The Manitowoc tribune. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1866-1878, 1874-11-26

ragged and storned over jutting black
rocks. and dressed their sides III sheeny
coats Of crystal There was Joy IN
every drop Of it, and ecstacy IN every
atom OF the whistling air that poured
along the river. And the thunder of the
mighty food was the most sublime Of
harmony. o, cold night, cool water,
vast storm OF music that reVerberated
and pealed, the voices of air and flood !!
I had no fear of the wall of stone that
rose, like an impossible barrier, across
| the track Of the current. My little bark
swerved around it, and shot away far
beyond into the placid places, past the
fleeing shores, to the great sea itself.
Clouds came over the face OF the moon
-rough-edged piles Of cloud that rose
up, swar5 and rugged, from the bosom
| of the ocean. lightning quTered across
them. It grew dark. From far Off l
heard the moaning Of the wind, the
complaining voices that blended and
cried in distant cries, and came ever to-
ward me, driven by the crash OF thund-
| er across the troubled sea-the sea whose
| face grew black and ridged and swollen,
that heaved under me IN great troubled
hills OF brine. The lightning flashes
showed me the breeze-rUfled valleys be-
tween the long green waves, with their
names of gray. The vapors, the light
ming, and the tumbling sea metin savage,
colossal kisses the rain fell and met the
salt, scudding spray. Everywhere was
water wafer! The sir was full of it,
| the sea flung Of It's wet treasure lavishly
| to the clouds. I rode mountains Of it,
catacacts Of it fell upon me. [ was wild
with the Joy Of water! l screamed with
delight. I kicked the boat from under
me ; with a cry and a leap / threw myself
into the bilows-aoft, plant pillows
that opened under me and let down,
down, with the swift descent of @ stone
dropped over a precipice into-air Hot,
bEstering, moistureless air. The sea
had eIuded me and dropped upon the
baking ground.
There I lay, awakened. Ny tongue
ratified in my mouth, dry and hard. The
muscles Of my throat were cracked and
rigid. O, the agony Of my soul and the
| anguish Of my body, as I tried to speak
q prayer, and could not lisp a syllable.
ssGod help mel" I shriel1ed in my
mind. I knew I must die there alone,
watched only by the great eye of the sun
and the lesser moon that the hooking
stars would blink ut me cut Of that cruel
blue sky, as I lay shriveled, sbrown, and
dead, for many o burning night. Would
never a drop OF dew fal2 II it ever
rained in that blasted land, why could
not the rain fall then? In countless
ages, perhaphs, never had need for wat
e. been felt in that place, but the clouds
had emptied themselves upon the IN
grateful sand millions of times. Meyer
q fieck Of nimbus spotted the terrible
dome now, when in all the sun-burned
history Of that place a drop Of moisture
would have done most good-would
have saved o human life.
How my head throbbed! Ny sight
dirnned and Frightened and dimmed
again thousand times minute, I
thought. I Glanced TO fling my hand
down toward my side, and itlghted up
on flask Of brandy that hung there. I
had known of this all The time, but even
in the most VIOLENT paroxysns Of thirst
I mad refraiDed from tasting it, for I
knew fire lurlzed in it, biting as any
without. But now, as my hand struck
the little bottle, and Jared it, thegurgle
Of the fluid drove away the last trace Of
reason, and set me entirely mad. cit is
we5!" 7 cried, II agU drink" The
words never passed my lips, but howl
ed them to myself with all the energy of
q maniac. ''Better this than arid death. %
I put it to my mouth, and the stream
/ Of damned hqu0r ran down NY throat,
in the first instant cooling and fresh, in
/ the next
What had I done! Fire Firel I
had drunk fluid fire, and 1t penetrated
my veins II . second Of time! ! felt II
shoot and culver along every nerve, I
/ fals ny yitaIs crumble into ashes at its
awful touch F; my eyes shot fire, and
Oh heagen The world was all
afiamal
LuTid points Of dull fame shona in
the crevioes OF the hills. lambert al
ool2olic flames flashed out Of the ground
and vanished. Great sheets of fame
stretched from one mountain peak to
another, and tongues Of fame snapped
across the valley. Mountains Of smoke
blotted oue the SKY black darkness fell
upon the world, across which played the