The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1879-01-10


into eternity amid the he'll of waters be.
low.
Even while this was for an instant
flashing through my bewildered brain
VAS entering the very heart of the thunder
! m the tall. Moments only separated me
from my release nom agony. But the In-
dIan Si"Iclsm was foreign To me | could
have yelled alUud in the terror that nos
| seSSed me.
Il dared not await seated the a~ ful last
moment that was So near | fac.d nv
! fate | turned l stood up | lookcd
| stralghi ahead To where the cuTving waters
| were 20 launch me To- peace eternal
! " The Hood had scarcely "A ripple on its
surface.
WAS it real? Within n few wards of
the awfnl bIInk The canoe had shot by a
fiat sIrck of rock that off the shores OF
Goat Island lay stii less oD the very edge of
the abyss
'Wuh hardly cnnscious effort in pass
ing hac sprung To its shppe,y surface
That m"mcnt had saved me fium instant
annihilation The canoe WAS gone. was
standing as yet, alive, while, almost wash
! ing my very feet, tie SEA of waters hurried
on -"n-on either size of me, and disan
! peaIed.
! Il gasPed cry of blessing for deliver
ance. DelIve'arce Was it delivers ahce .
! For how long? | yet bfeathed, but VIM
ing flood that tore past me, from the thun>
/ derIng cataract, that fell almost within
reach of my touch
''Oh. heaven What had | saved life
/ for? For "a prolonging agony? For such
misery AS must eud IN starvation, madness.
SUICIDE? Could my miud long bear the
strain now upon IL? How COULD in Z?
Let your eye skirt the founding edge
/ of this nearest fall. Yuu can see the very
rock WAS ou. 1t l'sukS but wards fton,
/ the larger space of Goat Island, but those
! yards were ba0 as miles. they were
an impasEable gulf between me aud The
stretch of rnck that seems So near
~ hat we've my chances Of escape {?
! Dared | hope there were any? was al
most too wild with terror to think at Ali
ct the tram seemed ieveied with life in
sucn moments.
Should | be starved p? Should | slide
lnto the rushing tide from cold and ex
hausfIon? Would sheer, able ter
ror hIng me To death from my utter fnabIl-
Iiy to endure the hoITor that ppssessed me
What could he doue ior me {? Was res
cue possible Could boat be flnaied m
any way down u me? Even if IL cuuLi be
guiHed q" so small "a point, could | dare Il,
trust myself To II
would any rope he strong enough to
ofar the ioice that the mighty flood would
require u to endure aud overcome?
The i"Pe that might hold it till it toWe6 IL
to shole, aud /. is not It, would be where
my own canoe had gone
would human siren 9Th, could human
endeavor, snatch me from the doom tina.
bad ~ nearly already inpulfed me?
'All these ti,oughts were in my brain in
that instant, even while the very power To
think seemed frozen in me-
''liow could dare To see? | shrieked
to be senSeless. Oh, for madness. II mad
ness would rid meof the ter rur IIi my BRAIN.
M my very blond, that Was, rs it seemed
my lie that So possessed me. that existence
had room Tor nothing but unutterable nor
rur.
Il looked to this veiysrock on which we
stand. Here, 4l this SPOT, l saw "A throng
OF excted spectators. l Was seen : and
who could see human being in such peril
and not family share the terror that felt
Il could hear the calls of men te me To |
have hear. | could catch cries to me that !
l should be saved ] could sre women nd |
With pity. All, what could their pity do
Tor me Yet that, perhaps, was the saw !
ing "i my l'ie AnyiiiIng-amyIbiag To /
make me forget the ever -ruSbing waters !
that increasingly flashed by NY fest aud
Disappeared.
Men were cfowdiDg the river bank
They were consulting. could see, excIted-
~, debating what should 5,. done
here ia rush Of sone from the crowd. |
Time passes ages Ia me, in my agony. Al
Iisl o"at Comes, borne on the shoulders /
of O"a:uIen at a Tun. They lay u at The /
waters edge. Delay della, Oh. God I
Oh, 0od here is a lush of others with "A 4
con- oi cable, not rope rope they knew
would he murder
Il see tiiem boring the boats sides
passing The cable ihrough h-knoitinp It
mailing it'sccuIeiy.
wafer Tar mp stfeam. The crowd follow n
What viii they do? G1d what Will ,I,ev
do )? What sane being will venture his Iie
20 save mine? Delay delay They have
stopped. Talk chatter VIII they never
acI Oh, dear God. htlp him-bless hun
A CANOE pulls out from shore, with the
o"at IN tow. The cdnn, as we'll AS the
o''"'' mas u cable seemed tn it, 10y which
those on the bank regulate ITS drift down
stream How strongly ii struggles up aud
out into the full flood Both cables are
secured round trees aud paid out by num-
bers.
Fighting up and across The tide, drifted
down " as ihe Cables slack their length /
"aich-"ith what bungering eyes The
canoe steals il ch ly inch to where it aud
: he boat II holds are in line with my feet.
The set Of some current dIifted me to The
rock l stand on. The boat is detached,
sttaiuing Oh the cable, guided, too, by
rnpe from the nearly stationary canoe -
The Current sets it toward me. 1t is
brought up by the strain OF cable ashore.
Still It drifts nearer aud nearer
There are moments IN life that swallow
up all the rest of existence rn our nemo-
Iies. Tl.ey haunt us awake. We dream
them always. Ii should be MeiIluselah
with centuries OF breath it seems to me
one thought would always absorb all 9th.
ers, as Aaron's snake Gevoared Pharoall's
serpents.
Il remember nothing more but that
awoke out of a dteam of hell in bed al For
syth's. | was told | had been in n death
agony with brain fever. Wha. matIered
that? | WAS out of the torment of the
damned felt the biesscduess of peace,
OF safety, of Ire wrung frnm desth
They dared not tell me it il was real
that All am now telling you had been Hw-
Jul reality -that | had dared as the boat
dFiftsd abreast Of me to sask leap into 1t