LOST IN THE. BUSH.

Hokitika Guardian, 17 October 1921, Page 4

LOST IN T HE. BUSH.

I WOMAN’S TKIf H 1151,!•' KXj PKIMKXCK. ' SV'DXKV, Orl. r.. j 'I lie discovery oil the bunk of a dam \ on a stilt ion in the west of Mrs Stein, ! vile oi a well-known farmer, (luring ' lire past week, concluded a search in ; which hundreds id' people in the Dublin . district laid been enplaned lor the best | part of a month. Tim country thete--1 ahonts is patched with large aretts ol . viigin bush, and experienced bnshmen : cairv compasses when traversing: unlamiliar parts, lint when Mrs Stein left her home to visit her sister some miles distant from her own home she carried no such aid. ami on losing her way she apparently wandered lielpless- | ly. The huslimnn always shows at his I best at times like this. No sootier had the news spread that the unfortunate | woman was missing than men rode in trom the scattered terms lor miles around, till hundreds Were engaged in the search, lint day followed day, without lhe slightest trace lining found, (to all sides the hush was combed by horsemen, Imt in such wild cottniiy it is possible to ride quite close to an exhausted person amt never detect an\ presene ■. Night after night lutind th. searchers returning disconsolate from their wearisome task. The pastoral town of Dublin which furnished hundreds of willing helpers discussed no other topic, and the whole community sought eagerly for news from the returning searchers at nights. Kail lire seemed inevitable—at any rate the el ai.ees of tin.tinp the tost woman alive seemed hopeless —at any late the town was 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 hv the side, of n 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 of her story; She had wandered about by day in the hope ol striking some habitation, and she had slept under bushes with t'.c exception of one night which she had spent under a tree as some cattle rushed her and remained bellowing in the vicinity ol the tiee all night. Her food consiste"' of vnms which site scratched out of the ground. Under the care of nurses she las made excellent p- ogress.