The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1872-06-06

bya sound strange indescribable sound
heavy, mutf1ed, as Of mighty forces at
work in the heart of the mountain. T
stood still held my BREATH fancied
felt the SOLID rock vibrate beneath nv
eet! Then it flashed upon me that must
now be approaching that part of the cal,
lery behind which the waterfall was con.
Quoted, and That what | heard was the
mnttled roar Of IT. descent At the same
moment, CHANGING TO look down at nv
teet, l. "a W that the road was an inch deep
IN running water from wall to wall.
Now, lawyer as | am, and ignorant Of
the first principles Of civil engineering,
felt sure that this much praised Herr
Becker should at least have made his tun-
nj water light. That it leaked some-
where Was plain, and that it should be
suffered II g on leaking to the disoom
fort of travellers was simply intoler4blc
An inch o water, for Instance was more
than--ln inch, did l say? Gracious
heavens Since the moment looked it
had risen to ,hree--jt was closing over
my bonts--it was becoming rushing
torrent
In that instant a great horror fell upon
me--the horror of darkness and sudden
stock and fled for nv life. Fled blindlv.
hreathlessly, wildly, with The horrible
grinding sound of the i'm Orisoned water.
fall in my ears and the gathering torrents
at my heels
I Never while I live Shall I forget the
agony OF those next few seconds-the icy
nunbness selling on my limbs-the sud
den, frightful sense of impeded resDir4,
tlon-the wa.er rising, eddying, clamor-
ing, pursuing me, passing me-the swirl
of 1t, as it flashed past each loophole in
succession-the rush with which CAS- [
strained on to the mouth of the gallery,
1ow not dozen yards distan) it leaped
out into the sunlight like living thing,
and dashed to the precipice
AZ that supreme instant, as / had dart
ed out through the echoing arch and stag
gered few PAGES up the road. u deafeu-
ing report, cracking, hurried, tremend-
Gus, like the explosion Of mine, rent the
air and reused hundred echoes. 1t was
followed by q moment Of strange and ter
rible suspense Then, with deep AID
sullen roar, audible above all the rolling
thunders of the mountain round, mighty
wave smooth, solid, CLASSY, like an At.
lantic wave on an English western coast
came cleaning up the mouth Of the
tunnel, paused as it were, upon the thresh-
old, reared its majestic crest, curved,
trembled, burst In cataract Of foam, food
ed the road for yards beyond the spot
where | was cllngng TO the rock like
llmpet, and rushing back again, as the
wave rushes down lie beach, hurled itself
over the cliff, and vanished in q c'oud of
m ST.
After this the imprisoned food came
pouring out unanimously for several
minutes, bringing wi it fragments of
rock and masonry and filing the road
with debris; but even this disturbance
presently subsidized and almost as soon as
the last echoes of the explosion had died
away the liberated waters were ripping
pleasantly along their new bed, sparkling
out into the sunshine as they emerged
from the gallery and gliding in a smooth
CONTINUOUS stream over the brink Of the
preclplce, thence to fall, in multitudinous
Way folds and wreaths of pri8matic mists,
into the valley two thousand feet below.
For myself, drencbed to the skin as [
was, could do nothing but turn back
and follow meekly in the track of Eyer
ton Wolfe and Peter Kaufman. HJw
did SO dripping and weary, and minus my
AlpenstOck how arrived at the chalet
about sunset, shivering and hungry, just
in time to claim my share Of a capital
cmelette and dish Of mountain trout;
how the Swiss Press rang with my escape
for at least pine days alter the event;
how. the Herr Becker was literally CEN
sured for his defective engineering and
how Egerton Wolfe believes to this day
that his brother Lawrence came back
from the dead to save US from utter des.
tructlon, are matters upon which it were
needless to dwell in these pages Enough
that | narrowly escaped with my life, land
that, had we gone on, as we doubtless
should have gone Oh but for the delay
consequent upon my illusion, we should
most probably have been in the heart of
the tunnel at the time of the explosion,
and not one left to tell the tale.
Nevertheless, my dear friends, do not
boIieve-and I have made up my mind
never to believe-in ghosts.
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