The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-08-20

and you have to sit on your horse like
a star circus rider. too, or you will
| never hunt kangarO0s more than once.
you are apt to be ssed out of your
| saddle and left hanglug by your neck
at the end of some dropping vine as
you pass through the country, and if
you keep your seat as YOUR horse dashes
| over stretch of ground made pictur-
| esquely irregular by million big ant
| mis-, you stand a chance of being
! tipped out of it into an adjoining tract
| or down timber and treated to a run
| across country with your foot in the
stirrup and your head PLAYING shiny
| with logs and powders. Then, when
| you get into a mob # kangaroos-half
dozen or so .kan&S together make
a nob-you may havc the luck to tackle
| what they call a regular up-and-up
| boomer, and if you lowell, say! If
| you do. you will begin to have your
doubts about your caring to be a
| gentleman sportsman in Australia. An
| up-and-up boomer. or a bloomin' old
| man, as some call him, is a leader in a
mob or hangs, and there's more fight
| in him than there is in barrel of
sixth ward rum. If the, bloomin old
| man gets the squeez" on you and is in
clined to stop the fight right there and
then he'll put on the PRESSURE and crack
your bones as you would crush soft
shell almond.
1T isn't sportsmanltkp to bag your
Kangaroo with a gun. Your weapon
is short, but heavy club, and as you
charge your game the object is to de-
liver blow with the club that will
neatly break the kangaroos neck.
Dogs trained for the purpose harass the
game and get it in position so that you
can the better and surer deliver the
death blow. 1t requir.s good deal of
a
spot and at the same time guard your
selI against the assaults of the kanga-
roo, for he has his eye IN the chance of
getting in blow on you that may send
you sprawling from your horse.
Il got so that / could handle the club
and the horse pretty we'll on kanga-
roo hunt and rather liked the exciting
sport until one day ] ran foul of kang
that was following a life of outlawry,
and that spoiled me for kangaroOng.
We had five dogs and ran suddenly into
mob of seven kangaroOs. The leader
of the mob was the up-anduppest
boomer. the bloomin'est old man l had
ever seen, except a tame kangaroo that
belonged at the settlement, and that
tame kangaroo beat anything, they
said. that had ever been seen in Aus
tralia. 1t was taken when only few
days old and grew to enormous size
and had the run of the settlement and
the WnOle country, lot llat 1lldtte E.
Everybody knew Danny Dee, as the big
tame kang was called, and Danny
seemed to know everybody and every
thing.
when I saw the big leader of this
mob rise before me | couldn't help
but think that he might be Danny
Dee's brother. He rose to receive the
attack of three of our dogs and he
stood not less than eight feet high. He
gathered in each one of those three
dogs as they sprang at him and laid
them down in one, two, three order,
without whole bone among them.
This bloomin' old man seemed not only
willing, but anxious to join in general
fight with US. One of our party killed
this kangaroo. but all the rest Of the
mob except the boomer fled to the
brush. There We're three of us hunt
ers, and we all charged upon the boom
er. ~ two remaining dogs having fol-
lowed the fleeing mob. | can't tel you
how it was done, but that big kanga-
roo yanked my two companions out of
their saddles as quick as a flash, and
away their frightened, horses went over
the plain. Their unseated riders fol-
lowed them, and l Was left alone to
have it out with the bloomin old
man.
Say, he didn't walt to take breach,
but leaped on me and grabbed me-
my club, but he hadn't got his SOU eze
on me when | brought my club down
on his head That staggered him and
forced him to loosen his hold on me
and tumble from the horse, but he took
with him half of my trousers leg and
big chunk of skin from my thigh.
He had no sooner struck the ground
than he sprang and caught the horse
around the neck and was effectively
shutting off the poor beasts wind when
I pounded the kanC loose with my club.
It seemed to me that old boomer was
just more than enjoying the fight. ana
it struck me that he had an object in
all he was doing beyond the simple fact
of wanting to win the fight
Failing in his attempt to choke the
horse to death, he drew off a few PAGES.
looked me and the horse over and at
once made up his mind. He came to-
ward me with a tremendous bound,
and as I raised my club to meet him
with a blow he Tented and landed on
the horse behind me. Before I could
move a muscle he had my arms pm
toned to my sides as if they We're in
a wise. / suppose, from the way the
horse sprang forward, that the karg
stuck his claws in the horses tanks.
At any rate, away over the plain we
went like the wind, headed for the
brush. At first ] struggled to free my
self, but l found the more I struggled
the tighter grew the clasp of the kan
CARGO on my ribs, until l was afraid
he would squeeze the life out Of me
if l didn't quit, SO I quit.
"On we went, deeper and deeper
into the dense bush and further away
from succor at every bound. Thea it
struck me all at once that l was in
the clutch of a kidnaper kangaroo, the
trained agent of some savage tribe of
bushmen, although up to that moment