Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1857-06-26
THE MAN-TRAP Ar. A SEAPORT
OF THE FRENCH.
(Related BY an Officer Of the U. 3. Nav


time in May, where we remained several days
waiting for somethng-nOne but the senior
officers knew what. There being no necessity
OfOur remaining on board, four of us junior
officers got permission to 90 on shore. The
captain, rs be acceded to our request cautioned
US ofthe necessity of circumspect behavior while
on the foreign soil, as two or three English Off
GERS had turned up missing in that very port
within the last three months. Making our de-
ductions from this fatherly advice by putting a
brace of pistols in our pockets, We went ashore
On the pier We joined company with three En-
glish officers from line-Of battle ship, also ly.
ing in the harbOr, and proceeded on our eonti-
mental cruise. The JOhnnies were Jolly fellows
and drank enthusiastically to the President of
the United States, and the Stars and Stripes;
while we, in our turn, irrigated with equal good
will, to the Queen Of the Western Isles The
consequence of our amicable and patriotic dem.
onstrations was, that about evening we had
merged our identity into the fancied fact that
we were a very essential part Of our respective
navies, and did not care very much for any thing
else. While In this apparently glorious state,
We started out IN quest OF evening adventures.
Owing to the confused state of nv head, it
became obvious to my comrades that was not
fit to pilot, 40 they put me in the rear, with n
couple Of middies as confused as myself How
far We had gone, or what hour Of the evening it
was, or what particular street we were in, I
have 10 recollection. L do remember that
while following in the wake of my companions
determined that they should have nothing to do
with rescuing the lady from the distress fam
cied her to be in, and, unnoticed by them, cross
ed to where she stood. Probably the knight of
La Mancha was never actuated by nobler mo-
uves than was myself, as l followed the lady
down the street. My French was very imper-
fect-my ideas of my situation and intention
more sO-and L walked mutely along the lamp
lighted streets, like lamb led to the slaughter
Presently we entered house. Surprising that
tho hour when my valOr was to be displayed
had come, L strobe, as bravely drunken
man might, into the hall. No Immediate occa-
SION for the display Of my prOwess occurred, and
L followed the lady up stairs. We assembled
stairs and traversed passages until was CON-
pletely exhausted.
At last we reached handsomely furnished
room AS We entered, grasped my pistols.
: There is no danger, Monsieur" said the
lady; you will remain here tonight" and,
pointing to a handsome bed, she departed.
L sat down and tried to collect my wander
ing thoughts. but the task was too dubious
iundressed, preparatory to retiring. L recol-
lect my admiration Of that bed-such a massive
rosewood frame-such splendidly embroidered
pillows, and sheets Of snowy whiteness I set
down upon the side of that bed: in an instant
1t gave way-I dropped backwards through the
frame and fell knew not where or how far.
Of what transpired. Immediately after nv
reaching the bottom, L cannot tell: my first idea
b was that was fOundering in some dismally
dark and muddy place; there was no bottCm
that could reach, and half swimming and
aoundering, kept aaOat. Completely sobered
the realities Of my position came upon me. I
bad followed home one Of the nymphs du
pave, and was at that moment incarcerated
In man-trap. The darkness was fearful, and
the stencil rising from the mud almost sufoea-
ting. Without The slightest hope of ever seeing
the light again, L still determined to keep
adoat as long as possible, as voluntary destrue-
in hot fbr-a
not u De encouraged. With knife or pistol
my life would have been ended Immediately
made my way through the slime the best
could, until l came in contact with round
wooden substance, rising upright through the
- gloom. Immediately | knew il to be a pile
upon which the building above me WAS built
After resting few moments by clinginx tolt
4 struck out again, and after considerable
struggling reached another. 1t might not have
been ten feet from the first one, but l was sew
eral minutes in getting from one to the other
endeavOred to proceed In a straight line by
noticing on which side OF the pile approached,
and leaving it on the opposite. Then struck
against a partition Of planks but 1t was short
and afforded me no aid. Leaving the planks
again hOundered out among the piles. thought
that the mud become perceptibly thinner as
worked along through the lethiferOuS gloom,
and 1 could hear great lazy reptiles splashing
away from before me as | advanced One
sprawled across my back. The recollection has
caused me TO shudder since, but l didn't mind
II much then. Apparently there was no i'm
PrOyement In my prospects i remembered
the missing English officers, and imagined that
perhaps they had been precipitated into the
same sink as myself-that they had worked
along just as / had-perhaps clung to the very
pile To which | was clinging-and had proceeded
on as l proposed TO proceed, and were at last
engulphed in some new horror, TO me as yet un-
developed. Was there any hope? Might not
live to reach some point where the street emp
tied into the harbOr, and thus escape? And if
there was any chance for escape, was advan-
cling towards il, or the reverse, to meet death
amid the noxiOus exhalatiOns that az times al
most sufoeated me! / will not disturb the
reader with the burden Of my thoughts at that
hour. / struck out once more from the nile
and foundered on through the detestable
slough, the reptiles sprawling away from before
me ~ advanced L pushed along from pile to
pile, and partition to partition, for perhips an
hour, although il seemed longer to me than even
that, during which time did not probably pain
more than a hundred feet. The mud became
thinner, and the miasmatic gases less dense
and, ehsered by the hope Of dying in clearer
longer | proceeded, | have no idea
1T lnst--how it shot a thrill Of joy from nv
heart throughout my whole frame II saw a
light. 80 confused was my sight by the dark
ness, that at first / thought il to be n star
but after few moments 1 concluded it pro-
ceeded from IA lower source. With sinewy
strokes L piled along towards the light but NV
best exertiOns brought me apparently no nearer
Ii was probably phOsphOric exhalation, aris-
ing from some Putrid source--perhaps the body
Cf some unfortunate, who had tried the worse
than Procrustian couch. All hope died within
me Sick and exhausted, / was about 10 sink
forever, when To- another light Of different color
appeared in the distance. Was it possible!
Could those lights proceed from vessels in the
harbor and the eOlOred rays from ships of diff.
ferent nations! Nerved with superhuman
strength, L dashed on, and in few moments
came out under the upper quay.
Although my life was comparatively safe
then, yet was still in rather awkward circum-
stances for a midshipman of the United States
Navy Sitting at midnight in a little skiff.
under the quay OF strange city with nothing
but mud soaked shirt on, was not condition
worthy Of emulation Our shin Law ahont nne-