East Saginaw courier. (East Saginaw, Mich.) 1859-18??, 1863-12-23

supper and before my short and rap
id meal was complete, the required
remaining articles were at hand and
paying my bill, putting the skates and
tho flask in my pocket, fortyfyiag my
self with comforter, overcoat, gloves,
and mittens, and grasping my stick, ]
was ready.
"Where is the road to the Upper
Quarries ?"
"Cross the river Mt the steamboat
landing ?" answered the somewhat
puzzled host, "and it leads you di-
rect route, behind the Middle Quarries,
straight along, up past Pat M'Cabo's
old shanty."
"That's enough, thank you. Good
night" And L was Off 1t was now
between five and six o'clock, and bitter
cold with sharp wind from the north
east. Setting my head well down in
my coat collars, as if / were trying Ia
cover my ears with my shoulders, with
hands in pockets, and cap down over
my eyes, l struck round pace for the
landing, and in five minutes reached
the dock.
The river lay utterly silent and mo-
tionless before me, one great sheet OF
cold, grayish snow ice; a dismantled
schooner, careened over, was frozen in
few rods out no voice nor sound
was heard; the lights from the houses
opposite, in Portland, twinkled dimly
through the keen air; and the un-
steady, tremulous light of the wintry
moon made the deadness Of the scene
almost ghastly. / paused moment
to look, and then climbing down upon
the frozen surface, sliding, scrambling
half walking half running, as those
$780,. =. "s.S "'srn ga nc, provceteu'
All at once series of noises like
Whip-p-r-r-r-at--slap bang--crack
-crack-crack--beginning somewhere
out of sight, came ripping and rafting
past me, in the ice and SO faded away
down the river, toward tho Narrows
1t was o ''frost crack" and token OF
the EXTREMIST cold--a sort Of groan
from the ice under the relentless rigol
of tho Ice King.
Reaching the other side; ! found
the road without difficulty. 1t led me
some little distance back from the riv'
er, up the steep slant of the hills
which border it, and tho turning
northward, ran along the verge of tho
immense excavations known as the
Middle Quarries. Past the precipitou'
verge Of those great horrible abysses
that looked all but bottomless in the
deceitful moonlight, l cautiously and
rapidly pursued my way; and kept
on in that direction perhaps q guar
ter of mile, gradually returning
toward the river, reached tho nisera
BILE old hovel known rs Pat M Cabe'i
shanty; a rackity, solitary, dismantleC
den, whore M'Cabe had kept beer
shop in the summer, and which had
become notorious by reason Of the
many desperate rows that had occur
red there and thercabouts. 1t was
however, now altogether deserted, and
indeed, had lost so many boards and
ioists that it was little more than the
lettering skeleton Of tenement.
/ knocked loudly at the broken
door, and called out Johnson 10.
than Johnson ~ There was no reply
and I entered. The hut was empty
but in one corner there was heap OF
shavings ard blanket or two, and
there were also the embers of q decay
ing fire. Tupling had been there, and
had recently gone.
Quarter past six. Tie must have il
in mind to reach Hartford, and then
tho first railway station between
Springfield and Boston, in time to
board tho evening expresstrain, which
leaves Hartford at eight p. M. "That
needs fast driving--and faster on my
part if / am to catch him."
! hurried down the high prccipitous
bank to tho river, slid ont upon the
gray. CLASSY ice, and, kneeling down,
proceeded to put on the skates. De-
liberately-for in such business the
more haste the less speed-and care
fully fitted them, iammed tho heel
pins home, passed and huckled the
straps, straining them untilmy feet felt
as if compressed in iron shoes, replaced
my mittens, grasped my stick--one
hand ut each end--holding it athwart
me--a most excellent plan, by the
way, in skating long distances-and
wheeling about in few small circuits
to feel tho ice, and the skates, and the
elasticity of my muscles, ] turned
northward, bent low, headed dioro-
nally across the river to round the
next point above, and strucl, out across
the glimmering silent ice with long,
steady, rapid, sweeping strokes.
From Middletown to Hartford is
about twenty five miles by the course
of the river. 1 might decrcase this
distance n mile or two by taking ad-
vantage of my knowledge of the river
and "cutting off corners" But Tup-
ling, doubtless, knew the same, and
my object, if obtained at all, must be
sought by desperate straightforward
racing. Ny skates, fortunately, though
quite new, were not too sharp, and as
the ice was extremely hard, they ran
over it with very little of that scoring
cut which is so apt to diminish speed ;
and for twenty minutes sped steadi-
" on at Il moderate pace, until |
should get little easy in my work.
There had been so much skating that
the many tracks along my route af-
forded mo no Indications as to my
predecessor.
Click--whip--crack--bdngl went
another frost crack. Colder yet; and
althouh very little Of me except the
tip Of my nose was visible, tho air
rushing past my face fairly burned
with cold. But now my blood began
to grow warm with the manly exercise
and gradually / increased my speed
up to good racing pace, not, howev-
cr, going at faster rate than j felt
tbot II ,,,,1I ILL - A. H.