The Vermont transcript. [volume] (St. Albans, Vt.) 1864-1870, 1866-05-04
A Night Adventure.

state of the weather, | was absolutely
Obliged to brave. | was Mt the time a
clerk in bank, and had been sent ON
business to a little village that lay
among the hills five miles from the
nearest town and railroad-station.
My return was as speedily as possible
with the information | had collected,
and absolutely imperative, as it was
before the time Of tele9raphs, and
haste was of great importance.
Considering the fury of the storm, l
started two hours before the arrival
of the train at the station, which was
at eight o'clock. l did not get
through my business in time to leave
by daylight, but at six o'clock, when
it was already totally dark, prepared
for my journey.
! had hired buggy and horse in
the town the day before, and having
driven myself alone to the village, I
felt quite confident that l could find
my way back.
you had better take some one with
you, Mr.. Hunter" suggested the land
lord. you may lose your way in
this storm"
ooh, no; / think there is no dan
ger of that The snow makes it quite
light, and the road is SO direct, can
not mistake it.
Some further remonstrances he
urged, but / would not heed them !;
and having wrapped myself up warm
w, | started on my drive.
On turning out of the village into
the open country, !, for the first time,
realized the full fury of the storm.
The snow drove into my face, almost
blinging me, the cold wind seemed to
search through my garments, and chill
my heart, as my horse went plunging
on through the deep drifts.
/ had imagined that the road would
be very easy to find, it had seemed 50
plain when l came over it on the pre-
yious day; but now the snow had al
ready obhterated nearly every land
mark, the fences were invisible through
the driving storm; the hills, which !
had thought would guide me, were
wrapped out of sight IN the darkness
and their shroud of snow. / very
soon discovered that l must trust only
to my horse, and to the probability
that he knew the way to his own sta
bic
We went on slowly, never faster
than walk and after coming to Il
dead halt, l would let the poor beast
pause for few moments, and then
urge HIM again on his course. We
had proceeded thus Tor perhaps an
hour, through the CHASTITY darkness,
and 1 was becoming ochiiled as TO be
almost stupetied, when 1t struck me
that my horse stopped more frequent
~ even than his toilsome Journey
would excuse. Each time that he
halted, too, 1t became more difficult
than ever to rouse him, and make hun
start again; and when he did pro-
ceed, it was With slower steps. ] ian
cied that l could hear more through
the rush OF the wind and the dash OF
the sleet, his labored breathing; and,
at last, with final plunge, he stopped
short, and fell heavily.
l sprang down INTO the deep snow,
and went to his side 1t was very eyi-
dent what had happened. He was
shaking III the commissions OF the dis
ease known as the blind-staggers
There was no help for him, that was
very evident He snorted and
groaned fearfully, and broke some
portion Of the harness before | could
release him from it. Having done
this, |, with great labor, drew the bug
gy little out of the road, and then
returned once more to the suffering
animal. | knew very little about
horses; but | knew enough to assure
me that he would not probably be
available for any further service that
night, and to convince me that must
leave him to his fate, and look out foi
my own safety MS best might.
That was, however, something not
very easy to accomplish. | was forced
to walk ON, always in the face of the
storm, and with no guide except the
fences that outlined the road | en-.
deayored to keep a straight course be
tween these, but as they were abso
lutely invisible except when l was
close to them, found myself for some
distance coming every now and ther
up to one or the other. However,
kept on, and was at first so muct
warmed by the exercise, that ! really
felt more comfortable than in driving
After a time | must have come to {
gap in the fence, and passed through
this unconsciously; for going on fo
some distance without meeting IN,
usual guides, my progress was sud
denly arrested by a stone wall. II
bewilderment, strained my eye
through the darkness to see where
was. All around stretched whit
plain of unbroken snow; only just il
front of me rose the wall, dark eXcep
where here and there the snow clunl
to its rugged sides. In my utter ig
norance of my whereabouts, l kept Oh
short distance beside the wall, AM
thus suddenly saw through the blind
ing snow u CLEAN OF light.
Here indeed was comfort. | ha'
Glanced upon human habitatloi
where | could obtain shelter proba
Div for the night, for it had now grow
It, that I had abandoned all hope