Orleans independent standard. [volume] (Irasburgh, Vt.) 1856-1871, 1857-08-21
VII.-THE SEARCH.

] had now double motive to explore
the river. 1t was less to search for Fred |
than to overtake Julia. l feared the I
worst from her despair. l made inqui-
ries of every person l met, but nobody
had seen her. Remembering how earn
est she had been to learn the geography
of the spot where her lover had gone
down, 1 proceeded as straight to it as
possible.
l shall never forget the wild beauty Of
that morning. The rain had ceased, and
the clouds were breaking away. The
mountains were white with curling mists,
the woods were still and wet, the trees
dripped, torrents flowed by the roadside.
l reached the scene of the last nights
catastrophe. There was no Julia there !;
l could find no trace of her. / lost no
time l took last look at the rocky
wall beneath me, to which poor Fred had
chung so long in vain, against which now
the mad leaping rapids tore their rush
ing sides. Then l proceeded down the
stream, with the drenched woods on one
side, and the precipice and roaring river
on the other. 1t was an anxious, strange,
and somehow unreal search. Now l was
chilled with horror by the thought that
6 Julia might have reached the fatal pre-
cipice before me, and in her frenzy Of
grief flung herself off, to meet her Ro.
meo in his watery grave. Then
thought of the wicked, worldly aunt
, who, in the name of piety, had poisoned
two such sweetly promising lives. The
q world-life, death, hope, misery, thu
y glitter, the mockery, the miracle of love
happiness, despair-aIl this whirlet
through my brain. l remember weep
10 ing unaccountable tears, there in tn
- wild solitudes of the mountain gorge
Il yet l was calm, and by no means unhap
/ py. felt that it was well with both JUL
h and her lover wherever they were, an
well with me who had lost them.
n At length came to spot from whic
st an uninterrupted view of the downwar
,e course of the stream could be had for a
Is extent of near a quarter of mile. Th
he view was terminated by a bend, in tn
" hollow of which was vast concave,w or
" by the waters of ages in the wall of rocl
The banks were precipitous, high, an
D. jagged, all through this section. B,
I'd tween them swept the turbid and terrib
ed river, narrow but deep, lashing the ledge
be and dashing high upon the rocks. NJ
ed eye followed its course downward to tt
curve. In vain l looked for the lea
it indication of the possibility that any b
to man being might have scaled these forr
ed liable cliffs in the stormy night that W
past.
ok But as l stood watching l discerne
~ at the bend, a figure and moveme
ng upon the very breast of the bank owe
hanging the cayernous hollow of viii
rs. l have spoken. 1t was a female; S
seemed descending toward the whirlpC
below. Another step, and it seemed
Ire me that she must fall headlong. l uttt
ION ed cry; bat il was lost in the distan
and the roar of the food. That t
ere figure was Julia there could be no dou
/ shouted, l ran toward her, l plung
through the thickets, made my way
bic know not how, to the fields that opene
ale short distance below. An interveni
bill now shut her from my view ant
1t ieaped like mailman up the ACTIVITY
ew- reached the brow of the cliff.
and Julia was visible. With a shudder
any horror l swept my eye to the revolv
lble foam and Lockwood in the whirlp
beneath. Round and round, resistl
ove slow, interminable, whirled the ghai
nut- eddies. Every approaching floating s
all stance was drawn in, while now and {