The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1872-09-03

II necessary, to compel his compliance.
The fellow paid not the slightest atten-
ton to me, but applied the lash furiously
TO the horses oack we dashed along the
road for couple of hundred yards more,
and come suddenly to large open space,
at which the lane apparently ended The
spot was one evidently used for charcoal
burning, FOR several acres Of timber had
been cut down, and scattered here and
there were piles Of wood, arranged in the
usual circular form, ready for firing The
road, in fact, was private one, and only
used at certain periods Of the year, by the
owners of this portion Of the forest to con-
veY the charcoal and firewood to market.
As we drove into the clearing, the balf-
breed rcigncd in the horse sharply, and
before could guess bis intentions, ,leaped
with extraordinary agility, rife in hand,
out OF the wagon.
As | was preparing to follow him, he
raised his gun and fired at my head. lie
was just n second too late bad still
been sitting erect, at the back of the wa
gon, the bali must have inevitably passed
through my brain, but | had leaned
slightly forward in the act Of Jumping
out, and this saved me. As it was. he
aimed just hairs breadth too high, and
the bullet ouly grazed my scalp, tearing
up the skin and indicting u wound which
bled profuscly, out otherwise rather pain
ful than dangerous.
believing myself for the moment to be
more seriously hurt than | really was, and
rendered additionally savage by this very
circumstance, | prccipitated myself upon
the hali-breed without a moments pause !;
he made blow at me with the club rife,
but | evadcd it aud closed with him. He
proved TO be much stronger than autici-
pated, Judging from his height and build,
but still no match for me for at that Pc
riod l was man Of more than average
strength, and the Indian rarely possesses
the muscle Of the white man. In fact,
conscious Of his iricriority in this respect
he invariably avoids, if possible, engaging
i'll haud-;o-haud encounter with him.
The Struggle for the possession Of the
ride lasted less than a minute, and having
by one supreme effort wrested it from my
antagonist, uttcriDg short, sharp excla-
nation Of rage at finding himself baillcd,
he turned and fed into the forest.
For a moment was sorely tempted to
follow him, for my blood was thoroughly
up but the increasing darkness warned
me that this was impractcablc. Indeed
familiar as :he hat-breed doubtless was
with every intricacy Of the forest, to have
pursued him, would, updcr any circum.
stances most probably have been futile.
now looked around me to sec what
bad become Of the wagon, for the horse
left to his own guidance, had trotted of
as soon as | had quilted the vehicle.
found that he had stopped, of his own ac
cord about couple Of hundred yards eff,
and was quietly cropping the grass by
the wayside.
L got into the wagon, resolved to re-
turn to Babylon at once, and give infor.
nation OF what hod occurred, in order tha
early the following morning the woods
might be secured (and [ knew they
would be, thoroughly for the half-breod
Indeed, even if | bad not felt it my duty
on public as well as private grounds to
do this, to have continued my journey
that night would have been impossible
for, long before | could reach Centreville
the last train would have left for Brook
lyn.
The atmosphere was oppressvely close
not breath Of air was stirring anC
heavy masses of black cloud were slowly
rising in the woast Hitherto, haC
been too preoccupied to notice these in
dications Of an impending storm-bu
now tnat | observed them, [ felt that tht
warnings that they conveyed were not Il
be disregarded. [ hoped, nevertheless,t t,
be able to get back to the village, or al
events so far as the open road, along the
sca-shore, before the storm burst for
knew that [ should be subjected to con
siderable Inconvenience, if not positiv,
danger, il overtaken by it in the forest
therefore, Notwithstanding the darknes
tore along the road at rapid pace. Th
horse, indeed, seemed to sympatbize witt
my uneas'ness and scarcely needed urgiuj
to put forth his utmost speed.
| bad hardly ridden mile, however
when the low mutterngs of the approach
+ ing storm became distinctly audible. Th
wind began to sigh mournlully through
the trees, until at the expiration Of few
minutes, it Suddenly rose-as it frequent
does in these latitu1es-to a perfect hur
ricanc; tie tall pines bent before tn
blast ike grain ia harvest time branche
and even limbs, torn from their paten
trunks, strewed the road while, ever
now and again, was heard the crash 0
some falling tree, which weakened wit
age, was unable longer to withstand tn
fury Of the gale,
Flash after flash of the most vivi
ljihtniog | have almost ever beheld sue
cceled each other in rapid succession tn
heavy pcal- OF thunder reverbcratn
over my head the rain too, at interval,
came down in heavy showers 1t was il
iac:, as the f., +,ys in King Lear, "i
naughty nlght TO SWIM Ii.
At last, tc,riic flash Of lightniu
followed by the sharp report of the elec.
tric huid always makes when it strike.
warned me that new danger was in
pending that tree had been struck IAN
that, in all probability, the woods woul
shortly be oo fire. Nor was | mistaken
In less time than | could have believe
/ it possible for the flames to become vsi
) bic, lurid glare to the right, APPARENT
about mile distant, proved that the for
est in that direction had become a pre-
to the devouring element.
No rain had fallen for the previous 81
weeks, and Notwithstanding it was nov
coming down rather heavily, the fir
spread amongst the dry resinous pin
trees with fearful rapidity, threatening t