The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-12-13

road for a few hours. then Charlie turn had rough trip through a heavily
 wooded country saw that l was likely to be taken far out of my way II
 I remained with my companion. put ,uy
 willing to sacrifice a good deal rather than miss being "in at the finish -7iN that Charlie would eventually capture his prey we did not In the least oouo., Late in the afternoon we came to an other accommodation house, where we had a meal and bed. and after break1ast took up the scent again. Ihs uay travel was harder than the prevlous one, inc black man hurrying us through portion of the country where 1t was oli, cult to believe any hun an peihB nao tried to travel, so slow would pc ms pro- gress At no time could we rlde, anu with great difficulty got our horses to clearing, where we made camp ana rest ed Tearing three huge strips or parhs from the trees. Charlie Wrappeu d paan- naI,o ket around him and lay on the eoneave
 surface of one for a bed and we dio hke- At daylight we took up the march, and
 by noon reached bushmans canin a,,r horses we had a meal and tethered our nofsss' proceeding by Charlies advice on 1oot. That night we again camped In the TOT
 est, making a slim breakfast on tne pro visions brought with us. The Iourtn uay found us hacking our way through uh- derbrush peculiar to Australia, caiieo .'lawyers and barristers, because us
 thOrns and brambles eaten ha',sted oae $' turned back and struck off in another dlrectsaon down an embankment, we plugging aiter
 him. .L. ,,os, Tuo
 white men blindly following the appar- entiy crazy course of a black fellow lnto
 places so remote that 1t would pc lInpos- ,ps
 sible to find our way out or them aiohe. ' is Such is the confidence in that country III the ability of a tracker .... Charlie now crawled the greater part
 of the way on his hands and knees mn
 utely examining tWiss ana prancnss Vsy tor For the fugitive. Every action betrayed ms intentness upon his task, He was about ten feet ahead of us, when we heard nm give a subdued exclamation or delight:
 e.I catch white fellow quick!' he said, | when we came up. and triumphantly pointed to a scrap of cloth hanging to broken twig. - 70 ..-o,,o,>
 ling through the underbrush we reached | a river Charlie crouchtng attenuveiy
 along the ground until he came to the
 bank There: in ,tin,v the oSmP SisiP,e e"rth' twp
 What are you going to do now" asked
 the officer of Charlie. .,
 For answer Charlie leaped into the
 river and struck out for the opposite | bank. The tide was rather strong ana | carried him down stream bit, but he | swan valiantly, while we sat- tired, trav-
 el-stained and hungry, on the truhk oL ai q | fallen tree and watched his ebony wool | bobbing along the water. Emerging on
 the other side he ran dripping for twen- 1 ty feet or so, following footprints that | again stopped at the waters edge.
 | Here the tracker paused. He was plain | Iv puzzled What had become of the cat l tie thief? Had he recrossed the river, or
 swam down as far as ne cooio ana lano- | cd on either bank, then struck into the | woods agam? After sharply eXamlnlng the ground and satisfying himself that | the man had not remained on that side, | Charlie swan back, landing a few yards
 heiow us, By his actions we saw that he | had found the tracks again. The man l had indeed recrossed the river, but where
 had he gone after thatF
 Trust a tracker to guess riddles of that
 Suddenly Charlie commenced to brush l aside the leaves and twigs along the | edge of the bank, uncovering the space | hetween him and us until he caught up | with us. We were sitting beneath huge | eucalyptus tree, and should perhaps, explain that our trees or that variety m California are dWarfs compared With the original family of gums in the Austral-
 " White fellow no can fool black fel-
 low" he said smiling vet vet i,;i, ana Dreath1 ha1 carefuliv covered up his tracks while
 walking backward and strange to say. | they terminated under the very tree
 Annarenti4 the man hunt was at an
 end Our game had vanished into space. | Charlie dashed into the thicket and | baatiIv secured strong. pliable vine | used bv the natives in scaling tree trunks l too smooth to climb. This he threw | ahout inc tree, inclosing his own body and fastened 1t by wreathing 1t togeth- | or, holding the ends with his hands. | Working this hoop as sort of lever. he | began to scale the tree.
 | We looked on In astOnishment Not | human being was in sight above ground. | What clew could Charlie be following
 now? Did he expect to find his man in
 'nT TJn S went the black until thirty feet in | +hn air Here we noted that the main | trunk of the tree mad been broken off | years before, forming a crotch for the
 new branches that hao sprung up on
 e'TTee Then ' a most astonishing thing hap
 PPesching down into the hollow of the | baif dead tree trunk the tracker seized
 Something. at the same time shouting to
 N"Boss, Rossl I catch white fellowt He
 P09yt of the opening appeared a mans
 head and a more miserable object have l never seen. He was tousled, dirty
 psnnt half-starved. I have said that a tracker always runs down his game. 1 T lie lime he certainly ran 1t up. Char lia's skin at ringtailed possum hunting l belned him out. for very often when a | native has Killed his game with a boom- l eranp inc animal is caught in tree l Branch and the hunter has to climb for i if In the manner I have described.
 | Charlia eot us safely back to the cabin.