LOST IS THE FAR WEST.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXIV, Issue 7844, 13 January 1887, Page 6

LOST IS THE FAR WEST.

• •• AN EXTRAORDINARY STORY. Th« following ie (writes the Arrilalah corsespondent of the Brisb&qg Courier, under d«.te 20th Deoember) one of the most remarkable instances upon record of endurance under circumstances of almost unparalleled hardship and suffering. Constable F. Moran, having been transferred to Isisford, left Arrilalah for that place at eleven o'olock a.m. on the 2nd instant. Nothing was heard of him until the evening of the 12th instant, when news was brought to Arrila lab by a casual traveller that Moran had not been beard of at Isiaford. The officer in charge of the police here at once despatched Trooper (join and a blackboy to find out what bad become of him. On the 14th instant Mr. Clark, overseer at West lands, was informed by a boundary rider that he had observed the tracks of a man in one of the Westlands paddocks, and from the aimless manner in which the tracks seemed to go round and about, the boundary rider concluded the man was lost. Mr. Clark, with praiseworthy promptitude, immediately started out to search for the unfortunate, whoever he might be. Taking up the tracks where the boundary rider had left them, Mr. Clark, after a patient search, found a saddle, bridle, and pack-saddle, all having the Government brand. Mr. Clark immediately galloped into Arrilalah, and reported having found the things, which were at once known by Senior Constable W. Considine to have been in the possession of Moran. At three o'clock on the morning of the ,15th instant, thirteen days after Moran had left Arrilalah, a search party started to find his remains, for not one was sanguine enough to think of findIng him alive. Led by Mr. Clark, the party Boon found the camp where Moran'e saddles, bridles, etc., were, and picking up the tracks followed them perseveringly, determined, if it were possible, to find him, alive or;dead. About three o'clock p.m. they found written in large letters, on a bare patch of clay pan, " A man lost in this paddook." The writing was not more than a day or so old, and with strong hope of finding poor Moran still alive the party eagerly continued their search. Further on they found freshly-pulled grass and boughs. Finally, about half-past three p.m., the object of their search was discovered sitting resignedly on the ground, alive, it is true, but, alas 1 what a piteous object to gaze upon emaciated and worn by his terrible fast, having been 14 days without tastiDg food; naked, bleeding, and swollen from exposure and bites of mosquitoes and sandflies. The* wonder and admiration of the rescuers was excited at the indomitable pluck which alone oould have enabled the poor fellow before them to have survived such » terrible ordeal Rβ he had undergone. A. messenger was at

i once despatched to Arrilalah fcr a bnggy. . Meantime Messrs. CUrk and Considlne, bar* • ing improvised a rnde stretcher, carried 1 Moran about two miles, the neareei point I to which the baggy oould be brought. flav. - iog accomplished this difficult task they were r fortunate enough to find the baggy awaiting ■ their supplied with everything that kindneea > and forethought deemed likely to alleviate ■ the patient's Bufferings. Next morning the • party returned to Arrilalah with the man - who could truly say that few indeed have 3 undergone so much end lived to tell it. 3 It is now three days since he was brought 1 in, and, considering the terrible nature of 1 his late experience, ie progressing as well &g i can be expected. His account of how he i got lost ie as follows:—Hie packhorae, a 3 wild brute, got away, and it took him all > day to recover him. He camped the first b night after leaving Arrilalah at the place I where his saddles and clothes were found. - The night being close and sultry, he had 1 taken off everything except his shirt. Hear- , ing his horses going by him, he started away ■ without loeing a moment to head them and . tarn them back. It was a more difficult ) task than he had expected, and before he . had accomplished it a terrific storm came on. ■ The rain poured down in torrents. Intense r darkness, only broken by vivid flashes i of lightning, which, when past, made the ■ darkness felt the more, completely bewildered s him. Presently the creeks and watercourses i became flooded, and the sound of the rushing t waters added new horrors to the night. Alt , night the storm continned. Jvext morning , the water had entirely obliterated all land- ) marks, and his desperate situation burst i upon him in all ita terrible reality. Naked, i without food ; lost in a place which no one, j no matter how good a buehman he might be, ) could possibly recognise in its present flooded I state ; add to this the not remote prospect of 3 being drowned by the ever-rising waters, and 3 you have a etate of things which might well make the stoutest heart quail. For ten days the rain continued, and the nnfortnnate man, whenever he attempted to strike where he thought the road lay, was driven ont o£ hie course by some creek too wide and swollen to be crossed. He aayg, and we may well believe, that neither tongue conld tell nor pen describe hia sufferings daring those ten days and nights of agony. After the tenth day his sensations became less acute, as he does not : retain such distinct recollection of the last 1 four days of misery. Yet he was perfectly > coherent and rational when fonnd. He re- [ cognised eaeh member of the party, and said . he bad never given np hope. The only i thought, he said, which made him donbt his j eventual rescue was the knowledge that aa j there was no telegraphic communication between Arrilalah and Isisford, hie non« . arrival at the latter place would not ba . known. Want of space will not permit me i to give the praise which is doe to all con- , cerned in the finding of Moran. I cannot, , however, conclude without giving expression to the deep feeling of esteem which ail here feel for Mr. Clark, of Westlande. Mr. , Payne, Mr. Coleman, and Senior-constable , Cooeidine are also worthy of special mention,