A dozen or two youngsters now also
wanted to come on foot. I pretended to be very angry, and Tommy must
have said something that induced them to remain. I led the horse the
boy was riding, and had to drive the other three in front of me. When
we departed, the natives gave us some howls or cheers, and finally we
got out of their reach. The boy seemed quite delighted with his new
situation, and talked away at a great rate. As soon as we reached the
road, by some extraordinary chance, all my stock of wax matches,
carried by Badger, caught alight; a perfect volcano ensued, and the
novel sight of a pack-horse on fire occurred. This sent him mad, and
away he and the two other pack-horses flew down the road, over the
sandhills, and were out of sight in no time. I told the boy to cling
on as I started to gallop after them. He did so for a bit, but
slipping on one side, Cocky gave a buck, and sent Tommy flying into
some stumps of timber cut down for the passage of the telegraph line,
and the boy fell on a stump and broke his arm near the shoulder. I
tied my horse up and went to help the child, who screamed and bit at
me, and said something about his people killing me. Every time I tried
to touch or pacify him it was the same.
Pages:
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230