, 1872-08-22

its apex which was some twenty or thir-
ty in circumference. What had caused
this pile of rocks-for the hillock was
really little else than pile of large and
small rocks, held together by sticks and
dirt-to be placed here I cannot mag
inc; but it certainly was about as con-
venient place for hill as was ever
known, particularly as hills generally
insist on being exactly where they are
inconvenient.
The lain continued to pour down in
torrents, and. as there was a sort of
shelving rock under one of the walls of
the canon, it was resolved to make that
our sleeping place. We accordingly
carried all our supplies under the shell
ter, fixed our blankets for sleeping, and
having driven our animals out of the
canon upon plateau. We returned to
our cosy shelter, lit our pipes, and
smoked and chatted until we fell asleep.
How long we had slept I cannot pos
sibly tell. 1t was as dark as it could be.
and we had no opportunity to consult
our watch. Our fire had died ort, and
the rain still continued to fall in torrents.
The water in the little stream had risen
to such height that it had encroached
upon our sleeping place, and awakened
us by running in upon and wetting us.
We hastily removed ourprovisions, bed
ding, ETC., to the summit of the little
hill, and took refuge upon it ourselves.
Sleep was now out Of the question,
for the rain still continued to come down
in torrents, while the stream kept rap
idly rising. 1t was so dark that we
could not see one another, and so deaf
ening was the roar of the waters that
We were compelled to shout at the top
Of our voices to make ourselves heard
We had remained huddIed together
on the top of the hill for perhaps an
hour, when we felt the water encroach-
ing upon us, and we became aware that
our position was not SO safe as we i'm
agined. We accordingly began to gath
er up rocks from the water and pile
them up, and in order to facilitate the
work We formed line. One would
stand in the water up to his hips and
take hold of bowlder and pass it to
the one next to him, and so on until it
was given to the one who was standing
on the summit, and he would deposit it
in position.
We were compelled to do this because
it was so dark that we could not see the
least particle, and were compelled to
work Ike party of blind men. We
succeeded. after deal of labor, in get
ting pile of rocks sufficient to raise
the apex of the hill about five feet,
and upon this we piled our provisions,
ETC., and then climbed up ourselves.
Fortunatelythe water was warm, or
we would have been chilled to death; as
it was, our teeth chartered and we were
uncomfortably cold. We had probably
remained seated upon the rocks for two
hours, when the first faint light of APP
preaching dawn began to flash across the
top of the canon and reveal to us the
real situation. What had the night pre-
vious been little unpretending stream,
that you could easily have jumped
across, was now a mighty river, with an
immense volume of water rushing
through it with tremendous velocity, and
carrying with it great trees that had
been torn from their roots
The scene was grand one. The
bright beams of the morning sun reflect
ed from each wall of the canon as they
carromed ESQ to speak) from one side
to the other. until they tipped with gold
the muddy and bronzed water of the
stream, that had grown SO great, and
become dangerous monster from lit
tie innocent brook.
But while we looked upon the scene
a feeling of terror crept over us, for we
discovered that the stream ,cds still rising,
and that even now the water had en-
croached on our feet and beginning to
form ripple over the pile of stones we
had built ard upon which we stood.
An hour more passed away. and we
were standing up to our knees in water.
1t had, however. stopped raining; yet
we had no reason to suppose that the
stream would stop rising, for we knew
that the watershed covered large area,
and that the water must all run into the
stream.
We looked about US for means of es-
cape, but could see none whatever. The
walls of the canon lowered fully two
hundred feet above us, while it was
more than mile to the lower end of it.
distance that we felt convinced we
could not swim. The ,oater still continued
to rise, and had now reached half the
distance from our knees to our hips
We remained huddled together upon
the summit of our frail position, expect
ing every moment to have it washed
from under our feet, for the writer had
begun to run very swift against it.
To add to our horror. we saw an i'm
mense tree coming with irresistible
L E.... aa.... 4hn AMMAN II Il ahonld