The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1860-03-01


fire, which cast Pickering circle of light
against the gloomy shadows closing about
him, like black wall, he crouched down be-
side it andwatcheG through the long hours of
that chilly night.
No doubt fertility of immagionation is of
all things the least desirable. under such cir
cumstanccs, to person of weak nerves, or
of brief experience and smnll courage. Fitz
Ii. declares that he recognized, and could lis
owl, the hoarse croak Of the bull frog, and
sundry others Doises peculiar to the fore t
and swamp; but that there was one hidcous,
indescribable sound that completely unman-
ned him, and filed him with nameless terror.
He supposed. and herhaps correctly, that
it was the tremendous diapasSion Of bull
alligator mass meeting, forty or fifty of tke
monstrous saurians believing i'm concert,
and making ID din so unlike any thing besides,
and so altogether uncarthly, that all other
noises were hushcd,when It sweiled in full
chorus. ..... ..- ...
With the first light of morning that strng
gled down through the canopy of leaves and
moss, he resumed his journey, with but n sim
gle thought-to get out of this dismal realm
Of floral life and death as soon as possible
For hours he struggled through dense thick
cts, crawled along Shiny logs, wadrd from
b'ingly through stagnant pools, and foun-
dered through muddy bogs, until suddenly
he came out upon the shore Of that same
mysterious lake which had charmed his eyes
The day before, with its fringe of low green
willows and its swarms of spotted water
the spot at which he had first struck the
shore of the pond, he again plunged desprr.
ately into the wood, and again hurried for
ward with all his strength, in the hope OF
finding is boat, but the farther he went the
more he became convinced that he was on
ground not passed over by him before, and
rs he proceeded, new obstacles presented
Themselves, and his progress became more
difficult at every step. Finally, worn out
and exhausted, he seated himself upon the
gnarled root of an oak, and reflected bitterly
the dangers of, this silent aud dismal place
Had the sky been clear, he might long before
have found his way out by travelling in one
general direction, bat the sun had been hid
den ay clouds, and the. natural gloom of the
smampy forest already began to darken will
the closing day. While endeavoring to re-
concile 10 his mind the dire probability that
hungry and weary, he must pass another
night in this horrid abode of bull frogs
snakes and alligators, he fanced that his
ear caught low uncertain sound, at frs
like the murmur Of the sea-sheil, and ther
swelling into a distinct aud unmistakeabl'
tone, like the sound of far off WATERFALL
Was it the roar of the distant city, borne t.
him by the evening breeze, or the dash o
waves upon the shore? for he could not tel
from what direction it proceeded. As hc
listenqi aad gazed anxously about, he fan
cied that he saw CLEAN of daylight in ont
direction through the branching foliage, anG
he at once recommended his painful journey
Half an hour more of wading and founder
ing through sinking water and mire, brought
him out upon the welcome shore of Lake
Pontchartrain, in n miserable PLIGHT, indeed
but in a most happy frame of mind, satisfied
with everything upon the earth and under
the earth, and complacently complimentinG
himself upon the extraordinary sagacity
that could find a way out Of such a fearful
and hopeless labyrinth. 1t is no joke to b,
lost in a Louisiana swamp. Fitz II. declare
that if he kills any game hereafter, it viii
be among the highlands of Mississippi. HI
eats no more bullfrogs, and relishes nothing
that has the swamp flavor.