A GOLD ESCORT'S ADVENTURE.

Otago Witness, Issue 224, 28 May 1896, Page 17

A GOLD ESCORT'S ADVENTURE.

Mauy strat ge &ferries of adventure whi'h befell the gold cbecrts iv the ca7iy dtiys of the Otago diggings a>e relatf d, but the following, which was tuld to a member of ouv staff the' other day 'by the chief actor in the incident, is too gocd to be lest : — "I' was then stationed at Arrow," ee id the narrator, "and in the coor»e of my duties I •was detailed off to take a censWt rs.ble qu*ntity of gold (ftbon 1 £5000 worth) to Queens hown. Being well armed, I started nub ou a fine mori.iug on horseback with the tavsfure •trapped -on the saddle before. When about half-way on the road I called at a miner's hut-, for whom I had a letter, and •being pressed by him I got off my horse and hitch* d him to a pout within sight of the door. I did not think it nece*sary for the brief !>tay I .meant to mxke' to un-trap the ' parcel of go.'d. Had I done so I wonld h»ve saved mjsrlf much after-anxiety. I kept my eye on the horse, however, until becoming interested in a chat -with my frieud, tha digger, my attention relaxed for a minute, and on next looking towards the door I was &tM<tlfd to find my hor«e had disappeared, •treasure &nd all. To obtain a horse from the miner and follow in ho!; pursuit was but the work of an instant ; but my nl-trru and dismay may be imagined on Ending that not a trace of .my horse nor of any living person was to be seen. Anxiously I searched all that day and night in an a «gony of mind, Sguring at times my name blazoned forth in connection with • Another Startling Gold Robbery ! ' for I had to admit circumstantial evidence was against me. Who h»d stolen my horse or how did he -managed to get awity so quickly and so quietly P These were questions that puzzled me exceedingly, because I only met one stranger on tbe road and had lett him far behind^ ma. I reached home at daybreak next morning, worn out in body and mind, when what ww my delight to find my berse grazing quietly in his puddock, with the precioiu leatber bags still strapped on the saddle. Then I saw how absurdly simple the explanation was : my horse had broken his bridle and started for home by the nearest ' cut,' while I had gone the roundabout road, thinking to find some trace of him. It wag a life-long leason to me never to &llo*v gold with which I was entrusted out of my sight again until it was in safe hands." — Tuapeka Times.