Orleans independent standard. [volume] (Irasburgh, Vt.) 1856-1871, 1857-05-22


.ble now that he is on the open down. v
He struggles up the lane toward the 7
lift, and there pauses, gasping, under the t
helter of wall, trying to analyze that G
enormous mass of sound which fills his 8
ears and brain, and flows through his c
heart ike maddening wine. He can
hear the sigh of the dead grass on the {
weary, feeble, eKpostulating !
with its old tormentor the gale; then the
fierce screams of the blasts as they rush
up across the layers of rock below, like
hounds leaping up at their prey; and,
far beneath, the horrible confused battle
roar ofthat great Lacquer of wares. He
cannot see them, as be strains his eyes
over the wall into the blank depth
nothing but a confused welter and culver |
of mingled air, and rain, and spray, as if
the very atmosphere is writhing in the
clutches of the gale; but he can hear
what can he not hear? 1t would have
needed less vivid brain than Elsley's
to fancy another Badajos beneath.-
There it all is: the rush of conmns to
the breach, officers cheering taem on
pauses, breaks, wild retreats, uIbraiding
calls, whispering consultations, flesh rush
on rush, now here, now there fierce
shouts above, below, behind; slrieks of
agony, choked groans and gasps 6 dying
men, scaling ladders hurled down with
all their rafting freight dull nine ex-
plosions, ringing cannon-thunder, as the
old fortress blasts back its besiegers pell-
nell into the deep. Iti all there; tru-
ly enough there, at least, to madden yet
more Elsley's wild, angry brain, till he
tries to add bis shouts to the great battle
cries of land and sea, and finds them as
little audible as an infants wall.
Suddenly, far below him, a bright
glimmer; and, in moment, blue light
reveals the whole scene, in ghastly hues
blue leaping breakers, blue veltering
sheets of foam, blue rocks, crowded with
tblue figures, like ghosts, fitting to and
fro upon the brink Of that blue seething
Phlegethon, and rushing up toward him
through the air, thousand flying blue
foam-sponges, which dive over the brow
of the hill and vanish, like delicate fai
ries fleeing before the wrath of the gale
but where is the wreck The blue ligh
cannot pierce the gray veil of mingled
mist and spray which hangs to seaward
and her guns have been silent for half al
hour and more.
EIsley hurries down, and finds hal
the village collected on the long slopinI
, point of down below. Sailors wrapt il
pilot cloth, oil-skinned coast-guardsmer
women with their gowns turned owe
: their heads, staggering restlessly up an
down, and in and out, while every momer
some fresh conner tumbles down the slopt
> thrusting himself into his clothes as b
j goes, and asks, Where's the wreck
and gets no answer but a surly voice t
" hold his noise" as if they had hope {
hearing the wreck which they cannC
see; and kind women, with their hear
u full of mothers instincts, declare thi
they can hear little children crying, an
e are pooh-hooed down by kind men, VIII
mans fashion, don't like to believe an.
thing too painful, or, if they believe it,
talk of it.
S, Where were the guns from, the
Jones ?" asks the lieutenant Of the hea
boatman.
/. "Offthe Chough and Grow, / thougl
= sir. God grant not ~
"You thought, sir? ?" says the gre
man, willing to vent his vexation on sor
one. "Why didn't you make sure 7"
~ Why, just look, Heutenant," sa
Jones, pointing into the "blank height
n the dark = " and j was on the pier, q
J and couldn't see; but the lookout m
io here says" A shift of wind, drift
" cloud, and the moon flashes out nome
ity " There she is, sir"
y Some three hundred yards out at {
lid lies long curved black line, beautif
Ior severe, and still, amid those white W
on leaping hills. A murmur from the cro'
ay' which swells into a roar, as they Sun
aS aimlessly up and down.
ng Another moment, and IL is cut in
i'm, by a white line-coyered-lcst--all b
by their breaths. No; the sea passes
The and still the black curve is there, en'
ring.
ar "A terrible big ship"
ys "a Liverpool clipper, BY the line
her."
"God help the poor passengers, the
the sobs poor woman. They're past
aid. help; she's on her beam ends
oor +" And her deck upright toward US.