The Chanute times. [volume] (Chanute, Kan.) 1897-1913, 1899-01-13


great was his adherence OF the man;
but, as he had provided himself with
a pack-horse well-laden with food and
grog, Mr.. Hall could not well prevent
him from accompanying them.
AS matters turned out 1t would have
been very much better for Mr.. Sullivan
II he had allowed himself to be dis
suaded; but the majority Of sensible
people, when talking the affair over
in after years, were decidedly of opin-
ion that 1t was very good job for
every one else that he had joined the
expedition.
The commotion on the station on the
morning when the expedition started in
search Of the fugitives was tremendous.
Pack-saddles were being adjusted to
FESTIVE brutes whose sole aim and OBJ
ject was to kick themselves free from
their encumbrances. All sorts Of things
were forgotten and remembered just
at the last momeEt.
At last the cavalcade got under way,
and Mrs. Hall and her daughter watch
ed it across the plain from the veran-
dab of the house until the gumtrees,
which lined the creek for some miles,
hid it from view.
The expedition proceeded some thir-
ty miles or more without any difficulty
in fact, the country was familiar to-
nearly all the riders. Several small
out-stations were passed, where boun-
dairy riders and shepherds in Mr.. Halls
employ lived their quiet uneventful
lives.
At one of these they halted for the
night, much to the disgust of the old
"hatter" who lived there with his
flocks, and who nursed a wholesome
antipathy to the entire human race.
Cranky jim" he was called, and, II
a love of absolute solitude entitled him
to the name, he was undoubtedly de-
serving Of it.
Had he seen two people pass that
way about ten weeks ago? No, he had
not seen two people pass that way
and, what was more, he did not want
to see them. One was woman, was
it? All, well, woman was naught to
him; he had seen enough of women in
his time, he had His other remarks
were so full of imprecations and BIAS
phemy that Mr.. Hall ceased to interro--
gate him.
On the second day they halted about
noon in sight of the sand-hills. This
was the great barrier which they knew
lay between the grass country on the
Barrier side and the Gray Ranges.
Mr.. Hall had wisely insisted upon all
the water-bags being filled up at the
last good water-hole; and he felt con-
WINGED that, with the supply they car
ried, the fifty or sixty miles Of desert
ought to be safely crossed by man and
beast.
1t was within two hours Of shutdown
when the little party entered the I'M
known region. The horses staggered
YEARLY along, occasionally sinking in
to the sand up to their knees, and
struggling through the scrub and
prickly mimosa which grew plentifully
in places upon the low hills.
Nightfall came on, and the cavalcade
encamped; there was no sign of water.
and they had to draw upon the supply
they carried with them
Jack Hall had more than once enter
ed these inhospitable regions in search
of lost cattle, and he was under the be-
lief that a more fertile country lay be-
yond it-how far distant of course he
could not say; but, from what he had
gathered from the blacks he believed
three days would see them through the
worst of it.
For two long days the travellers toiled
on through the heavy drifts of sand,
but towards shutdown on the third day
they beheld trees ahead, at the sight OF
which their spirits rose amazingly.
Mr. Hall ordered half-rations of wa
ter to be served out to the men and
horses, for he. was by no means conf
dent, because he beheld trees in the dim
distance, that he was going to find a
lake or an inexhaustiblesWell.
Sullivan was the best-provided
person of the company, for, besides two
huge water-bags, he had liberal sup
ply of spirituous liquors, which he was
very liberal in dispensing-to himself.
(To ba Continued