The Ebensburg Alleghanian. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1865-1871, 1869-03-11

some time YET; anu martuA Wcutou1 AZ 1-1c
scanty garden to inhale the Odor of the.
sweet pinks she had brought from her old
home. 7ae
The spicy perfume carried her back in
memory TO those days away in the past
spent with kind friends and cheered by
bright young hopes. But though the
thought of home and kindred made her
sad, not for moment did she regret that
she had chosen it. Absorbed in thought,
she had not observed the absence of Char
lie, her little boy; now, she saw with
vague uneasiness that he had left the bed
of peppermint where he had been playing
and was not to be seen. She called his
name, but only echo and the roar of the
swollen river replied. She few back ~
the house, the faint hope remaining that
he might have returned thither for his pet
kitten. But, no; the kitten was mewing
at the window, but the boy Charlie was
not there.
With frantic haste she searched the
clearing, but without success. Her next
thought was the riveri Black as night,
save where it was fecked with spots of
white foam, it flowed but few rods be-
fore her She hurried down the bank,
The child's voice at some little distance
replied. She follow the sound, and to her
horror saw the boy, his golden hair and
rosy cheeks clearly defined against the
purple twilight sky, standing on the very
edge of huge detached rock some ten
feet from the shore, out in the sweeping
current of the river
This rock, called by the settlers sthe
Pulpit" was a good situation for casting
fishing lines, and Mark Warren had bridg-
ed the narrow chasm between it and the
shore with couple of hewn logs.
Allured by some clusters of flaming fire
weed growing on the side of the Pulpit,
Charley had passed over, and now stood
there, regardless Of danger, holding out
the floral treasures to his mother.
Martha few over the frail bridge, and
the next instant held her child in her
arms, joyful that she had found him unin-
jured, and mentally resolving that the logs
should be removed to prevent further ac-
cident. She turned to retrace her steps,
but the sight that met her eyes froze her
| with horror to the spot.
Confronting her on the bridge, not six
feet distant, YVES an enormous wolf, gapat
AnO DOHS Will nuu6OE, Will nio SJcS uAar
zing like live Goals through the mist and
gloom, his hot, fervid breath scorching the
very air she breathed.
A low growl of intense satisfaction STIR
red the air, answered by the growl of fifty
more of his kind. In another moment,
they would be upon her
Without an instant's thought of the
consequence, Martha obeyed her first i'm
pulse and struck the logs with her foot,
exercising all her mad strength in the
blow. The frail fabric tottered, and the
soft earth gave way there was breath
of awful suspense, and then the bridge
went down with dull plunge into the wa
ters beneath ! The sharp claws Of the
wolf had already been fixed on the scant
vegetation of the rock, and he held on a
moment, struggling with ferocious strength
to gain foothold; the next he slid down
into the chasm, uttering wild howl of
disappointed rage.
Martha sank on her knees and offered
up a fervent prayer of thanksgiving for
heartfelt "amen" came dreadful reeol-
lection. The bridge formed the only link
between the Pulpit and the main land,
and that was severed (! True, she was not
more than twenty feet distant from the
shore of the river, but she might as well
have been thousands of miles out in the
ocean. The water was deep, and ran with
almost inconceiyable rapidity forty or fifty
feet below her, over rocks 80 sharp and
Jagged that it made her shiver to look over
the brink.
Her only hope was in her husband
Should he return at the expected time,
they might still be alive; but if, by any
accident, he should be detained beyond the
time She closed her eyes, and besought
God for protection and help.
Cold and hungry, and drenched by the
mist of the river, Charlie began to cry for
home She could hear anything better
than that. She took off her own garments
to fold around him, and held him to her
breast and sang him the cradle songs which
had so often soothed him.
| The fierce howls of the wolves and the
sullen thunders of the river filled Charles
heart with terror, and all the long, dark
night through he clung to his mothers
neck, crying to go home.
| Day dawned at last, the pale sun swim
ming through the sickly sky, the pallid
forecast of storm Weak and faint from
cold-for summer is no bearer Of tropical
smiles in this inbospitable clime-Martha
paced back and forth the narrow limits Of
the rock No one came the faint sun
arose it was night again. A cold fog
sank down over the mountain, followed by
drizzling rain, which before morning
changed into perfect deiuge. The river
rose to fearful highthgand foamed milk
white down the gorge, filling the air with
shuddering roar, like the peal of an i'm
| rriannad aarthnuake.