The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1875-05-13

7 All that night we stumbled along the
} bottom of the rayine like men cropping
, in tunnel. sitting down every now and
| then to rest; but when day came we saw
the rocks on each side getting lower and
7 lower, and the great black pit spreading
, out broader and shallower till at last, a
: little after sunrise, we came out into the
forest agsin. But just then the other
niger sat down and put his hand to his
t side.
"No can 60 farther, senor!"
) ran up to him, and blest if he hadn't
t got big bullet-wound in his side from
last nights scrimmage, and the brave
! fellow had actually dragged on all night
without saying word about it lest he
|. should keep US back. | sat down and
took his head on my knee, and he died
as quietly as a child: and we covered
him with leaves and left him living there
in the bright morning sunshine, and
went forward on our weary tramp again.
1t was harder than ever for US now,
for we had eight loads among six men,
and already l could see one of the Span.
lards beginning to stagger and the old
Indian trembling like leaf. Then
horrible kind of fear crept over me that
we should keep on dropping that way,
4
left, and then-but at that thought |
threw up my arms and gave sort of
yell like man starting up from a bad
dream. But Seth punched me in the ribs
with his elbow, and whispered:
"Sh! don't frighten the rest"
And | set my teeth and choked it
| down.
| 1t may have been an hour or two after
| this-I was beginning to lose all count
of time now-that Seth, who had got
| little ahead of the rest, suddenly sang
| out:
"Hurrahr
We all looked up.
Here's somethin' civilized at last, by
oe-cake~ says he. "Guess we've struck
| the right track without KNOWN it. Look
here" Si
just in front of us was a gully about
forty feet deep, through which ran
small stream, and across it lay bridge
not one of the rope bridges you see in |
Lower Peru, but good solid wood-two |
long beams from bank to bank, with |
cross-pieces lashed to them, just like the |
sleepers on railway. Then we all |
shouted at once and stepped out to cross |
it; but, all in a moment, the poor old In !
dian, who was one of the hindmost,
lurched over the edge, and went slap |
down into the water, and the gold he |
carried Just sunk him like a stone
Whether he'd got hurt in the fight too,
or whether he was just tired and dizzy
like the rest of us, | can't say-but down
he went, and we never saw him more.
SO now we were cut down to five, and
had lost our guide into the bargain.
That's bad job" says Seth; "but
never mind, boys-we must jest steer by
the light of patlIrf Whar tharfS I
bridge like that thar oughtcr be a trail
somewhat"
Sure enough there was a trail, and we
tried to follow it, but we soon lost it
again, and tramped on all day at hap
hazard trying to steer by the sun.
Toward evening we halted to eat, and
then pushed on again hOt-foot for that
was the last of our provisions.
Just as the moon arose we came upon
a gully with bridge across it, and there
we all stopped dead and looked at each
like to thnl one of the lRWGefF WERE lost IN
a tropical forest, our guide gone. every {
man of us as weak as a child and not q
morsel of food left!
"Well, boys" says old Seth (who was |
our main stay throughout), were IN a I
kind of fix; thar amt no denyin' 1t. :
Naow. | calc'late this bridge amt been '
long built by the look of it, and SO, IN
stead O. goin' losin' ourselves outer
way, guess we'll just stick
here till some party picks us up-lt
won't be long, | reckon. That's my !
idee; how does it strike yew?"
We all agreed at once; and, indeed, we !
were too far gone now for any more |
marching. So we sat down there Tor I
~. >rp1l "A c w cplIl1
and irving to shoot game between whlles.
But our ewes were too dim and our
haxds too shaky for that; and the birds I
and monkeys scurried past, chatterlng (
and screaming as if in mockery. And at
last we couldn't keep 1t off any longer,
and it came.
The Spaniards died first, and no won
der, poor fellowsl for, though some OF !
them are as brave men as ever stepped,
they haven't the pith and fiber of an
Englishman The Portigee held out
longer, for he'had the heart of lion;
but at last he went too, and old Seth and
| were left alone.
Seth" says /, "let's bury these poor
fellows while we can; for if they're lett
lying here, and our hunger gets worse,
we might be driven to-you know"
So we wrapped the poor fellows IN
each, and rolled them over the edge OF
the ravine down into the water. We
buried the gold too and marked the spot
in case anything should turn up to save
us at the last AMI then we lay down
again, as if we had nothing left to do but
to die.
And after that everything seems
blurred and hazy, like an ugly dream.
The trees and the rocks and the sky
seemed to go round and round in awhlrl,
and old Seth stood up as tall as stceple,
and great black things came out OF the
bushes and made faces at me; and then l
was sitting under the old tree in the
churchyard at home and heard my OLD |
mothers voice (who's been dead this hve |
and twenty years. as plain as print, TIL |
all at once there were mems faces ana |
mems voices all around us and l ielt |
somebody lifting my head and pouring
something into my mouth, and then
tainted right off.
We had been picked up by party
csming back from the mines and they
carried US down with them to africa, and
when we got round again we went back
and dug up the gold and gave Jumping
lot of il to the wives and children of the
poor fellows that had died for us.
But when | got back after that last
| weeks work my hair was quite gray-as
gray as you see it now. And that's all
the story.-GTaphtc.
Big Words.
| 4 citizen of Baltimore has been hunting