Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1871-07-20

il but when the SOUNDS aieu away iltlie
" little, and the darkness came all
round, as if it were locking me in, felt
8 cast down and helpless as child lost
n great town. However, my hunger
nade me savage-like, and that kept me
ID: for so long as there's strength enough
or anger in a man, he's got chance; It's
yhen he can't feel savage that his heart Is
broken. ONLY I kept always wishing that
omething would break the silence; and
It last something did, with a vengeance,
'or a lot of the horrible dignoes COM
nenced bowling. And 80 they kept on
and worked me up until felt as if I'd
give anything to have just one blow at
them, no matter what came after; for
what with the hunger, and the laying
still 80 long, and the bowling of these
brutea, I'd got SO mad that I'd liked to
have killed something, no matter what 1t
was. And so the night wore aWay-a
dreary night for me. i
While he was speaking the moon, had
become gradually obscured, and we were
wrapped in shadowy dimness that har-
monized we'll with the gloomy recital, to
which the deepening sombrenees OF his
tone lent additional horror.
The sun rose at last, but it brought no
bright morning hope with it: only the
same weary helplessness, which seemed
as if it had lasted for days and dayS-tor
I had lost all count of time. When the
noise of the diggings began again, al
most wished it would leave off, much as
had wished for it before; for 1t sent
kind of horror through me to think OF the
hundreds of men so near, any one OF
whom would have run like lightning 10
help me if he'd only have known OF the
scrape was in, while / lay, dumb and
dying, close by. Ay, aging 1t was no
use shamming hopeful any longer. for now
I began to feel gnawing and tu=ging IN
nv inside, as if the teeth of wolf Were
tearing it (; and knew what that meant,
for I'd felt it before, only not so bad. !
wonldn't have minded so much if [ could
only have screamed, or flung myself
about, or anything to show what L felt
but to lie there stock-still and speeches
1T was horrible.
A shudder. which I could see in the
uncertain light, shook his strong frame a.
he proceeded.
AS the sun grew hotter the fies begar
to swarm; and as watched them it strucf
me all of a sudden what way L shouif
be in, surprising they attacked me for a
| was then, they might have sucked every
drop of my blood before l could have
moved q finger. I knew something o
what Australian bush-flies could do, TO
I'd once stumbled on the body of shep
herd who had been tied tie a tree by tn
bush-rangers and left.
However, luckily for me, there wa
something else in the tent that tempted
more. and that was the food I'd left lyiDi
on the log. In a second they were dow
on it: all the meat turned black at once
as if with q shower of SCOT, and thel
buzzing was like the wind blowing
through a row of wires. You'd laugh a
me, stranger, if I were to tell you hos
savage that sight made me, for, OF course
You'll say I ought to have been might
glad to get off SO cheap. But, oh to sc
those accursed vermin gorging themSelve
before my eyes, while I, man, lay starry
ing tell you, all that I felt before wa
nothing to it
Toward afternoon there began kin
of Whispering and humming in my ears
getting louder bit by bit. 1t wasn't tn
flies, for they were all gone it was whA
comes to one on the second or third da
of starving to death, and knew 1T. Som
of my mates that were starved up countr
used to keep putting their hands to thel
ears for q while before they died, sayin
thew heard something whispering to theI
y 1t got stronger and stronger,till the SCUM
seemed to shape itself into an old son
=, that man that was with in Brazil keI
grooming over Just before he died. II
" the desert to look for some men that wei
:, lost but the verse that rang 10 my hea
: then was this.
And never man, and never beast
o They met on heir desOlate way q
n But the bleaching bones in the hungry saT
q Said all that tongue could say
: And so it kept going over and over, till
>. las. fairly went off-half slept and ha
a tainted,
Il at was late when I awoke, and [ car
90 tell YOU how I felt at seeing the sun &c
ting again. AS the light faded | felt
y if nv life was going ont along with i
d. and when it dipped below the horiz
r was ready to start up and stretch out n
d arms to hold it back, if ia had Il
strength. And such night as that sc
4 ond night was-good Heaven Their
a. verse somewhere ia the Bible tn
!. speaks of "a horror of great darkness,
learned it at school, but [ never kne
o. what it meant till then. This time the
" was no bowling of dingoes, no noise
NJ any sort all was deadly still, as if t
=? world itself, with all that lived al
7 breathed in it, were dead, and l alo
k kept living on, | suppose l mt
or have been getting light-he"ded Wi
q. hunger and weakness. for began to fan
Y =: all sorts of queer things. First | thong
7 T was nailed down in a coffin, and that
ne I could only move or scream, or ev
OF speak, the lid would fly open but
ne couldn't Then it seemed as if | w
,pl at the bottom of tho sea, and the we'g
re of water above pressed me down till
ed could hardly breathe. All at once [ "
Id startled ont of my fancies by Fonnd clt
tx TO the tent, the like of which l ne'
"a heard before or since-a low, moani
ry cry, that sounded like All alone
ee alone = over and over again. [ can't t
OF to this day whether I really heard it
,ft only fancied it bnt at the time it Ga
nae such horror that [ nearly went M
ty The third morning came, and found
nd nearly at my last. The craving p
nd was gone. and instead OF it had come
I pleasant drowsinesa, like what man fe
7 when he falls down to sleep in the snc
l All the morning I lay in kind of DIRE
oe, thinking of nothing, fearing nothing
ar quiet az child at its mothers brea
nd till all at once saw something that RON
d. me in good earnest - a black. shini
lg, thing, like long strip of velvet, comi
i'd gliding into the tent. [ knew it direc
til for one of the deadlest snakes in Aust
liza. The next moment heard the rus
nd of its coil up the tent post to (which I
Id hammock was slang. and then l saw
ks fat head and black, beady eyes hanei
al. over me, and looking right down into /
cit face to see if were dead or not. [ 81
Mt pose it thought I was, for the next rN
tie ute it slid down over my face, and to a
no fro along the hammock. till at 1ast it vi
W. to the other pole, and there it elided
and I saw no more of it. Any be
watching me then would have called m
ed brave fellow but dare say it's not