LOST IN THE BUSH.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVIII, Issue 17909, 11 October 1921, Page 7

LOST IN THE BUSH.

WOMAN'S TERRIBLE ORDEAL. DISCOVERY BY SEARCHERS. . WASTED TO A SHADOW. [PUOM OUR OWN OOEBBSPONDENT.] SYDNEY, Oct. 5.

The discovery on the bank of a dam on a station in the West, of Mrs. Stein, wife of a well-known farma r , during the past week, concluded a search in which hundreds of people in the Dubbo district had been engaged for the best part of a month. The country thereabouts is patched with large areas of virgin bush, and experienced bushmen carry compasses when traversing unfamiliar parts. But when Mrs. Stein left her home to visit her sister some miles distant she carried no such aid, and on losing her way she apparently wandered helplessly. The bushman always shows at his best at times like this. No sooner had the news spread that the unfortunate woman was missing thajn men rode in from the scattered farms for miles round, till hundreds were engaged in the search. But daj 7 followed day without the slightest trace being found. On all sides the bush was combed by horsemen, but in such wild country it is possible to ride quite close to an exhausted person and never detect their presence. Night after night found the searchers returning disconsolate from their wearisome task. The pastoral town of Dubbo, which furnished hundreds of willing helpers, discussed no other topic; the whole community sought eagerly for news from the returning searchers at nights. Failure seemed inevitable—at any rate the chances of finding the lost woman alive seemed hopeless—when the town thrilled one afternoon by the news that, wasted almost to a shadow from exposure and want of food, she had been brought in by two horsemen and laid in the Dubbo Hospital. They had found her asleep by the side of a dam, and when they awoke her she could not speak coherently. Her first connected words were an inquiry after her husband and children, and, reassured, she never spoke again until slowly reviving strength enabled her to tell something uf her story. She had wandered about by day in the hope of striking some habitation, and she had slept under bushes v. ith the exception of one mght which she had to spend under a tree as some cattle rushed her and remained bellowing in the vicinity of the tree a!l night. Her food consisted of yams which she scratched out of the ground. Under the care of nurses she has made excellent, progress.