The Bedford gazette. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1805-current, 1856-06-13
ing and generous department towards the

An angry spot burned Instantly on his check,
and he replied with words of cutting insult
SO cutting that all present expected nothing less
than q blow from Wilson as an answer 10 his
remark.
His impulse was to deal blow. But he re-
strained the impulse; and it required more
courage to do this than TO have stricken the
young man TO the ground. moment or two
Wilson struggled with himself, and then turned
off and moved away.
His flushed and then palling face, his CULVER
ing lip and unsteady eyes, left on the minds OF
ali who witnessed the scene an impression some
what unfavorable.
Partaking of the indignant excitement OF the
moment, many of those present looked for the
instant punishment of Logan for his unjusti6-
able insult
|. When, therefore, they saw Wilson turn
away, without even defiant answer, and heard
the low, Sneeringly uttered word, s'coward,"
from the lips o! Logan, they felt that there was
a craven spirit about the young man.
"a coward We instinctvely despise and yet
how slow are to elevate the higher moral
courage which enables a man to bear unjust
Judgment, rather than do what he thinks to be
wrong, above the mere bruit instinct which, in
the moment OF excitement, forgets all physical
consequences.
rs Edward Wilson walked away from his
companions, he felt that he was regarded as
coward. This was for him a bitter trial and
the more so because, there was one IN that lit
tlegroup of startled maidens for whose gener-
Gus regard he would sacrifice all but honor.
II was, perhaps, half an Eour after this un-
PHEASANT occurrence that Logan, whose heart
still burned with unforgivng spirit, eucoun-
tered Wilson under circumstances that left him
free to repeat his insulting language, without
disturbing the rest of the party, who were a
muslng themselves at some distance, and beyond
the range Of observation. He did not succeed
in obtaining personal encounter. as he de-
sired
Edward Wilson had been for some time sit
ting alone with his unhappy thoughts, when he
as aroused by sudden cries of alarm, the tone
of which told his heart too plainly that some i'm
minent danger in'Pendrd.
spfinging 10 bis feet, he ran in the direction
Of The cries, and quickly saw The cause Of the
excitement.
Recent heavy rains had swollen the noun
tain stream, the turbid waters of which were
sFSs41is4g down with great velocity.
Two young girls, who had been amusing
themselves at some distance above, in boat that
was attached 10 the shore by long rope, had,
through some accident. got the fastening loose,
and were now gliding down, far out in the cur
rent, with tearfully increasing speed, towards
the breast of a mllIdam, somr uadreds OF yards
below, from which the water was laundering
down distance of over twenty f~et.
Pale with terror, the-poor young creatures
Were stretching ont their hands toward their
companions on the shore, and utterng heart-ren-
ding cries for assistance.
Instant action was necessary, or all would be
lost. The position Of the young girls would
have been discovered while they Were yet some
distance above, anu there happened to be anoh
er boat on the fnildam, Logan and two other
young men had loosed it from the shore. Bat,
the danger ofbeing carried over the dam, should
any one venture out in this boat seemed so in
evahle, that none ofthem dared TO encounter
the hazard.
Now screaming and ringing their hands, and
now urging those young men 10 try and save
their companions, stood the young madens of
the party on the shore, when Wilson dashed
through them and sprngng into the boat, cried
out
"Quick, Logan Take an oar, or they are
los,.'
But, instead Of this, Logan stepped back
pace or two from the boat, while his face grew
pale with fear. Not an instant more was was
ted.
A. glance Wilson saw that il the girls were
saved, it must be by the strength OF his own
arm.
Bravely he pushed from the shore, and with /
giant strength, born of the moment and for the
occasion, from bis high unsefsh purpose, he /
dashed the boat out into the current, and, ben
ding TO the oars, took direction at an angle
with the other boat towards the point where the
water was sweeping over the dam.
At every stroke the light skif sprung for
ward dozen feet and scarcely half minute |
elapsed ere Wilson was beside the other boat.
Both were now within twenty yards of the
fall and the water was bearing them down
with velocity that q rover with every advan-
tage on his side could scarcely have contended .
against successfully. To transfer the frightened I
girls from one boat 10 The other, IN the few mo- /
ments of time left ere the down-sweeping cur
rent would bear their frall vessel to the edge OF
the dam, and still TO retain an advantage was,
for Wilson, impossible. To LET his own boat .
go and manage theirs, he saw 10 be equally inn
possible.
A cry of despair reached the young mans
ears as the oars dropped from his grasp into the t
water.
1t was evident TO the spectators OF the fearful
scene that be had lost his presence of mind,
and that now all was over.
Not so however. In the next moment he
had sprung into the water, which, near the
breast OF the dam, was not three teet deep.
As he did so, he grasped the other boat, and
bracng himself firmly against the rushing cur
rent, held it poised few yards from the point