Daily globe., 1879-01-26
Fighting the Storm.

"A fearful DAY, nei ghbor Scheffer!"
You say truly, neighbor Bait; there
has been nothing like it since the great
storm Of "a. Heaven have pity on us !''
So muttered to each other the villagers
OF i5eckondof;, as they crouched behind
the rocks along the river-bank in the
gray Of that wild March morning, with a
hurricane such as no living man could
remember rushing and roaring down the
valley. Young and old, even babies and
bedridden grAndmothers, were all gath
cred there; for it was no time to linger
within walls which cracked and groaaed
with every blast, and might at any mo-
ment come crashing down in one mass of
ruin.
Even in that sheltered spot the jackets
Of the men and the long hair of the wom-
en- flappcd in the wind like torn canvas;
but out in the open ground the fury of
the storm was fearful to look at. Tall
trees were bending like whips. huge
stones crashing down the surrounding
ridges, twigs and even large branches
flying through the air like straws; while
on the unsheltered uplands more than
one shepherds hut had been literally
blown to pieces, and lay strewn far and
wide ever the hillside, shapeless wreck
Of shattered ti1nbers.
But even more fearful was the sight Of
the flooded river below, which, swollen
by weeks OF rain, and lashed into fury bv
the tremendous gale, went foaming down
the narrow valley with roar that SEEM
ea to shake the very rocks that walled it
in; and as the peasants stood gazing at it.,
one OF them, a stalwart herdsman from
the upland pastures, pointed, with sud
den paleness on his sunburned features.
to the little cottage that stood on an
island in the centre of the stream. at the
window OF which human face had lust
shown itself
sits the ferryman and his family"
whispered one; "they haven't had time
to escape"
;"God help them, thenr' muttered an
other; "lt's all over with them now!
At that moment the clatter of hoofs
was heard along the stony road, and a
single horseman came tearing down to-
ward the bank, his white hair and his
horses name streaming on the wind like
pennon. A murmur ran through the
crowd as he approached: t'It's our mas.
ter-it's the Count of Hildesheim ="
Even before he reached the SPOT. the
Count had evidently seen the danger of
the island family; for his frs: words
were:
"Two hundred thalers to the man who
saves them. Who will go?"
The men looked at each other in ST.
lence. There were no faint hearts among
them; but the bravest man might we'll
have shrunk from that boiling whirl of
foam, in whose grasp the strongest boat
would have been nothing. More than
one eye kindled, more than one hand
clenched itself; but nobody stepped for
ward. And at that moment huge wave
went roaring up over the islet, and strik-
Ing the cottage wall, tour it away like
paper, while the shrieks of the children
and their mother. who were now plainly
visibly, were heard even above the howl
ing storm.
"Will you let them perish before your
eyess" roared the Count. "IfI were ten
years younger, I'd go myself!"
just then solitary figure, which
seemed to have risen throug gh the earth,
SO suddenly did it appear, was seen on
the very brink of the river, launching a
small boat. In an other instant boat and
man vanished together into the whirl-
wind OF spray that filed the air. The
Count olutched his horses name, and his
lips moved as if in prayer, while more
than one stifled cry broke from the peas
ants as the little bark at length reap
peared close to the islet, dancing like
feather amid the roaring waves that
ssurged up around. But the ferryman
had : seen the coming help, and prepared
TOR it. In an instant his wife was low
cred down with her baby in her arms.