Nebraska advertiser., 1864-03-17

mercy, fell upon his kness, and uttered
an Ave zMaria.sgsr lalsasa rrof r8ivs7t
Now tits fact--let the. philosophy Of
itabe whatit may--,hSt il. at the momeni
Of calm, answering courage, the nervou:
system, by any means, receives a shock
sufficient to sbate full confidence and lei
into the mind single doubt, that doubt
may become the germ of an absolute ter
ror, and cause the individual to display
cowardice that neither he nor bis
friends would have believed possible-as
witness the brave soldier, who has risen
high by pure merit, most shamefully dis
gracing himself in some unfortunate hour
of trial. In some slight degree this was
the effect of the sudden storm upon u.s.
at least I did not second my friends prop
osition Of going down intO, the vaults and
duhgeonsand he did nQtarepeat it, 4ab
-oIThe1storm that had collected so sud
denly. soon became one of great fury
the wind huwling shrieking around
the lonely castle, the lightning flashing,
the thunder crashing. and the rain falling
in torrents. Was ii fancy, that during
the lull in the tempest, gave to our ears
the strange noises of means, cries Of dis
tress, the clanking of chains, the creak-
ing of hinges, the banging of doors ?
We each believed we heard those sounds,
and my friend and / exchanged glances
of wonder increasing to awe while our
timid and superstiticus guide shrunk back
appalled,, threw himself down in cor
ner, and buried his face in his hands.
"What is it 2" said my companion, in a
serious tone and at that moment a WV
id fash of lightning made his face look
ghastly. 6ieer vd-egge9 -5s5--g
0 'tHeayen gknowsnIp L answered ''it
certainly is not the wihd y aiui 81 z s.'i
The storm ragged for hours-one of the
most fearful I ever witnessed-an1 night
drew on with scarcely any abatement in
the tempest. The whole atmosphere
seemed surcharged with electricity. It
came down from the heavens In forked
chains, shiyering trees and splitting rocks,
and at times il danced and crinkled over
the breast plates and morions, lance
heads. spears and battle-axes that hung
around the walls, producing most singu-
lar and startling effects. There was a
good deal of wind among the clouds that
kept them rushing to and fro, like armies
charging and retreating on the field of
battle. The rain, meantime, came down
like deluge, pouring thousand streams
down the mountains sides, and filling the
regular water,courses and valleys with
impossible torrents. With courage, or
without-with demons, robbers, or unten-
anted halls-without food or lights-we
saw we were shut in there for the night
for it was almost certain death to at
tempt to gain the plain below in the dark
ness that had begun to gather over the
scene, ere we relinquished the hope of
the storm passing onward by daylight.
When our guide perceived the night
coming rapidIyon, he started up in terror,
and declared he must escape from that
awful place, We, told him the result
would be death. s5sr t tw,.-
"Better death with God and nature
than with the spirits of the damned %
was his reply. y a7.ae
We used everything but force to de-
tain him. He would go. He went. -
Was it fancy again. or did we hear a
wild, hollow laugh as he plunged into the
storm? Three days after, his swollen
and putrid corpse was found in meadow,
where the subsided waters had left it.
In that lonely castle, on thatdark night,
in that terrific tempest, without food,
without light, and with the strange noises
/ have mentioned, at longer or shorter
intervals, sounding in our ears, 1t will
readily be perceived our situation was
anything but agreeable.
. b.. p
As night was now setting in fast, and
we had light for the gloomy hours to fol-
low, we proceeded to arrange some old,
quantity carved chairs, with cushioned
seats, on which 10 rest our weary limbs,
and perhaps to sleep; and having done
this. we stretched ourselves upon them,
in close proximity to each other.
The storm now for the first time
seemed to be passing onward-the light
ming was less vivid, and the thunder,
though still heavy, gradually grew more
distant, while the wind blew less fierceIy,
and the rain began to slacken, leading US
to believe that the worst was over. For
the last half hour. too, with the excep-
tion Of the wild laugh at the departure of
the guide, we had heard nothing of the
strange noises which had caused US so
much wonder. and we began to indulge