The Council Bluffs nonpareil. [volume] (Council Bluffs [Iowa]) 1857-1867, 1857-08-29

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oorreds and foltowed ths nay up staifa.
We ascended stairs and traversed passages
untu WAs completely exhausted. AZ last
W rsaehed = handsomely Furnished room.
AZ Ne entered aIgzasPed ny pistols. "Ihere
y no DANCES, Monsieur, 8 said t1e lazy you
wiil renain here tonight" and pointing TO
2 handsome bed she departed.
sat down and tried TO collect my wan
denng thoughts, but the task was too da-
bious. undressed, preparatory to refi.
ring. lrec0llect my admiration OF the bed
such . massive rosew0od frame; such
splendidly embroidered pillows, and sheets
Of snowy whiteness. l sat down On the
side OF my bed; in an instant It gave way
81 dropped backwards through the frame
and fell know not where, or how Tar!
VI what transpired Immediately after my
reaching the bottom, | cannot tell. My
first idea was that was aoundering in some
dismally dark and muddy place; there was
no bottom that l could reach, ana hall
swimming and aoundering kept aaoas as.--
Completely sobered, the realities OF my
condition came upon me. had followed
home one Of the nymphs de pave, and was
at that moment incsrcerated in . man trap.
The darkness was fearful, and the stencil
rising from the mud almost sufocating.-
Without the slightest hope Of ever seeing the
light again, still determined to keep ahoat
as long e possible, as voluntary destruction
in that filthy cesspool was consummatlon
not to be encouraged. With knife or pis-
tol, my life would have been ended imme-
diately. made my way through the slime,
the best could until come in contact with
. round wooden substance rising upright in
the gloom. Immediately knew it to be .
pile upon which the building was built
After resting few moments BY clinging to
it, struck out again, and after considera-
bic struggling came to another. It might
not have been ten feet from the hrst one,
but was several minutes getting from one
to the other. endeavored to proceed in
straight line, by noticing on which side OF
the pile approached, and leaving it on the
opposite. Then l struck again portion OF
a plank, but it was short and afforded me
no aid.
Leaving the plank again foundered out
among the piles. thought that the mud
become perceptlbie thinner as WORKED
along through the lethiverous gloom, and
could hear great lazy reptiles slashing away
from before me as advanced. One sprawl
ed across my back. The recollection has
caused me to shudder since, but 1 didn't
mind it then. Apparently there was no I'm.
provement in my prospects. remembered
the missing officers, and imagined that per-
haps they had been precipitated into the
same sink as mysef-that they worried
along just as had-perhaps clung to the
very same pile to which was clinging-and
had proceeded as proposed to proceed, and
were at length engulphed in some great hor-
ror, to me as yet undeveioped:
Was there any hope? Might | not live
to reach some point where the street
sewers emptied into the harbor, and from
thence escape? Was advancing towards
it or the reverse, to meet q death amid the
noxious e1halations that at times almost
sufocated me? Twill not disturb the rea-
der with the burthen Of my thoughts at that
hour. struck out once more from the
pile, and houndered on through the dctes-
table sloughs, the reptiles sprawilng away
from before me rs advanced. pushed
along from pile to pile, from partition to
partition, for perhaps an hour, although 1t
seemed longer to me than even that, during
which time had not probably gained more
than q hundred feet. The mud became
thinner and the miasmatic gasses less dense,
and cheered by the hope OF dying in clear
water, pushed on. How much further or
longer proceeded nave no idea.
AT last-how II shot thrill OF Joy from
my heart throughout my wnole frame -
saw light. SO confused was my sight oy
the darkness, that At hrst thoughtH II 10 DC
a star; but after few moments conclu-
ded that it proceeded from some lower
source: with sinewy strokes piled along
toward the light, but my best exertions
brought me apparently no nearer. 1t was
probably phosphoric exhalatlon, arising
from some putrid source--.perhaps the body
OF some unfortunate, who had tried the
worse than Procrustean couch. All nope
died within me.
Sick and exhausted, | was about 10 SINK
forever, when 10! another light, OF diferent
color appeared in the distance. Was 1t pos
slble! could these lights proceed from the
vessels in the harbor, and the colored rays
from ships OF different nations? Nerved with
superhuman strength, dashed on, ana IN a
few minutes came out under the upper quay.
Although my life was comparatively safe
then, yet was still IN rather award CIR
cumstances for midshipman OF the =. >. N.
Sitting ut midnight IN httie SKIN, unaer
the quay OF strange city, with nothing but
mud-soaked shirt on, was not condition
worthy OF emulation. Our ship lay one
fourth OF . mile from the quay, and knew
who had the forward watch.
of the officers and crew was nv chief desire.
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for the ship, and nearly exhausted grasped