The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1878-01-25
By ALFRED s. HORSLEY.

1
from which keen wind had that day
swept much of the snow, and, as /
hoped, had left an. excellent surface on
which to skate. Discarding snow
shoes, / buckled on my skates, and
was speedily skimming the lower
reaches of the lake, which is some five
miles long. Past low islets did / hur-
| ~, where stunted birch and low pine
were alike smothered in snow; past
larger isles of heaped-up granite, re-
minding me in shape of Ellen's Isle
IN Loeb Katrine; then along an open
stretch, till, towards ten O'Clock, i
neared the upper waters, where L had
| heard the trout were most taken. At
length halted about a mile from the
| upper end, which was shrOuded in
lark pine woods. These skirted the
lake half mile in front of me, while
behind, at the same distance, rose the
rock shores, casting a long line of
darkness, which lost itself in the di-
rection by which | had come. Every
here and there a dark peak rose up
clear-cut against the wOndrOus azure
sky. Fortunately for me, there was
not breath of wind stirring, or /
| could not have remained motiOnless IN
| my exposed position.
"To break a hole with my Jenny
| did not take long, and then, with my
rifle and Jenny by my side, l dropped
| in my two lines, and, while waiting
| for bite, had IiesJITe- TO look around.
| The perfect stiffness of the spot was
| almost awful. Once in five minutes
| or so an owl hOOted from the pine
| woods, but Immediately silence re-
Sumed its sway. TO me, fresh from
England, the serenity of the helandscape
was very striking. No distant watch
| dog baTked; no rumble of a train fell
on the ear; no clock from the village
! church or squire's stables struck the
hour, as it would do, | reflected, were
| | in England. Animal life was hushed.
All creatures were in covert, COVER
| ing under the might of frOSt. 1t was
curious that | had not even seen
wolf. Hah. there was one slowly and
steadily emerging from the pines in
| front of me; but at that instant l
! found the ice closing ia upon my hole,
and had to use my Jenny. When |
again looked, the wolf had approached
within sixty yards to recOnnOitre, and
| amused myself watching his pro-
ceedings. Just then Il strong pull
told me I had a fish, and | stopped to
haul in the line. This was a most
fortunate movement, as at that same
| instant an arrow WhiZZed over me,
just grazing my cap, while the wolf
awkwardly shambled backwards II
few PAGES. In mOmont | took in
the situation. The supposed wolf was
really an Indian, and | had had a
narrow escape from his arrow. Be
fore doing anything else | secured my
trout, a beautiful tWO-pOunder, broke
his neck as | had done Oh many Il
Welch stream while hy-fshing in old
days, and picked up my rifle. Hastily
feeling for cartridge in my pouch,
horror of horrors! cold pcrspiratiOn
broke out as | realized the fact that i'll
my hurry | had left my ammunition
ut home. II was not pleasant situa-
ton, for was at the mercy Of the
Indian brave, who might shoot me
when he chose. \ thousand times
did inveigh against my folly in ever
undertaking 50 absurd an adventure
filter for IA medieval knight errant
than modern lover. But at least |
had my revolver, and, in order to
blind the Indian, | walked forward Il
few PAGES, raised my rifle, and took
aim, firing at the same time the re-
volver. Instantly the wolfstarted up,
and, gathering his robes round him,
middle-aged Indian bounded to-
wards the covert in front. Now was
my time. | too gathered up my traps,
and, after waiting some little time to
show that ! was not afraid, during
which lost another trout, | leisurely
started homewards, keeping d good
lookout, and standing well out on the
open lake.
| had hardly taken dozen strides
when deserted the Indians floating
plumez emerging from the pines at
the edge of the lake, and striking out
into the centre of the lake after me.
He had either seen through my plan,
or was determined to transfiX me with
his arrows before | could hit him with
my rifle balls, | insensbiy quicilened
my pace, My skates had last done
duty on the Serpentine, but ! was used
to them, and knew they would not
| fail me in my need. | was not afraid
of the Indian running me down so
! long as no accident tTipped me up: but
! II was important to reach the other
end of the lake, with a small margin
of time to admit of my kicking the
skates off and taking to my snow
| shoes, when | could easily distance my
pursIIer, who Ifancied only had skates.
! With this view | sped on past the is
! Iet and wooded point, and dark rock
wall, while the Indian, after one
shrilI whoop, which reused the echoes
! far and wide, also settled down in
close pursuit. Faster and faster did /
skate The rocks and trees seemed TO
sweep past me as they do from the win
dow of an express train. ] could not
! have stopped if ] would; still the thin
steel blades struck the ice and glinted
off with automatic precision; but still
! the Indian kept his place behind me,
never gaining much, but evidently
straining every nerve to cause his
clumsy skates to keep up with my
perfect ones. EDWARDS ] rushed faS-
ter than ever; earth and ice and shores
seemed to fly past me like phantOmS,
and / to be bourne through space; but
my shadow still pursued rClentlcssly,
like the slow but sure pace of the wolf
which he had just now initiated. At
length, when | was at my best pace,
an arrow rushed past me and glided
along the ics in front. Something
would have to lie done ut once, | felt,
or should speedily bc struck. | had
marked on my upward course a rocky
peninsula which iutted into the lake
and abruptly terminated. J must
gain this il possible. The act of firing
had somewhat retarded the Indian,
and had again shot ahead, when |
made Il stumble and half gave my
self up; but | staggered on and re-
gained my equilibrium, though the
Indian by tins accident also rGSalned
the ground he had lost. Now | saw
) the rocky wall, Il quarter of a mile in
, front. The other side would lie i'm
} complete gloom; if could only reach
that haven of safety ! might sell my
life on more even terms. Therefore !
dropped the Jenny athwart the path,
and had the satisfaction on turning to
: find that it had trippcd up the Indian,
, who was, speedily, however, on his
feet again careering over the pure
. chrystalline pavement as before. If
ANYTHING, he was gaining on me, for
the pace was beginning to tell; and,
though the steel blades below my feet
seemed to flash fire-so swiftly did !
sweep on-every moment expected
to feel IN arrow pierce my back. 1t
= was decidedly an awkward adventure,
and / isshed myself we'll out of it,.
Not three minutes passed in reality
before | neared the bluff, though it
| seemed am age; and then, having tai
ken care to draw near it gradually, /
= suddenly wheeled round to the left,
! and was safe i'm Il moment in the
l darkness. Now was my time. Driv-
. ing my heels well into the ice, up