Nebraska advertiser. [volume] (Brownville, Nemaha County, N.T. [Neb.]) 1856-1882, 1856-12-06

only know that in the midst ofa clamor
utterly indescribable, through which
the braying Of thousand trumpets
could no more have been heard than
the voice of a man, we were shaken,
and raised, and whirled, and let down
again in a swelling waste of broken
hummucks, and, as the men grasped
their boat-hooks, in the stiffness that
followed, the boats eddied away in a
tumultuous skreed of ice and snow
water.
We were borne along in this manner
as long as the unbroken remnant of
the in-shore foe continued revolving,
utterly powerless, and catching a
glimpse every now and then of the
brazen headland that looked down on
us through the snowy sky. At last
the foe brought up against the rocks,
the looser fragments that hung round
it began to separate, and we were able,
by oars and boat-hooks, to force our
battered little fotilla clear of them.-
To our joyful surprise, we soon found
ourselves in a stretch of the land
water wide enough to give us rowing
room, and with the assured promise Of
land close ahead.
As we neared it, we saw the same
forbidding wall of belt-ice as at Souther-
land and Hakluyt. We pulled along
its margin, seeking in vain either an
opening Of access or a nook of shelter.
The gale rose, and the ice began to
drive again; but there was nothing to
be done but get a grapnel out to the
belt and hold on for the rising tide
The Hope stove her bottom and lost
part of her weather-boarding, and all
the boats were badly chafed. II was
an awful storm; and it was not with
out constant exertion that we kept
afoat, bailing out the scud that broke
over as, and warding off the ice with
beat-hooks.
d At three o'clock the tidO was hlgh
enough for us to scale the ice-elltt.--
One BY one wepulled up the boats upon
! the narrow sbelG, tLo whole sixteen OF
/ lis uniting at each pull. We we're ape
much worn down to unload: but d1ep
md narrow gorge opened IN the cliffs
almost at the spot where we clambered
fup; and, as we pushed the boats into
| it on an even keel, the rocks seemed
to close above our heads, till an abrupt
turn in the courseof the raYine placed
a protecting cliff between US and the
gale. We were completely encaved
Just as we had brought in the last
boat, the Red Eric, and were Snoring
herup with blocks Of ice, a long-unnsec
but familiar and unmistakable sound
startled and gladdened every ear, and
flock of elders, fecking the sky fol
moment, passed swiftly in front Of
us. We knew that we must be al
their breeding grounds; and, as We
turned in wet and hungry to our long
coveted sleep, it was only to dream oi
eggs and abundance.
We remained almost three days in
our crystal retreat, gathering eggs al
the rate of twelve hundred day.
Outside, the storm ragged without in
termissiou, and our egg-hunters found
it difficult to keep their feet; but a
merrier set of gourmands than were
gathered within never surfeited il
genial diet.
On the Sd of July the wind began
to moderate, though the snow still fell
heavily; and the next morning, after
q patriotic egg-nog, the liquor borrow
ed grudgingly from our alcohol flask
and diluted till it was worthy of tenn
perance praise-we lowered our boats
and bade grateful farewell to "Weary
Mans Rest"