The age-herald., 1901-12-01

day found us hacking our way through undorbrush peculiar to Australia, called lawyers and barristers," because It's thorns and brambles catch one at every turn. Once Charlie hesitated, turned back, and struck off in another direction down an embankment, we plugging after him.
 What a wild chase that was! Two white men blindly following the apparently crazy course of black fellow into places so remote that it would be impossible to find our way out of them alone. Such is the confidence in that country in the ability of a tracker.
 Charlie now crawled the greater part of the way on his hands and knees. min utely examining twigs and branches for signs of a freshly broken passage way for the fugitive. Every action betrayed his intentness upon his task. He was about ten feet ahead of us, when we heard him give a subdued exclamation of delight
 T catch white fellow quick!s he said when we came up, and triumphantly pointed to scrap of cloth hanging to a broken twfg.
 After some four hours more of scramb- ling through the underbrush we reached a river Charlie crouching attentively along the ground until he came to the bank. There, in the damp earth, two footprints were plainly visible
 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 and carried him down stream a bit, but he swan valiantly, while we sat, tired, travel-stained and hungry on the trunk of a fallen tree and watched his ebony wool bobbing along the water. Emerg ing on the other side he ran dripping for 20 feet or so, following footprints that again stopped at the waters edge.
 Here the tracker paused. He was plainly puzzled. What had become of the cattle thief? Had he recrossed the river or swan down as far as he could and landed on either bank, then struck into the woods again2 After sharply examin- ing the ground and satisfying himself that the man had not remained on that side, Charlie swan back landing a few yards below us. By his actions we saw that he had found the tracks again. The man had indeed recrossed the river, but where had he gone to after that? Trust tracker to guess riddles of that sort! F
 s' Suddenly Charlie commenced to brush aside the leaves and twigs along the edge of the bank, uncovering the space be- tween him and us until he caught up with us. We were sitting beneath a huge eucalyptus tree, and l should perhaps explain that our trees of that variety in California are dwarfs compared with the original family of gums in the Australian country. @ A so
 White fellow no can fool black fellow" he said, smiling wet, and breathless. Then we saw that the fugitive had carefully covered up his tracks while walking backward and, strange to say they ter minated under theltvery tree where we were gA4fa
 Apparently theyrman hunt was at an end, Our game had, vanished into space. d Charlie dashed into the thicket and hastily secured "a strong, pliable vine used by the nativasoin scaling tree trunks too smooth to climbs This he threw about the tree enclosing his own body and fastened it by wreathing 1t together, holding the ends with his hands. Work ing this hoop as Hi sort of lever he began to scale the tree..9m
 'r We looked son in nnastonishment Not