The Tiffin tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1868-1887, 1871-06-15
High WGteT Mark.
Thrilling Adventure on DedlOE Marsh
BY BRET HARTE.

LEA AAE AGldlA u SLDEN WHICH AtNe
failed 10 recur to my mind i'm m
long cunning excursions upon DedlOy
Marsh. Although the event was briei
ly recorded in the county paper, l ha
the story in all its eloquent details
from the lips of the principal actor
| cannot hope 20 catch the yaryin
emphasis and peculiar eOloring of fem
mime delineatiOn, for my narrator wa
woman; but I'll try to give at leas
its substance.
She lived midway between the grea
slough of Dtdlow Marsh and a goo
sized river, which debouched fou
miles beyond into an estuary fOImet
by the Pacific ocean on the long sand,
peninsula which constituted the north
western boundary of noble bay
Tne house in which she lived was
small frame cabin, raised from tht
marsh a few feet by stout tiles, anC
was three miles distant from the set
Elements upon the river. Her hus
band was lOgger-a profitable bust
ness in a country where the principa
occupation was the manufacture O
lnmber.
1t was the season of early spring
] when her husband left on the ebb OF
q high tide, with a raft of logs for the
usual transportation to the lower END
of the hay. As she stood by the door
of the little cabin when the vOyagers
departed, she notice a cold look i'm the
! southeastern sky, and she remember
ed hearing her husband say to his com.
paniOns that they must endeavor "a
complete their voyage before the COM
ing Of the south-Westerly gale which
he saw brewing. And that it began
to storm and blow harder than She
had ever before experienced, and some
great trees fell in the forest by the riv-
! er, and the house rocked like her
baby's cradle.
But, however, the storm might roar
about the little cabin, she knew that
one she trusted had driven bolt and
bar with his own strong hand, and
that if he had feared for her he would
not have left her. This, and her do
nestle duties, and the care of the lit
tie sick baby, help to keep her mind
from dwelling on the weather, except,
of course, to hope that he was safely
harbored with the logs at Utopia, in
the dreaTy distance. But she noticed
that day when she went out 10 fed the
chickens and look after the COW, that
the tide was up to the little fence of
their garden patch, and the roar of the
south beach, though miles away, she
could hear distinctly. And she began
to think that she would like to have
some one to talk with about matters,
and she believed that if it had not
been so far and so stormy, and the
trail so impossible, she would have
taken the baby and have gone over to
Raekman's, her nearest neighbOr.-
But then, you see, he might have re-
turned in the storm, all wet, with no
one to see him and it was long ex-
posure for baby, who was croupy and
ailing.
But that night, she never could tell
why, she didn't feel like sleeping or
even lying down. The storm had
somewhat abated, but still she "sat
and sat-" and even tried to read. /
! don't know whether it was Bible or
some profane magazine that this poor
woman read, but most probably the
/ latter, for the words all ran together,
and made such sad nonsense that she
was forced at last to put the book
down to turn to that dearer volume
which lay before her in the cradle,
with its white initial leaf as yet un-
sOiled, and try to look forward to its
/ mysterious future. And rocking the
cradle, she thought of everything and
everybody, but still was wide awake
as ever.
1t was nearly twelve o'clock when
she at last laid down in her clothes
How long she slept she could not re-
member, but she awOke with a dread
/ full choking in her throat, and found
herself standing, trembling all over,
in the middle of the room, with her
baby clasped to her breast, and she
was Saying something" The baby
cried and sObbed, and she walked up
end down, trying to hush it, when she
heard a scratching at the door. She
opened it fearfully, and was glad to
/ see it was only old Pete, their dog,
who crawled, dripping with water,
into the room. She would liked to
have looked out, not in the faint hope
of her husbVnd's coming, but to see
how things looked; but the wind
shook the door so savagely that she
could hardly hold it. Then she sat
down a little while, and then walked
up and down a little while. Lying
close by the wall of the little cabin,
she thought she heard once or twice
something scrape slowly against the
clap boards, like the scraping of
branches. Then there was little
guIgling sound, like the baby made
when il was sswallOwing" then some
thing went ''click. click" and "cluck,
cluck," so that she sat up in bed
When she did so she was attracted by
something else, that seeming creeping
from the back door toward the center
of the room. 1t wasn't much wider
than her little finger, but soon it
swelled to the width OF her hand, and
began to spread all over the floor. 1t
was water.
She ran to the front door, threw it
wide open, and saw nothing but wa
ter. She ran to the side window, and
/ throwing that open, she saw nothing
but water. Then she remembered
hearing her husband once say, there
was no danger in the tide, for that
fell regularly, and people could calcu-
late on it; and that he would rather
live on the bay than the river, whose
banks might overflow at any time
But was it the tide? So she ran again
to the back door and threw out a stick
of wood. 1t drifted away toward the
bay. She scOOped up some water and
put it eagerly to her lips to her lips
1t was fresh and sweet. 1t was the
river, and not the tide!
1t was then-O, God be praised for
his goodness! she did neither faint
nor fall, it was then-blessed be the
Savior, for it was His merciful hand
that touched ard strengthened her in
this awful lmOment-that fear dropped
from her like a garment, and her
trembling ceased. 1t was then and
thereafter that she never lost her self
command, through all the trials of
that gloomy night.
She drew the bedstead toward the
middle of the room, and placed a ta- I
bic upon it, and upon that she put the /
cradle. The water on the floor was
already over her ankles, and the
house once or twice moved so per-
ceptibly, and seemed to be racked so
that the closed doors all flew open.
Then she heard the same rasping and I
humping against the wall, and look I
ing out saw that a large uprOoted .
tree, which had lain near the road at .
the upper end Of the pasture, had .
fiOated down to the house. Luckily, F.
its long roots dragged in the soil, and .
kept il from moving as rapidly as the
current, for had il struck the house in 4
its full career, even the strong nails .
and bolts in the tiles could not have .
withstOOd the shock. The hound had 4
leaped upon its knOtty surface, and 4
crOuehed near the roots, shiveringand .
whining. A ray of hope flashed across /
her mind. She drew heavy blanket .
from the bed, and wrapping it about 4
the babe, waded in the deepening wat
ers to the door. As the tree swung 4
again, broadside on, making the little
cabin creak and tremble, she leaped I
on its trunk. BY Gods mercy she .
succeeded in obtaining q footing on .
its slippery surface, and twining an /
arm about7i its roots, she held in the F.
other her moaning child. Then some
thing ereakeu near the front perch, /
and the whole front of the house she I
hr,r H,aF Fr.H1 g. u