Vermont daily transcript. [volume] (St. Albans, Vt.) 1868-1870, 1868-10-23
0 U R A G. A N.
A THRILLING STORY.

The scenery of that table land is bleak
and sad and lonely, rs in all auriferous
regions.
On this day 1--WE had not enjoyed one
rly f ON The sun fos more than a weeS)
the heat was intense ; a close and
sitting atmosphere shrouded all the
land, and from each marshy spot
crowned though it we've with palmy
bamboos and sprinklcd over with white
lillies-drew n foul and poisonous MAS
ma. This dull air quivered with heat
mountain and Volcano and savannah
lay still and gray as Il landscape of the
d lad.
| had PROF oscd to rest at the foot of
tiny volcano, round and smooth as q
hemisphere.
" There is water on the other side,'
sugp ested my Indian guide.
We went thi1her and not only was
water found in the dell, but also trees, of
mensions rare throughout that dis
trict. My guide looked round with the
air of Il man who has memories stirring
in his brain, and observed:
ut was here we fought the fllibus-
ters,N Senior.
"Iiow was that ?" asked, knowing
little better than other Europeans the
details OF Walkers war.
The, he told me, in the epic manner,
how one Turley organized a band Of
rOwdies in California, for wholesale rob-
berry in his land, under cover Of the
war and how he passed them OFT on
Walkers agents as experienced soldiers,
which perhaps they We're; how they
re used to separate, and were enrolled as
an entire company in the Rangers;
how they deserted in DOdy at the first
opportunity, and marched through the
Oriental" numbering and plundering
the scanty population; and how the
French diggers of Libertad gathered a
force OF natl yes aud murdered the row.
dies to m,ln, on this very spot. Buthe
omitted to tell me another det.il-how
the false filIbusters had been tricked of
their arms, under promise Ofamnesty.
Nevertheless, tn S story was interesting
to me as curious suggestion of the pro-
liabilities still extant In our nineteenth
century-not yet twelve years agO!-
and it passed the time agreeably.
But on setting out again, perceived
Il change in the atmosphere at our first
step from the shadow of the dell.
"What is this.h | asked the Indian,
shivering with cold and a general de.
PRESTON.
IAN ouragan, fear, Senor!" he an
swcred, with manifest uneasiness.
l paused, knowing well enough by
hearsay the terror OF these storms to be
aware that our further journey was i'm
pc ;sibic.
nat is to be done?" 1 asked.
" How long have we before it breaks"'
g Half an hour at the outside, " he an
swered, looking up ut the darkening
sky. II feared it this morning but the
Indians laughed at me-"
BY the way, it is curious that the Alb
origines of Central America always
speak Of one another as Indians, using
the word, apparently, rs u title to be
proud o..
After hurried consultation, it was de-
cided to stay in our present position till
the storm should pass, seeing we were
safe from the wind, under our little vol.
cano, and that we could not possibly
cross the LagartO stream before it broke.
We sat down, tied the mules with
double ropes, and awaited the event,
wrapped in our thick no. se-rugs. And
all their warmth was needed. More and
more piercing the cold became, more
and more dark the sky. Birds whose
I presen &c we had not suspected, began
but the stiffness OF the heavens was ter
: rible. The frozen air seemed to pour
down on us in waves, but no vibration
could be noticed in the atmosphere.
Darker it grew, and darker, till all the
land was swiftly shrouded over.
An indiscribable terror possessed us
both the mules covered closely upon
tn ground, with their legs gathered un-
dor them, like rabbits squatting, AMI
their noses pressed to the earth. The
Indians face was plnched with cold he
I shivered under his chama.ri.
l. Suddenly frozen gust came shrieking
over the mountains, then another, and
the ouragan burst forth. Following the
, examples of the mules and man, l threw
myself flat on the slope of the volcano
and clung tightly. The roar of the tenn
pest, as it passed, was as the voice OF a
n ltiOn shouting not with gradual viO-
ience it broke out, as in our calm lands,
hut all in Il moment, resistless merci-
less. Clods of earth. branches, even
), small stones whi1zed in miu-air above
our heads, the hurdle of their furious
tlgh riding shrilly on the thunderOus
: music of the wind. Every lea and every
= smaller Dough was stripped from the cot
=, ton trees beneath us, and ,hirlod over
II hill and valley to the far Atlantic, Our
u PROSTATE bodies were plucked and struck
r a. with hands. And then, in the very
! thick est OF the storm, as if the horror of
n it were not yet sufficient. as If nature de-
!, sired to show u all her dread power in
e these lands in the very thickest of the
l. storm, while we lay pressed close to the
T. earth, sitting, breathless, deatened with
its din and Violence, felt sharp, sick
shudders of an earthquake, The big
- trunks in the dell, protected hitherto by
cover of the land, then crashed swiftly
down; when the first gave way, they
fell, rs we could note afterwards, like
nine pin in row, each overthrOwing
' its neighbor. Not a stem survived but
so horrid was the roaring that scarce a
sound of their downfall reached our
~ ears,
4 How long the scene lasted cannot
tell perhaps not more than half an
" hour The rugs were torn to tatters
on our backs we could not breath eX-