Cedar Falls gazette. [volume] (Cedar Falls, Iowa) 1860-1895, 1866-04-27

close against my bare neck, when 1
gave the jump, and heard close by me
a slight splash in the water,--a splash
which echoed through the hollow place,
while, half to frighten the beasts that /
fancied must be in swarms around me,
half wrung from me as cry of fear and
agony, e ~! . y yelled out
| Rats they were; for above the hol-
low +" was6-wash, hurry-hurrN wash
wash, hurry" of the water, 7 could
hear little splashes and scuffiing by me
along the sides o. the brick-work.
You may laugh at peoples hair stand
ing on end, but l know then that there
was a creeping, tingling sensation at
the roots o. mine, rs though sand was
trickling amongst it; cloud seemed
to come over my mind, and for a few
moments l believe | was n,ad,-mad
with fear; and it was only by setting
my teeth hard and clenching my fists
that kept from shrieking. However
was soon better, and ready to laugh
at myself as l recollected that could
only be little way from the spot
where the men worked; SO began to
wade along with the water up to my
middle. All at once | stopped, and
though about where l was at work, .
4
! My head turned hot and my temples
thrObbed with the thought, If l went
the wrong way 1 should be lost-lost in
this horrible darkness-to sink at last
into the foul, black stream, to be drown
cd and devoured by the rats, or else to
{ be choked by the foul gasscs that must
be lurking down here i'm these dark re-
cesses. - ....f.
Again the horror Of the thick dark
ness came upon me; l shrieked out
wildly, and the cry went echoing
through the sewer, sounding hollow
and wild till it faded away. But once
more l got the better of it, and persuad-
cd myself that l had only cried aloud
to scare the rats. What would | not
nave given for stout stick as Il defence
against attack as | groped my way on,
feeling convinced that should be right
II 1! crawled down stream, when little
reflection would have told me that up
stream must be the right way, for I
must have been borne down by the
water. But | could not reflect, for my
brain seemed in a state of fever, and
now and then my teeth chartered as
though had the ague.
CROPPED on for quite quarter of an
hour, when the horrid thought came
upon me that tried to lean up against
the wall, which seemed to cause my
feet to slip from under me. felt no
cold, for the presperation dropped from
me, rs / frantically turned back and
tried to retrace my steps, guiding my
self by running my hand against a wall
where every now and then il entered
the mouth of small drain, when so
sure as ii did, there was n scuffle and
rush, and more than once l touched
a al h<,l -
that made me startb back as though shot.
On | went, and on, and, still no scaf-
fold, and no gleam of gaslight.-
Thought after thought gave fresh hor-
ror to my situation, as, now l felt GER
tain that in my frantic haste l had
taken some wrong turn, or entered a
branch of the main place; and at last,
completely bewildered, / rushed head
long OH, stumbling and falling twice
over, so that was half chokcd in the
! black water But 1t had its good effect ;
for IL put q stop to my wild struggles,
which must have ended in my falling
insensible into what was certain death.
The water cooled my head, and now
feeling completely lost, knowing that
must have been nearly two hours in
the sewer, l made up my mind to fol-
low the stream to its mouth in the
| AhdulcS, WhcIc, III lIlc liuc was tOWH, j
could get from the mud on to the wharf
or bank.
So once more struggled on, follow
ing the stream slowly for what seemed
to be hours, till at last, raising my hand,
| found could not touch the roof; and
by that knew that / was in larger sew
er, and therefore not very far from
the mouth. But here was a new terror
creeping up to me, SO to speak, for from
my waist the water touched my chest,
and soon after my armpits; when /
stopped not daring to trust myself to
swim, perhaps 4 mile, when felt that
weak l could not have gone u hundred
yards.
l know that in my disappointment
l gave u howl like q wild beast, and
turned again to have hard fight to
breast the rushing water, which nearly
took me off my legs. But the fears of
death lent me help, and got on and
on again till felt myself in turning
which | soon knew was smaller sew
er, and from thence / reached another,
where l had to stoop, but the water was
shallower, not above my knees, and ut
much less deep than that.
Here | knelt down to rest, and the
position brought something else from
my heart; and after while, still stoop-
ing went on, till having passed dozens
upon dozens of drains | determined to
creep up one, and did. E' ."'
P'raps you won't think it strange, as
dream and grOan in bed sometimes,
when tell you what followed.
Icrawled, on and on, and on, in hopes
that the place / was in would lead un-
der one of the street-gratings, and
kept stearing ahead in the hopes of
m ofnt, In N ri - i.,ht -
placce seemed so tight that dared 20
no farther for fear of being fixed in. So
l began to back very slowly, and then
feeling it rather hard work, stopped for
rest.
1t was quite dry here; but, scuffiing
on in front, kept hearing the rats
had driven before me; and now that |
stopped and was quite still, half dozen
Of them made rush to get past me,
and the little fight which followed even
now gives me the horrors. I'd hardly
room to move; but ! killed one by
squeezing him, when the others backed
off, but not till my face was bitten and
running with blood.
At last, half dead, tried to back out,
for the place seemed to stifie me; and |
pushed myself back little way, and |
then ! was stopped, for the skirts of my |
JICAcG uHcu UP Wuut ilItle space naQ
been left, and felt that L was wedged /
in, stuck fast.
Now came the horrors again worse |
than ever. The hot blood seemed to |
gush into my eyes; felt half suffoca- |
ted; and, to add to my sufierings, a rat,
that felt itself, as it were, penned up,
fastened upon my lip. 1t was it's last |
bite, however, for, half mad as / felt
then, my teeth had closed in moment |
upon the vicious beast, and it was dead. |
made one more struggle, but could |
not move, was so knocked up; and !
then tainted.
1t must have been some time before l |
came to myself; but when l did the !
first sound heard was regular tramp, |
tramp, of some one walking over my !
head, and gave long yell for help, |
when, to my great joy, the step halted,
and shrieked again, and the sweetest
sound l have ever heard in my life
came back. 1t was voice shouting,-
Hallo!D
"Stuck fast in the drain!" shout
eel with all the strength had left, and