trees that the kangaroo stopped
short, and as I rode forward the wheel
struck his PROSTATE body. dismounted
and knelt beside him. As I did SO I felt
the warm lifeblood pouring from q
great wound in his side, heard q faint
moan, and then the poor beast licked my
hand, gasped oonvulsively and died.
He had given his life to save me-"
The wheelman who had Travelled
paused, knocked the ashes from the in
visible pipe, replaced 1t in its case an6
wiped away a tear.
"But what Of the pipe?" asked one
of the members.
"Oh, yes-the pipe. Well, I rode on
toward civilization, not daring to stay
in those parts much longer, and the
following spring I went over the same
ground again with a large party. We
found at the spot where I had left the
dead kangaroo the skeleton bodies Of
four horses aud their riders. ! realized
at once what had happened. My pursu'
srs had followed me, their horses had
stumbled over the invisible body Of thu
dead kangaroo, and they had all beer
killed Tho fact thai tha neck of each