The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1877-05-11
THE ICE RAFT.

"Gou had better uot cross the lake to-
night. stranger. Wait until morning when
You can see your way. The ice IL getting
weak. and there aIe holes in many places
which make it dangerous for those not used
To the way
'.ISut | know every inch of this lake,
landlord. Many ave the tunes wt"n there
was moi a house along it's shore that have
trapped half the autumn and winter in
sight Of il, and more times than one built
my camp tiIe on the ice, and sought the
fish beneath it, Thank We kindly for the
warning. but if these chaps d"n't back ont.
veil 90 over the lake I" night."
.'No danger of that, Ben" SAID |. "We
are in a hurry to get home aS soon pos
sihle, and we had rather walk Tonight than
not. How far do you call it across, lanG-
loud ?"
..Sume fifteen miles. I think, to the
npaIes: poiut Of land but | should've t
wonder if you had to go further than that
Tonight. the river hat comes i'll at the
head of the lake iS open, and it is very
likely it has thawed quite a channel dawn
into the lake. However. you can keep
stIaig ht across, and if you find tha: To he
the case, you can follow it down until you
come to the IN ice. III may lake a HltIe
extra travel, that is all.
..The mo III Will be up Ivy that time"
said. 1T rises at ten. and the rivcI, you
saw is we'll over to the other side. That
will give us light to get across the channel
wi,lIrut danger
.Mnn or no moon, can cross the lake, ="
broke in Ben. There is not spot |
should not know with my eyes shut. he
cul rent is tletty strong there, but do not
fIIuk il has been warm enough yet thdw
,,I,en the lake but if it has, 1t VIII only
make Il matter of lille more travel. We
must iun the risk, and take the shortest
cut across.
Take care and not 90 underthe ice, aud
look out for the wolves, shouted the land
lold as Il last caution.
"Th,m varmiuts won't be apt to trouble
lis 10 night. unless there is big pack hang
ing round the shore, aud tie wind should
be right for them to scent us. a lew al
'cm never venture out in an open space
ike this. Tie aneaking varmints ain t got
no courage unless there is Il crowd uf 'etn
together
A word now as to where we were and
whittier bound and then We go on with our
story.
There were .hree Of us-Frank Hardy.
Rem Grant. and myself Frank and | had
| beeu az, business some hundred miles from
! the Canadian town in which we resided.
| "A d when just on the point Uf returning by
! The same route we had come. we lti III
| With s.Old Ben''-so he was known among
/ the trainers and tratieIS-wIth whom we
| we're well acquainted. aud who, learning
| ,nr intention ot Immediately setting out
| for home, prevailed u1'on us To accompany
| him. taking short cut across the conn
try," toy doing which we should save near
| " a thiid of the distance.
We wanted to see :hat part of Canada.
and we liked the society at Old Ben, s" we
| providrd ou selves with snow shoes. Tor "
nas the first of March. and the snow stlll
! Law as drcp as :n midwin'er.
| w. ver, armed each of us, with rifle
and while Frank and mad laIge KNAPP
saek. i'm which we carried a su ply Ut food,
| which we should stand in need oi. as. ac-
ending to his reckoning, we should touc'
| 1T I'm, one ot two set dement's on our route;
! ,r1 alihnual, we had our rides Ia derend
| u,,,u for food, it was the season when
| game is scarce.
| The inst dav Of onr tramp, along about
! tbc middle of the afternoon. we renched
,he little settlement on lie shore at the
! lake. where we stopped aud rested ourselves
| uutil the sun went down, when. as VIC were
| n,er,riup to set out. the conversation en-
| .ued thai we have already chronicled. 1he
/ SIM had gone down. and one by one the
sta,s were coming ont and taking thei'
! paces in the great blue vault above us,
| when we turned our backs upon the land
lord AND his cabin. aud struck out uI"n th'
ice that covered the busom of the lake
flecked here and there WITH patches 4"
| suow The surface was so slippery tha
we found we could make little headwa,
| with our snow-sboes on so we cook thciI
off and strapped them upon our backs, afie
! We had gone shoi: distance from the shore