Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1899-07-25

explained that 10 would be advisable to
take trip up the river 20 the south in
order to explore certain part Of the
surrounding country. He found it nec-
essary to split up the herd ON account
of the pasturage; to take about a
thousand head Of cattle up the valley
some 80 or 40 miles, and. fencing of the
entrance TO some good grassy pocket in
the ranges, leave them there. Keeping
the cattle in hand had begun to be very
troublesome on account Of the advanced
season Of the year. Gordon therefore
.aid that Savile, DAILY, Jack and ]
should go with him and drive the cattle
before us mp the valley. Moreover, Miss
Mackenzie had been asking him for the
last few days to make trip Of the
kind. and he thought he might as well
take her aud his sister also They had
lots Of PACK horses, and could pack
tent for them and all they might want
Besides, they would be safer with Us
than il left at the station. On this point
I had my doubts
Everything had been arranged and
Se were to start on the morrow. DAILY.
Mooney and couple of blacks went
out and. mastering the cattle, drove
them some 1 8 miles up the river so that
we could conveniently pick them up
next day. Gordon. Jack and got the
pack saddles out and made mp the ra
tions with such things as we would re-
quiro for six days trip. In the after
noon Norah Mackenzie came over TO the
store. She was evidently in high spirita
She wanted some cartridges for her
small sporting rifle and some for
small Smith a. Wesson revolver.
After I had served her she tripped
of, and realized how near had been
to telling her what she had become to
me. But the time was not yet. "All
things come round to him who will but
wait" said TO myself.
Next morning after breakfast we
made start, leaving Mooney and two
other hands at the station. Our party
consisted Of the two women, Gordon,
Savile, DAILY. Jack, myself and a couple
of black boys. With Us we had eight
pack horses Gordon and DAILY, with
the blacks, rode on ahead to drive mp
the cattle. found myself with Jack
leading the way. Norah Mackenzie and
Elsie Gordon following close upon us.
For several miles the creek was
straight as an arrow--a succession OF
long deep water holes, on which the
purple and white water lilies bloomed
and on which hundreds OF wild fowl
rested. while on the banks the pelican,
.ha snow white ibis and other gaudy
and long legged birds enlivened the
scene.
II was significant that all along the
banks of the creek there were piles of
empty mussel shells, which showed that
IL Was a veriiable mine Of wealth to the
foraging black fellow. At times we
came to places where the blacks had
camped. II was rather startling to count
the number Of their fires. In some
camps alone there must have been at
least 500 or 900. Where were those
blacks nows
Toward evening we came to beau
tifully grassed, lightly timbered mead
ow. Here Gordon said II would be as
well TO leave the cattle until we ex-
plored the country farther up the river.
We chose little ironstone ridge, where
We could guard against surprise from
the blacks, and camped for the night
Next morning by dsybreak we were
all up and stirring. Savile boiled the
billy. the black boys rounded mp the
horses. while Jack and | went down to
the creek and had swim. II was Cor
don's intention TO push through the
gap which we saw to the south and
explore the country which lay beyond
and to the west He thought itwas not
unlikely that the squatter, on his way