Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1912-05-07

Having made me as comfortable as
possible. Romanes went III search of
the camels. his idea being to strap
me to one and get away without de-
lay, for if the natives should return
In the inorning in increased numbers.
neither or US would ever lease the
spot. Poor John, he little knew then
what a burden he had assumed in
finding ne alive! Better for him
would 1t have been if l had really died
then and he could have buried me,
AID, unhampered by delirious man.
have hastened to safety. His first
disappointment came when he stood
up to listen for the bells of the cam
els. which should have beer heard.
He failed to catch the faintest tinkle.
His disappointment became alarm
when not three hundred yards from
the camp he found our pack camel
dead, win several spears sticking 1t.
and the other two, fifty yards further
On, hopeless.y wounded.
His determination not to leave me
placed him in this Iredicarlent. he
had fist Of all to shift me 70 place
of safety before morning brought the
natives on US again; and alone he
had then to get me into the De Grey
depot, a distance of nearly eighty
miles, the best part of it over water
less country. 1t was impossible for
me to move of my own initiative, Tor
that had left me AID l lay like log,
senseless, delirious. If my life was
to be saved / had to be moved from
the spot where l fell and be carried
to place of safety. That was the
conclusion Romanes arrived at and
before another dawn broke we were
ten miles away from the scene of our
last camp and l was safely resting
in the shade of a bush, while Ro-
names went in search of water and
food.
In the dark hours of the next night
Romanes carried me another twelve
miles and collapsed beside me near
an old native we'll
How long into that day he slept,
Romanes never knew, but when he
awakened, probably as the result Of
my rawlings, he saw a native coming
along the fence scarcely two hundred
yards away. His first thought was
to shoot at sight. believing that the
black must be one of our old enemies,
but feeling certain that the black fell
low could not have seen us in our
retreat, he decided to wait till he
came right up. The native was ap-
parently following our tracks and was
already turning off into the bush just
where we had left the fence, when
Romanes recognized him as native
he had seen at Turnbull's station.
"Hullo therei" he yelled.
The black fellow stopped. saw the
strange and dilapidated white man
with rife in his hand. and turned
with yell to bolt into the bush,
Romanes called to him to halt and
at the same time used Turnbulrs
name, and dropped his rifle. At the
familiar name, and seeing that he
was not to be shot instanter, the ma
tive stood still while Rcmanes walked
toward him and told him who he was.
The black accepted the peace over
lures, and when Romanes learned
that he was making for the De Grey
station with the news from an out
station that the warlike natives were
about, Romanes decided to trust him
and conducted him to where ! was
lying
He inspected my wounds with many
grunts and EXPLANATIONS of concern.
He made a native plaster for my
wounds, composing it of leaves and
sticking it on with wet clay, over
which was bound the piece of shirt
sleeve which Romanes had first used
TO staunch the blood. Then with a
message to both the depot and his
employer, asking them to hasten to
our assistance and telling them where
they would find us, dead or alive, the
native was dispatched by Romanes.
Romanes then picked me up again,
and, footsore and exhausted as he
was. carried me another nine miles.
There for three whole days and
nights we lay, myself in high state
of fever, happily oblivious to all that
happened, and Romanes necessarily
on the watch for blacks.
On the morning of the fourth day
after our arrival at the shed, relief
came. When poor Romanes, by this
time half-insane as the result of his
nardships, realized that he actually
saw white men and that the hordes
of furious savages rushing on him
were merely the creation Of his blood
shot eyes, he broke down and wept
Three days later l awoke to con-
seriousness and found myself in com
narrative comfort at the De Grey de-
not where the surveying party's cook
"a first-rate amateur surgeon-had
matched me up and doctored me in
great style from the outfits medicine
chest I was still helpless wreck,
hut my brain was clearing, and when
| realized where l was | asked about
Romanes. They brought him to me
and it was harder work for that brave
fellow to answer my question as to
how I got safe in from Mount Bruce
than it had been for him 10 carry me
the best part of the journey.
1t was a month before | was well
enough to travel down to Geraldton
and there convalesce, but before /
left had the satisfaction of knowing
that Major and Toby had met with
their inevitable fate. They had stuck
I'D" the Turkey Creek station, and.
on being beaten off by the stockmen
ran into the arms Of police patrol
who killed many of the natives, in.
GLIDING the ringleaders, and captured
the balance When ! was able to re
port to headquarters further piece
of intelligence pleased me. That was
that my rescuer, John Romanes, had
been promoted to the charge of an
inspectors section and had been as
signed TO one of the best stretches
of fence in the southern country.