Kenosha tribune & telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1856-1859, 1858-08-19

ou1cner me az once. AND yet, the III
stincts of life We're greater than the
temptation | speak of. And these wise
instincts, by the way, seem wisely sent
for our preservation-to act when rea-
son tells us that hope is lost, and we had
better end our woes at once. -sf, rte9r
How painfully watched the dawning
OF the day! how eagerly and trembling
ly listened to every sound! At length
| could hear the Indians astir; and soon
after they began to traverse the scene
of slaughter, and gather up the arms OF
my companions, and strip. their bodies
OF every garment. They were hours at
their work, and to me these hours were
ages. AT times when some of them
drew near the spot where l lay, / felt
my heart in my very throat, and it seem
ed as if / should die of suftocation.--
Twice small party of them were so
close that | could see their halEnaked,
hideously painted forms through the
leaves; and once a singly warrior stalk
ed by me, within reach Of my rifle. Up
and down, or over the ground they pas
sed and repassed many times, till they
were evidently satisfied that none of the
dead o. wounded had escaped their no.
tice. They then drew off in body along
the bank Of the river, where they re-
manned for hours-in fact, tilllate in the
day-when, being joined by the rest OF
their companions in pursuit OF the fugi-
tiyes, they repaired to the boats. n'ei''
With feeling of thankfulness which
L cannot express, | heard them put off
from the shore, and every sound gradu-
ally die away to silence. And yet short
ly after, there came an awful revulsion
of feeling; for | now felt that was a.
lone-alone in the wilderness-afar
from triends-so crippled that l could
not wall1-could only move my body, in
fact, by great effort--sufering all the
time the most excrutiating agonies, and
in danger of perishing from starvation.
Had l been able to move about, even
though ever so slowly and feebly;
could have rejoiced in my good fortune;
but, situated as | was, felt that an ov-
er-ruling Providence, such as had so far
preserved me, could still save me from
even more horrible doom than I had
escaped. l3dnffg zeHf agT .ef.
AS | lay thus on my back, in posi-
ton which had scarcely been changed
for more than twenty -four hours, / look
ed up through the leaves, and to my sur
prise, | might almost say joy, beheld a
raccoon in the act of descending the
trunk. of large tree, some of whose
branches even canopied the spot where
l lay. Was this poor animal messen-
ger of hope. Had Providence directed
it hither for my preservation? l fancied
SO them almost fancy. so still. AT all
events, L cautiously raised my only
remaining friend-my rifle; took a quick
but certain aim, and fred. The ball
sped to the mark, and the animal drop
ped dead within few feet of me; and
as raised myself among the limbs with
the intention of dragging myself to it,
was startled by hearing human cry.
Fearing the indians had not all GONE.
lihastily reloaded my rifle, and then re-
naming perfectly still, trembling at the
thought of what I might next behold,
but determined to sell my life dearly.
and shoot the first human figure should
see approaching me. Presently heard
the same loud, startling cry repeated,
but this time much nearer than before.
Still l kept silent, my rifle firmly grasp
ed, for could recognize nothing like
the voice of one of my race. Again I
heard the same singular sound, but still
nearer yet, and rustling among the un-
derbrush, apparently at a distance of
twenty yards. | now cooked my rifle
and poised, resolved to shoot the first
object that should appear. But fortu-
nately nothing did appear, till my heart
had been made to leap for JOY, by the
utterance OF words in my native tongue.
which fell clearly and distinctly npon
my ear, and assured me it was a coun-
tryman, perhaps a companion.
"Who are you? where are you? For
Gods sake, speak," cried the voice.
now gave an answering shout, and
soon | was gratified by the sight of a
human figure, pushing rapidly through
the bushes, whom, Notwithstanding his
haggard and blood-stained features, l
at once recognized as Peter Brent. On
getting sight of me, he stopped, and ex-
claimed-''My God! Captain Benham.
is this you? How did you escape? /
thought was the only being left alive
by the butchering wretches!"
sAlas!" / returned, 81 am as good as
dead, for l am badly wounded in nv
hips, and cannot walk step"
"See!p he rejoined, IT am no better
OFT; and both my arms are broken, and
l have no power to use weapon, and
could not feed myself if | had ANYTHING
to eat. think of the two, Captain,
you're the best off, after all; for you at
least can shoot the game, and so we
won't starve' sa 500 .s,eae II aasG
"Aye," | said, "but how am l to get
it, when have shot it!'' =.
81 see," he replied, with a sort of a
laugh, "the two OF us only make one de-
cent man. You've got arms and I've
got legs; and if we ever get out of this
internal scrape at all, I reckon wen
have to work together. And if Heaven
is willing, and the red devils will let us
alone, Wen be able to do it vet. and
cheat the bowling imps out of two
scalps, any howl"
1t was very singular and remarka-
bic occurrence, that onlytwo men should
have escaped from that scene of slaugh-
ter, and of those, the one with his hip
broken, and the other with his arms
Brent, like myself, had had nothing to
eat for more than twenty-four hours.
And like myself, he had escaped, after
being shot, by crawling into thicket,
and lying fiat upon the earth, at point
where the Indians had passed within a
few feet OF him. Here he had remained
concealed through the night and day,
till the savages had departed, when the