Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1875-03-18

hoecu lucLy Will Jul Sai biiAOo oh Jul
shoulders, and our faring pine-knot
torches-for the night was dark as pitch.
My dog went, too. He's getting oldish
now, and had rather sleep in the sun, or
by the kitchen fire, than climb the rocks
but then, his eyes were as sharp as
fox's, and he was ready for any frolic.
Heaven forgive me, though, for calling
that frolic
"Wal, as 1 said, we started twelve
strong, and Boz went with us, and the
people stood at their doors, and bid us
'Godspeed,' and watched us, as they
said afterwards, for miles and miles, by
means of the light from our torches.
We waded brooks, and climbed over
trees and jagged points of stone ; we
hollered till we were hoarse, and we
crawled on our hands and knees into
caves, with our guns between our teeth,
thinking they might be bears dens, but
we didn't find trace of little Susan.
her; we could not go back so, and We
kept on. At last, our torches went out,
and we could do nothing more, for we
had got among the rocks, by the ice
caverns, and step might send us to our
deaths. The wind rose, too, all of
sudden, and cut against Us sharp like
knife. We huddled closer together, and
sat benumbed and discouraged, waiting
for the morning.
"Some of us thought it would never
come. / know / prayed for mother and
the girls, for when it blew colder and
colder, and 1 began to be drowsy, / was
afraid / should never see them again. /
tried to keep awake, but could not. 1
guess that was the case with the rest, for
nobody stirred, and the wind went down,
and it grew deathly still. tried to
speak, but my tongue Glove to the roof
of my mouth tried to turn, to move,
but was like log. Then at last 1
didn't care to try any longer, and the
silence was deader than ever.
By-and-by heard music-faint, far
off, as it were. 1t seemed very pleasant,
lying there, listening to it. / thought
it might be angels singing. But all at
once, the sweet solemn chant rose into a
wild Methodist hymn.
"Even Boz knew it. He sprang away
with quick short bark, and we, stand
ing up, all our drowsiness gone like
magic, gave a shout that rang through
the wilderness, and awoke a thousand
echoes. We were sure now that the
child was found, for it was her favorite
song we had Just heard-one that she
had sung to us hundreds of times before.
Sc Susan Gordon-Susan Gordon, we
cried, where are your
"Then we held our brea his to listen
for an answer and it came, SO clear and
steady that we caught every syllable.
Herein an ice-cave 1 have fallen
through cant get up.
eve each shook each others hands,
and Rugged each other about the neck,
us great men but we couldn't help it,
and we shouted again:
Are you hurt Can you stay there
a little longer, till the day breaksl'
"sAll right = was the answer, as steady
as before. Il can wait
Then we watched eagerly for the
dawn, keeping pretty still again; but this
time, because we were so thankful-oh,
SO thankful /! 1t was not very long,
though, it seemed to us, before the air
grew gray. But every little while we
would call to Susan, and she would call
back and Boz, who had gone straight
to the cave where she was, through the
would bark, and so we cheered
ourselves little. But when at last it
was light enough for MS to venture
when at last we crept into the ice-cave
where Susan was when we saw the
great layers of ice piled all around us
it nerer melts in those caves, you know
when we felt the dreadful chill, and
thought of the brave heart that delicate
child had kept up all through the long
night, and how her song had saved us
from what might have been our last
sleep, we felt like going down on our
knees before her, and blessing her, for
our guardian angel.
here Uncle Ben always drew
a long breath, and long Whit of his
pipe together" we get her ont at last,
by lettin down ropes, and then we al
most quarreled as to who should carry
her home. Joe Biddles took her-he's
the blacksmith down in the village, and
stands six feet high, with shoulders to
match, besides belonging to the State
militia-and says he:
"'Tm the biggest, and I'll have. her.
cts see the man 90 ahead of me F"