Kenosha tribune & telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1856-1859, 1858-04-22

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ter soon found out. While we hnnbly
resigned ourselves to going down, if il
was the will of Our Father that was in
Heaven, we humbly made up our minds
that We world all do the best that was
in US. Is essE
And SO we held on, gliding with the
stream. 1t drove us to this bank and
itdrove us to that bank, and it turned
us, and whirled us; but yet it carried us
on. Sometimes too slowly, sometimes
much tofast, bat vet it carried usron. i
My little deaf and dumb boy slum-
bered asgood deal now, and that w as
the case withazall the children. They
caused very little trouble to any one
lhey seemed, in my eyes, to get more
like one another, not only in a quiet
manner, but in the face, too.ss The mo-
ton of the raft. was usually so much the
same, the scene was usually so much
the same, the sound OF the soft wash and
ripple of the water was usually so much
the same, that they were made drowsy,
as they might have been by the constant
playing of one tune. Even on the
grown people, who worked had felt anx-
iety, the same things produced some
thing Of the same effect. Every day
was so like the other, that | soon lost
count of the days, myself, and had to
ask Miss Maryon, for instance, whether
this was the third orfourth? Miss Mary
on had pocket book and pencil, and
she kept the log; that is to say, she en-
tered up clear little Journal of the
time, and of the distances our seamen
thought we had made, each night.
So, as | say, we kept afloat and gil
ded on. All day long, and every day,
the water, and the woods, and sky; all
day long, and every day, the constant
watching of both sides of the river, and
far ahead at eyey bold turn and sweep
it made, for any signs of Pirate-boats,
or Pirate-dwellings. So, as | say, we
kept afeat and glided on. The days
melting themselves together to that de-
gree, that / could hardly believe my
ears when | asked How many, now,
Miss?' and she answered, Seven
To be sure, poor Mr.. Pordage had,
by about now, got his Diplomatic coat
into such 4 state as never was seen.-
What with the mud Of the river, what
with the water of the river, what with
the sun, and the dews, and the tearing
boughs, and thickets, it hung about him
in discoloured shreds like a mop. The
sun had touched him bit He had
taken to always polishing one particular
button, which just held on to his left
wrist, and to always calling for station
cry. ] suppose that man called for pen,
ink, and paper, tape, and seallng-wax,
upwards of one thousand times in four
and twenty hours. He had an ideathat
we should never get out of that river
unless we were written out of it in a
formal Memorandum; and the more We
labored at navigating the RATS, the
more he ordered us not to touch them at
our peril, and the more he sat and roared
for stationery, s :.
Mrs. Pordage, similarly, persisted in
wearing her night-cap. doubt if any
one but ourselves who had seen the prog
ress of that article OF dress, could by
this time have told what it was meant
fer. It had got so limp and ragged that
she couldn't see out Of her eyes for it.
1t was so dirty, that whether it was
vegetable matter out of swamp, or
weeds out of the river, or an old por-
ter's-knot from England, ] don't think
any new spectator could have said
Yet, this unfortunate old womman had
q notion that it was not only vastly gem
tecl, bat it was the correct thing az to
propriety. And she really did carry
herself over the other ladies WAC had
no night-caps, and who were forced
to tie up their hair how they could, in
superior manner that was perfectly
amazing.
/ don't know what she looked like,
sitting in that blessed night-cap, on a
log of wood, outside the hut or cabin
upon our raft. She would have rather
resembled fortune-teller in one Of the
picture books that used to be in the
shop windows in nay boyhood, except
for her stateliness. But, Lord bless my
heart the dignity with which she sat and
moped, with herahead in that bundle Of
tatters, was like nothing else in the
world. She was not on speaking terms
with more than three Of the ladies.
Some Of them had, what she called, 'ta-
ken precedence of .her--in getting into
or out Of, that miserable little shelter!
and others had not called to pay their
respects, OF something of that kind
So, there she sat, in her own state and
ceremony, while her husband sat on the
same log of wood, ordering us one and
all to let the raft go the bottom, and to
bring him stationery.
What with this noise on the part of
Mr.. Commissioner Pordage, and what
with the cries Of SERGEANT Drooce on
the raft astern (which were sometimes
more than Tom Packer could silence,)
We often made our slow way down the
river, anything but quietly. Yet that it
was Of great Importance that no ears
should be able to hear us from the woods
ON the banks, could not be doubted
We were looked for, to certainty, and
we might be retaken at any moment
1t was an anxious time; it was, indeed,
indeed, an anxious time. ~
Ont seventh night of our voyage
on the RATS, we made fast, as usual, on
the opposite side Of tie river to that
from which we had started, in as dark
place as we could pick out. Our lit
tie encampment. was soon. made, and
supper wasseatet, and the children fell
asleep. The watch was set, and every
thing made orderly for the night. Such
starlight night, with such blue in the
sly, and such black in the places of
heavy shade on the banks of the great
stream,
Those two ladies, Miss Maryon and
Mrs. Fisher, had always kept near me
since the night of the attack. Mr..