The Douglas independent. [volume] (Roseburg, Or.) 187?-1885, 1878-11-02

the Lorelei. He opened his lips to pro
pose the abandonment of the whole pro |
iect, but the fear Of ridicule that fear
which has been the destruction of many
a gallant man) withered the wholesome
impulse, and the favorable moment went
by forever.
Morning at last-a bright, breezy,
glorious Summer morning, over which
all things in earth and heaven seemed to
rejoice. The blue skies, the waving
woods, the green, sunny slopes, the
broad, bright stream of the great river
itself, all seemed to smile welcome to
the eyes that might SO very soon be
closed forever. Even the two English
athletes, absorbed as they were in their
perilous enterprise, felt the influence of
the hour, and muttered with involuntary
admiration:
"What royal dayl"
One vigorous stroke sent the light
boat out into the swift, dark current,
down which it shot like an arrow from
the bow. Rocks, trees, houses seemed
racing past on either side. No need to
strain at the oars now! all that could be
done with them was to keep the boats
bow perfectly straight, so as to offer as
little space as possible to the rush of cur
rent which seemed well able to carry off
an entire city.
Suddenly there came dizzy plunge
Ia shock that threw both men from
their places-and all around was one
boiling whirl of foam, and the boat was
flung to and fro, and dashed up and
down, amid an uproar that seemed to
rend the very sky. For one feverish
moment life and death seemed to hang
by single hair; and then the two dar-
ing men found themselves floating on
the border line of calm water that sep
arated the first fall from the worse peril
of the second.
'tHurrah" shouted Montague, glee-
fully, "who can say that it can't be done,
nowl Keep her straight ahead Sed my
boy, and we'll come out right yet.
The triumphant cheer was answered
by cry of dismay from the shore and
the two oarsmen, looking up, beheld
Marion Wentworth rushing distractedly
toward the edge of the high bank that
overhung the second falling, followed
by Montague's English servant. At
the sound of his betrotheds voice, Mon
tague turned his face toward her and
waved his hand cheerily: and seldom has
any painter conceived such picture as
the one that moment branded forever
the memory of those who saw it. The
stern black rocks on the other hand,
fecked with the living green by the
shrubs that clung to their craggy sides;
the vast hill of leaping foam, half way
down which the boat hovered like leaf;
the rainbow arch that spanned the black
howling gulf beneath; the glory of the
sunrise stealing softly into the pure,
peaceful sky, in strange contrast with
the rock-rending uproar below; the stall
wart figures of the two gallant lads
straining every nerve to accomplish their
perilous task; the handsome, reckless
face of the 'last of the Montagues, ("
with a gay smile on his short curved
lip, and an ominou, glitter in his large
dark eyes.
"Good morning, my pet, cried he
gayly, "you are just in time for the end
of the play"
These were the last words that vis-
count Montague ever spoke That mo-
mentary negligence had allowed the
boats head to deviate slightly from the
direct line, and in an instant the whirl
of the current threw it's side full against
the rush of the tremendous cataract
One frantic struggle to regain the lost
ground, and then boat and men vanished
forever into the mist of the roaring
abyss below.
From that fatal hour life was over
for the Glover of Kent" All that re-
manned of the once bright and beautiful
girl was pale, SILENT joyless phantom
"a body, as it We're, without soul.
Neither the tender care of her heart
broken mother, nor the skill of the most
accomplished physicians, nor even the
sight of her dead lovers home (the
burning of which, on the very day
of its masters death, fulfilled, by mere
coincidence, the dismal prediction availed
aught to break that deadly ethargy
which she endured for the remainder of
her brief life, checkered only by the
spasms of convulsive agony invariably
produced by the one sound which her
ear still had power to recognize-the
sound of rushing water.