The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-08-30


landscape opening before me, / watched |
lights lifting shadows till the garish day |
declined. The snowy cone still reflected !
dazzlingly the last impassioned bushes of
the west From sparkling Drilianoy of gold,
that gemmed its upmost peaks, vermilion
hght daEzled down, fading tint into tint, till
all was mazed and curtained in the obscur-
ing mists Of earth. AS / gazed enchanted,
the ashy shade of death fell upon the
mountains crimson face, and light and day
were done. Upwards the gloomy shadows
rushed till darkness mute in silence ruled
around.
If speechless wonder swelled my breast
when mid-day's glory blazed upon the
mountains brow, deeper wonder ruled me
now as star by star arose, till all the
darkened face of heaven was flooded o'er with
gemming light. There lowered Nature mau-
soleum, black, sublime against the yelling
curtain Of the upper sanctuary, within rain
bow arch of luminous consultations. Vast
Nature here had tired her earliest pyre with
brightest coronal. Yes here, where first the
rainbow-pro smiled upon a world restored,
the resurrection-bow is circling now, gemmed
with brighter throbbing stars of life to cheer
our languid hopes of heaven and earth, when
these are passed away, eternal and secure, AMI
bid us still enduring thread life's thorny way.
On the early morrow, our host, in humblest
guise presented himself to know our will for
the day. "HOrses and an escort were ready,
if decided to proceed to the camp" To my
inquiries as to the state of the river and the
passage, he assured me that, although the
waters were high, | should find a safe and con-
venient pontoon, equal to the dTaught of the
heaviest ordnance. Having no doubt of his
knowledge, and none of his sincerity, deter
mined to continue the luxury of the carriage
until compelled to mount the saddle.
On reaching the river, we sought in vain for
the floating bridge that could draught across
the heaviest ordnance Up and down the
stream, far as the eye could reach, no other
| track of passage appeared, save an old crazy
canoe, slowed as carefully against the bank
under the ''lookout' before us, as state
barge within its sheltering dock. Wheel-ruts
on the nearer bank, continued far below on
| the other, suggested our only alternative of
reaching the opposite shore in the indolent
| luxury of carriage An uncanny alterna-
tive, however, for while frequent gray ely
deposits rose level with the waters surface,
dark, suspicious pools intervened, where our
cumbrous equipage might founder suddenly
| without an experienced chariOteer to steer
our way between whirlpools and quicksands.
| Our gallant troopers, with all their Haunting
show of arms-Our son of Nimshi driving
| furiously" over the solid plain-alike were
| helpless here, in this the crisis of our fate
As for Nicholas, he had but one engrossing,
all-sufhcient thought for every emergency
the safety of the carriage; while RaphaePs was
the safety of himself Miserable comforters
are ye ALL" said to myself, as / wistfully
looked upon the barrier-waters.
At last, choosing two of the best horses from
the vain, and dismounting two Cossacks for
| their saddles, we dashed into the stream
| summoning two of the showiest of the riders
to follow us, armed cap-a-pie regardless of
every prayer or voice but one-my own
| Forward" !" The suddenness of this move
ment in an instant reduced rebel spirits and
interests to peace. Confusion was reduced to
order, and diss ension to obedience. Raphael
and Nicholas sprang to the rivers brink i'm
plorings me to return, or should certainly be
| drowned, while the two recreant Cossacks, un-
deferred at sight of the waves eddying in
noisy chafngs around our horses fanks,
| spurred into the stream, following in our
| wake. We soon found we had brayed the
flood for peril. For although our first steps
from the shelving bank were steady, our
horses were soon foundering into pools, the
water suddenly rising to their shoulders,
or stumbling among shadows with a
shifting bottom, where they were con-
tnually losing their footing among con-
tending eddies. 1t was life struggle for
| horse and rider. The roar of Weir-like
currents battling across the shadows, the
snorting of our afirighted horses, mingled
| with the varied shouts of the horsemen, as
our beasts and the occasion needed, made it
scene of intense excitement, and gave to the
river a life to which 1t had been q stranger for
many weary age. Thank God instead of
adding to the deluge victims of the spot, sit
came to pass that we escaped all safe to land"
Dismounting to right our saddles, and breathe
our painting steeds awhile our eye retraced
the perilous zigzag passage we had braved,
| thankful that the carriage had not proved our
tomb, which it inevitably would have done if
| private interests had not clashed with head
strong folly. As raised my eyes l saw Ra-
| phael and Nicholas riveted to the banks, watch
| ing our progress with fascinated gaze.
Our actual joy was sobered on rejecting
| that the stream had to be braved again, if
we would revisit the world and the home we
! love.
So vaulting cheerily into the saddle we
dashed across the plain, with the feet Cos
| sacks earacolling by our side, while the
| sharp changing ring of their olattering arms
| fell like stirring music on the soul. On, on
we sped right merrily, laughing danger and
fear aside.
AS my thoughts, with our gentle pace, fell
into their usual train, it suddenly occurred to
me that, save the letter for Colonel D.,
had left behind me, in the pocket of our car
riage, all the Government documents which
| gave Importance and authority to our travel.
All regrets, however, were now idle, and so
/ continued on, trusting to what Sterne calls
"that cheating and cheated slut" bright
| eyed Hope. In half an hour we left the
solitary Wilderness behind US, and entered upon
the life and occupations of the cantonments.
Men in half military, half rustic dress
were moving about in enclosed plantations.
Horned cattle and cavalry horses were