Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-12-02

quite evident, even to my inexperienced
eyes, In fact, he began playing with
Rod.
OF course, this was humiliating for
our champion still it was only what
might be expected. Cooney had prob
ably fought hundreds of times, both in
| the ring and as sparring partner to
| better men than himself, and brave and
strong as Rod was, he had no possible
chance against professional.
The fight went on for probably
quarter of an hour or more. Only tough
men could have stood it, for there was
no pause for rounds or time to gather
breath.
The end came suddenly. Cooney
seemed to sight something through the
open doorway, and, as if he had re-
ceived a signal, he leaped right in and,
| breaking through Rods guard, planted
| a terrific blow right over his heart.
Then, as our mate staggered, he struck
again-this time at the jaw, and Rod
collapsed in a senSelesS heap on the
floor
without word Cooney picked up his
hat and went out.
Down on our knees on the earth floor
Madison and I had an anxious few
minutes with Rod, tanning him and
gently massaging his heart. I thought
at first that the solar plexuS punch had
done him some serious injury, but after
while he opened his eyes and present.
ly began to smile in a rueful manner
"A nice fighter, amt II" was his first
remark. Help me outside. ] want some
air.
60, with an arm on each side, We
helped him out of the hot canvas
shanty. Then we saw something that
made our eyes bulge; even Rod forgot
his troubles. Our three camels were
kneeling where we had left them, but
the lashings of the packs had been cut
and our supplies were strewn all over
the ground!
Robbery" gasped Rod. THAT quar-
rel. was a trick! What fool was to
be led into f1ght!"
Going over to the camels, we saw how
we had been deceived. Evidently, as
Rod said, the quarrel had been well
planned scheme to rob us of our sup
plies. While Cooney, confident of VIC
out the fight, his fellow rascalS, after
waiting few minutes, had slipped away
unperceived to their job of looting our
packs. Working quickly but thoroughly |
they had taken everything they fancied;
then, slowing the lot into couple of
sacks, they had loaded up Maddison's |
brumbieS as pack horses and trotted |
away.
Already they were out of sight. We |
could DO nothing, since any attempt at
pursuit with our Slow-moving camelS |
would have been futile.
Quite likely the rascals had planned |
the whole thing away back in Cool |
garoie They had evidently known the |
on horses, had kept in touch with us |
until the time came to execute their |
coup.
Reckoning up our losses, we soon |
discovered that the most serious items |
were a rife and Rods own particular |
"swag." The losing of the rifle was I'M
fortunate, but luckily I had been carry |
ing the other or matters might have |
been worse-probably We should have |
been obliged to turn back, since it would |
have been sheer folly to venture into |
the territory of hostile blacks without at |
least one good weapon.
AS to Rods swag, it contained the |
map of our intended route, with indi- |
cations of possible water-supplies, which |
he had drawn as guide for Madison
and myself in case anything untoward
happened to him. That this map should |
fall into the hands Of Cooney and his
fellow rascals was positively disastrous.
for, as Rod remarked, If they possessed |
any craftsmanship at all, it would be
sufficient to guide them straight to the
reef we were in search of.
But they'll never get there" was
Rods final comment. They'll never find
enough water to carry them along. If
one of our water-tanks along with the
other stuff
He was right. as events proved before
many days had passed.