he place where he fell happened to be near a large ant
hill, and in a few moments he was covered with the terrible black ants
that we have here in Australia. He was horribly bitten by them all over
his body, but principally on head and hands, the other parts being
somewhat protected by his clothing. After two or three hours of torture
he managed to crawl away from his awful position, but for several hours
afterwards the ants continued their attacks; and when he was found by
one of his fellow-stockmen, his face was so swollen that he could not
see, and he was barely able to articulate. Face and hands became a mass
of sores, and it was weeks before he recovered. When he got well, his
face was pitted like that of the victim of an attack of smallpox, and he
suffered for a long time with a partial paralysis of his limbs. I have
heard of one or two other instances of the same sort, and can hardly
imagine anything more terrible."

CHAPTER XIV.

LOST IN THE BUSH--AUSTRALIAN HORSES.

"Another of the gentlemen," wrote Harry in his notebook, "told us a
story about a young woman, with a child in her arms and an older child
at her side, being lost in the bush." She had been on a visit to an
acquaintance who lived about four miles away, and was to start for home
in the afternoon of a certain Friday, having gone there in the forenoon
of the same day. She did not reach home in the evening, and it was
thought at first that she had concluded to remain until Saturday. Not
until Sunday did her husband go to the house where she had been
visiting, and there he ascertained that she had left the place on Friday
afternoon, as agreed, and carried no provisions except a pound of butter
which she was taking home for her husband.

"It was at once concluded," said the gentleman, "that she had missed her
way and been lost in the bush; and when one is thus lost, it is very
hard to find the way out again. The general features of the landscape
are so similar that it is very difficult to distinguish one part from
another, and the alarm and perplexity natural on finding oneself in such
a situation increases the danger which attends it by robbing the
wanderer of the presence of mind which is so necessary in such an
emergency. When the sun is obscured by clouds the most experienced
traveler is liable to stray and become lost, and even when the sun is
shining it is not every one who can take advantage of its position to
guide him out of trouble.