Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1855-12-08
miscellaneous
THE MOUNTAIN ADVENTURE.

Already had the shades of night began
to close around me, when | reached the
dreary mountainous district which it was
necessary for me to cross on my way to
the town of s., a circumstance by no
means cheering to a traveller mounted
upon a iaded old hack, which Pursued
the jog-trot tenor Of its way" pertina-
ciously resolved not to move whit fast
er, and that, too, in defiance of the al
most continued application of whip and
spur, to both of which he appeared to
have become so familiarized as to regard
their visitations merely as simple and
necessary intimation that he must move
on for, no sooner did he find a relaxa-
ton of their monitions, than proper
tomato abatement of his speed was the
immediate consequence.
After having endured the intolerable
fatigue and iolting of a journey of forty
miles, performed in such a manner, ii
may easily be supposed that the closing
in upon me of dark, cold, frosty, De-
cember night, with the prospect of hav-
ing an additional eleven miles to travel
before / attained the end of my journey
over lonely, bleak, inhospitable moor,
every yard of which was as strange to
me as the winds of Siberia had no ten
dency to decrease my WEAKNESS.
/ had scarcely accomplished two miles
of my cherries undertaking, when the
darkness, which had been gradually
growing thicker, became so black anc
limpenetrable as to render it impossible
for me to distinguish my hand, wher
held up, even within a few inches Of my
eyes. The sky was hid behind canopy
of unfathomable darkness, through whicl
not the glittering of one solitary star wa
visible. "All was black as Erebus. -
The wind, which throughout the da,
had been intensely cold, now became bit
terly so, bringing with it heavy fall o
snow, which beat so strongly in my fac,
as to disable me from holding up mi
head, and frequently came in such fitfu
and violent gusts as to compel my almos
worn out hack to make a dead stand
TO add to my misfortunes, my horse,
now discovered, by his frequent floun
derings, had wandered out of his rcgula
path; and ] expected every moment tina
he would be either completely entangle'
amongst the brambies; 6f. that we shoult
both be buried in morass, or hurle,
beadlong to the bottom of some dreadful
precipice; all of which dangers my terri
fed imagination magniied in tenfolc
degree,
In this state Of feyerish anxiety, Will
10 proceed was TO encounter more immi
nent peril, | determined to stop my hors'
, and remain in my then situation, eithe
5 I'll the violence Of the storm was abatod
or the light of returning dawn SHOULD
/, enable me to guide him back to the higI
pad. Accordingly, | turned him, viii
Ills head facing the opposite direction t
r that from whence the wind proceeded
pulled my cloak more closely round me
aid, calling to my aid all the philosoph,
; I was mastsr of, remained anxiousl,
waiting till could pursue my journe.
with less danger.
Being now in a state Of inaction,
began to feel more and more sensibly thu
bitter intensity of the cold, which 81
strongly affected my bands and feet, tina
almost doubted whether it had not ac
tually pinched them from my body. Tn
snow, which adhered to my hair, and tn
brim Of my hat, was speedily transformei
into icicles; my cloak was frozen SO still
that it bocnlnt aitefiy sseless to me. ant
hung from my back as though it ha'
been a board; and at length, SO perfectly
benumbed was my whole body, as to b
almost wholly insensible to feeling.
All the while my horse stood motion
less as statue, seemingly as incapable
Of cxertion as its rider. But although
the use of my bodily powers was denied
me, | felt-ay, felt bitterly--that th'
passions within me were not dormant
that the power Of thinking remained, that
the mental faculties were unimpaired. r.