2-2G MULE-HUNTING EXPEDITION. 



fastened to the stage; they are clearly unedu- 

 cated 'wild mustangs ' one of the insiders called 

 them . They are held tightly. 'All aboard, boys ? ' 

 says the driver (they call him Mose] in we 

 scramble bang slams the door and with an 

 awful lurch away we go! Now I can under- 

 stand the suspicious-looking machinery, designed, 

 on the principle of life-buoys, for stage-tossed 

 travellers to cling to. Holding on to these we 

 swing along as hard as the beasts can gallop. 



I am told by a fellow-passenger that unless the 

 ' mustangs start at a gallop, they either upset the 

 stao-e, or kick themselves clear of the harness.' 



o 



On this journey they were agreeable enough to 

 gallop off, so we escaped the two contingencies. 

 Several times Mose shouted, ' Get out, boys, and 

 hang on awhile.' I discover that this means that 



& 



we are to cling to the side of the stage, that 

 our united weight may prevent its capsizing, 

 when going along the side of a slope like the 

 slant of a housetop. 



Near dark we are requested by ' Mose' to walk 

 up the last hill. A tall sallow man, with a face 

 hollow and sunken, closely shaven, except a tuft 

 at the chin, steps along with me, and we reach 

 the top of the hill a good time before the stage. 

 We are standing amidst some scrubby timber. 



