Charles City intelligencer. [volume] (Charles City, Floyd County, Iowa) 1864-1866, 1866-02-22

tiie DleSSed sunshine. l glanced
around, hurridly, shaking the water
from my eyes, to see if could discov
er the steamer. There she was, hal
a mile away, blowing off steam, he
rails and rigging crowded with peopl,
on the lookout and, blessed sight &
boat powerfully manned, was putting
off from her side, with quick, sharp
strokes, that promised speedy relief il
we could only be seen. But the waves
were still running high, and even as
looked. a gigantic one lifted itself be-
tween me and the steamer, shutting
her out from sight, while | sank, as il
shot down an ice-slope, into the vast
trough below. 1t seemed an age be-
fore | rose on another wave. Then |
caught sight of the steamer and boat
again for an instant: the latter lying
on Its oars, uncertain which way to
pull. Again the remorseless wave
rose between me and hope again
sank down into the pitiless gulf. Three
times l rose and sank. The third time,
! felt, would be the last. For the lad,
during all this, had never intermitted
his frantic struggles, and had now ut
terly exhausted my strength. That
last time, ! could just feebly raise my
right hand in the air, and still manage
to hold him off at arm's-length with my
left. As | did this, thought | heard,
distantly, faint cheer, and fancied |
saw the boat, which had been hanging
like black speck on the water, turn
and shoot toward us. But, at this cri-
sis, when Iwould have given every
thing to be sure, the boy made fresh
and more frantic effort to cluch at me,
which succeeded felt his arms, in
their death.grip, twine around my
throat and down we sank, like lead,
hope and thought and memory leaving
me together. .'-.
My next recollection, and it is but a
faint one, is of being lifted over the
side of the vessel, and seeing crowd
of awe-struck faces look at me as
was borne past 1t was but for a sec
ond, when became again inscnsible.
But among those faces was the one
which had haunted me for years the
great, brown eyes, through their tears,
beaming on me with infinite pity. AT.
ter that, for hours, all was blank. The
next thing | recall was hearing the
surgeon of the steamer say, He's
coming round, thank God 1" Then
pangs, as of entering into a new exist
ence, rackcd every nerve Of my body.
But | was able, after a while, to sit up
and hear congratulations on my es-
cape, and praises of what was called
my heroism. Soon after, the mother
herself came in, leaving her darling for
a moment. The boy, it seems, had
been playing, just abaft the wheel.
house, when he had slipped and fallen
over board, no one knew exactly how.
" 1t was near thing, his missing the
paddles" said the captain "and he'd
have been drowned, anyhow, il YOU
hadn't leaped after him at once. BY
Jove, gentlemen, it was the finest thing
ever saw"
The steamer, long before this, had
reached the wharf, and most of the pas
sengers had left. When | crawled on
deck, hoping to see again that face, ]
found no one but the family of the res
cued boy and even they were leaving.
In vain, that evening, for | was still
too weak to go ashore, looked over
the list of passengers, and cross-ques-
toned the stewardess, seeking to ident-
ify the countenance / had recognized
:" There had been dozen young ladies
about the age talked Of" she said,
and she couldn't now even tell their
names" And so again lost my little
strawberry-girl say again, for moth
ing could persuade me had not seen
her and was more than half con-
WINGED, too, that she had recognized
me. There was look on that face y
| said to myself "such as would give
worlds to be sure of: a look that a
woman gives only--But, pshaw
what a fool ! am" cried, breaking alb
ruptly off Yet, for all that, cool-head-
ed as men called me, the vision Of that
face, and that look, would come back,
till now was thoroughly and hope.
lessly in love with what, if not my lit
tile strawberry-girl, was mere vision
of the brain.
And a mere vision of the brain
came at last, reluctantly enough, to
consider il. For made inqiries, and
in every direction, so that if any such
person had been ON board the steamer,
| should, l thought, have certainly
heard of it. My half-waking condition
| was now convinced, had mislcd me
| had imagined saw the face had SC
often pictured to myself but it had
only been the countenance of one Of
the many sympathizing, fearful wo.
men, who beheId me carried, 1t was
supposed, a corpse, along the deck Of
the steamer. q-rf4,,a t 1.tgtr.
Two years later.I was returning
from visit to the West. The railroad
train was behind time, and the engin.
eer was running at his highest speed
to recover lost ground The cars JOLT.
ed and bounced along, oscillating from
side to side. Suddenly | heard the
sharp, shrill signal, "down breaks
We had just emerged from tunnel
and were whirling around a. turn be-
tween high rocks. The door Of the
car in which l sat was flung open, al
this instant, and man came rushing
to the rear. had seen terror-strucI
faces, but never face like that. II
was literally livid with fear. l recog
nized it, too, as the face of the conduct
or. l OWNED, at once, the character
of the peril, such as it afterward prov
ed to be. Another train was on tho
track, coming in direction opposit,
to ours, and the two trains, one max
ing thirty miles an hour, and ours for
| ty or more, would meet at velocity o
seventy or eighty. The conducto
knew there was no hope, and was fly
ing for his life.
/ drew long breath and braced my