The Lamoille news. (Hyde Park, Vt.) 1877-1881, 1878-11-20


welcomed her coming escape from it,
till they shot into eternity amid the tur-
MOL of waters below.
"Even while this was for an instant
flashing through my bewildered brain
was entering the very heart of the
thunder OF the fall. Moments only
separated me from my release from
agony. But the Indian stoicism was
foreign to me; 1 could have yelled
aloud in the terror that possessed me.
I dared not await seated the awful
last moment that was SO near. / faced
my fate; turned I; I stood up. look.
ed straighi head to where the curving
waters "a.s aFlauncL l.,e to peace eter.
nal.
"The flood had scarcely a ripple on
its surface"
" Was it real Within few yards of
the awful brink the canoe had shot by
flat speck of rock that off the shores of
Goat island lay stirless on the very
edge of the abyss.
"With hardly conscious effort in
passing I had sprung to the slippery
surface. That moment had saved me
from instant annihilation. The canoe
was gone. was standing, as yet alive,
while, almost washing my very feet, the
sea of waters hurried on-on-on either
side of me, and disappeared.
Il gasped cry of blessing for de-
liverance. DeliveranceP Was it de-
liverance ? For how longp 1 yet
breathed, but who would, who could,
save me from the rushing flood that
tore past me, from the laundering cata-
ract that fell almost within reach of my
touch?
"Oh, heaven What had saved
life for? For prolonged agony For
such misery as must end in starvation,
madness, suicide? Could my mind long
bear the strain now upon it? How
could it?
"Let your eyes skirt the rounding
edge of this nearest fall. You can see
the very rock I was on. 1t looks but
yards from the larger space of Goat
island, but those yards were as bad as
miles. They were an impossible gulf
between me and the stretch of rock that
seems so near.
"What were my chances of escape I?
Dared hope there were anyP I was
almost too wild with terror to think at
all. Yet the brain seemed fevered with
life in such moments.
"Should I be starvedp Should I
slide into the rushing tide from cold and
exhaustion9 Would sheer, unbearable
terror fling me to death from my utter
to endure the horror that
possessed me?
"What could be done for me? Was
rescue possible? Gould a boat be
foated in any way down to me? Even
if it could be guided to so small a point,
could I dare to trust myself to it?
81 looked to this very rock on which
we stand. Here, on this spot, 1 saw a
throng of excited spectators. 1 was
seen; and who could see human being
in such peril and not family share the
terror that feltP
"I could hear the calls of men to me
to have heart. I could catch cries to me
that I should be saved. I could see
women wild with pity. All what could
their pity do for me Yet that, perhaps,
was the saving of my life. Anything
anything to make me forget the ever
rushing waters that increasingly flashed
by my feet and disappeared.
"Men were crowding the river bank.
They were consulting, 7 could.see, excit-
edly, debating what should be done.
There is a rush of some from the
crowd. Time passes, ages to me in my
agony. At last boat comes, borne on
the shoulders OF boatmen at a run. They
lay ii at the waters edge. There is q
rush of others with coil of cable, not a
rope; rope they knew would be murder.
81 see them boring the boats sides
the cable through-knotting
it-nailing it securely.
"The boat is towed along the still
side-water far up stream. The crowd
follow it. What will they do? What
sane being will venture his life to save
mine9 Delayl delay They have
stopped. Talkl chatter will they
never act I? Oh, dear God, help him
bless him A canoe pulls out from the
shore with the boat in tow The canoe,
as we'll as the boat, has cable secured
to it, by which those on the bank regu-
late it's drift down stream. How strong.
ly it struggles up and out into the full
flood | Both cables are secured round
trees and paid out by numbers.
"Fighting up and across the tide
drifting down it as the cables slack theil
length, I watch--with what hungerine
eyes-the canoe steal inch by inch tc
where it and the boat it holds are in {
line with my feet. The set of some cur
rent drifted me to the rock I stand on
The boat lie detached, straining on th'
cable, guided, too, by rope from th'
nearly stationary canoe. The curren
sets it toward me. 1t is brought up b,
the strain of the cable ashore. Still j
drifts nearer and nearer.
"There are moments in life tina
swallow up all the rest of existence il
our memories. They haunt us awake
We dream them always. If I shoul
be a Methulselah with centuries q