The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1865-07-27


some difficulty maintained my stand
Now began to wish had listened to rea-
son. and remained at home. However there
was nothing for it but, weak as felt my
self becoming, to drain my flask (Which
luckily retained few mouthfuls from, our
last expedition and once more assay to re~
turn.
After long struggling and expanding all
my remaining strength in vain, | became
seriously alarmed, and fred several times
by the way of bringing help. Alas the
nearest house was two miles away. 1t was
half past eleven in bitter March night,
and even professional gunners, felt, would
hardly come from Grimsby, SO far down the
liver except by the Inerest chance - =
Then shouted myself hoarse, and once
more wasted my little remaining strength
il trying to get out of the muddy prison in
which toudd myself One side was just
as bad as the other. / heard the far-of lap
ping of the sea in the deathlike stiffness of
that intensely bitter night behind me, on
the opposite side, the call of a duck or the
scream of a curlew occasionally rendered the
Stiffness more intolerable. !. ts-
| am not one given despair, so | made up
my mind to wait till morning, and trust
either to my absence from the hou Sc creating
Q hue and cry,or else, knew the colstgudrd
boat passed down at dawn, and | could hail
them as they rowed by. had wasted all my
powder and shot already. Wrapping my
plaid still tighter around my breast, cold
and wet as was, | lighted my pipe and
rested, leaning on my gun.
Soon began to perceive myself sinking
a.,%rD he md FRI Tod al olxy 70
sink deeper. Thoroughly alarmed, l put
away my pipe, and paced to the other end
of my prison, about ten yards off. Once
more | nladly essayed to scale the bank
Down on my knees crawled, and driving
the gun into the yielding mud, strove to use
it as lever. Vain thought! slipped
down again up to the knees in mud. eg4 Il
Then the full horror of my position
dawned upon me, / had heard there were
dangerous quicksands on this coast. The
water was up to my thighs now. No plung-
ing was of any avail; it seemed to do HARM.
4 had dropped my gun reason almost left
me in unutte-able despair looked to the
skies. The stars t~inkled brightly, and here
and there feecy crowd passed Enthusiastically
along. There was no sympathy with them
Far over purple waste of sea, | saw the
Spurn light at the extremity Of the York
shire coast. 1t was just seven miles off, but
screamed and shouted to it for help. Now
had settled down to my waist. A burst Of
tears came to my relief To die, when so
full of life and strength and hopeshh oh,
horrible Another plunge; L settled down
deeper still, and babe farewell then to the
world. Like some cold and Shiny serpent,
the pit slowly drew me downwards, button
after button of my waistcoat disappeared. |
spread out my hands and gasped i'll utter
dispair. What touched one foot kicked |
and felt something hard. The other reach
ed firm ground too. Oh, joy was on the
gravel subsoil, aud though. lcould not stir,
| could not sink deeper The revulsions of
feeling was as dreadful as had been my pre-
vious despair. | shouted wildly for delight.
1t was like Sbeing once more restored tol
life. sY07 ia.J5I .srA o3ioU aA3
Soon my raptures abated. was up to
my arms intleadly col water; the reef stool
on fell away, found by experiment, on, all
sides. My pipe was hopelessly wet No |
one could see my head aud shoulders from
the land. The ordinary path was, two or
three hundred yards behind me. The wind
as rising and blowing Stewards All pos
L
being heard by chance passer by was
utterly hopeless. $500 Il
Hour after hour of that pitiless night
passed ION. Only my head and shoulders
seemed alive, SO intense was the chill that |
had seized my body. Would it never end?
The wildfowl passed gleetully over head. -
The stars grew dim, the Spurn light, thSt |
had glared all night SO fixedly onslny miss
cry, that had been tempted to curse it, !
paled; faint white streaks broke through |
the deep dark blue behind it. At last day |
was coming; but my senses were so de-
ranged, hardly knew whether it was not
a hldeous dream. Was | alive or disen-
bodied ghost No form of punishment that
even Dante's prolific imagination Swallowed
out can equal the sufferings of that night =
Youth is full of hope, or had flung myself
forw ard many times, and persisted in the
hateful ooze. Il 1a.5 .ls.s.aasi aaa8s / ,asras I
With grey dawn the thin mists that float
ed over the river disappeared, and from one
end of my prison. saw two outward bound |
steamers majestically passing along. Then
| turned instinctively to the other, the in
and narrow view between the two banks.
In the far distance, joy of joys! q man ap; |
preached Long before he could possibly
have heard me- shouted wildly. 1t was
my cousins groom evidently looking for
me. He turned away, aud my heart sank
within me; no, he is turning again, and
scanning the mud flats. l. shouted and
screamed in a vain attempt to make myself
heard over the raging wind that so often
sweeps over the 'fytties." | raised my
hands and plunged in the mud once more
but to no purpose. He seemed again to be
drawing towards me-. Had lle seen me ? l.
redoubled my shrieks. Alas ! lie turned.
his back, and soon passed beyond the limits
of my view. sa.s .aa =
D. Then gave in. 1t was useless to strug-
gle any more must have swooned. When
[ revived horror of horrors the tide was
coming in -cheerily ripping up against
the breeze, and circling round some large
boulder or stake. and then swallowing itup.
1t was but hundred yards from me now,
and the distance is momentarily lessened.--
ANYTHING is better than being slowly
drowned, l thought. Oh, for a dry death !!
One more plunge all was softening round
me. The first ripple came into my prisons
Perhaps Gas | could swim) / might man
age after all to wriggle out Hope revived;
the first wave washed over my mouth and
nuse; as opened my eyes, a boat passed
along not thirty rods from me. How 1
shouted One long wall cut abruptly short
by wave They had heard me- aud turned
her head towards me. | could just raise
my hands aud arms. More amazed than
words could tell, hardy coastguardsman
leapt into the ooze, holding on by the boat
with one hand, grasping me with the other!
The next wave dashed the boat OH to me,
and tainted. Arope was flung round my
body, | heard afterYard and two or three
of the men pulled me in, minus shoes aud
stockings, and nearly dead with exhaustion
aud terror. After long attack of brain
| fever. i slowly came round; aud now you
will not be surprised to hear me say, how
sincerely dttest Lincolnshire. as--.i .aal
G. NJ. w.