The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1880-06-04

LOOK iOlu OF II anu IIlel tear IL loose, so
to hurl it down the mountain. Twas unable
to do so as the lashing had not burned suf-
ficiently. However, l managed to get the
mule out of the way so that it was possible to
get the other animals past, and shouted to
my companion to come on with the horses,
which he did, and all got safely past the
magazine. We then made our way back to
the little willowy fiat where we had stopped
at noon. We had several narrow escapes
from falling trees which had burned off near
the ground. When we arrived at the fat we
were very much exhausted. A party of men
had arrived at the camp from above, deeming
il unsafe to proceed further as the fire was
spreading in every direction. Deer, with
: their tongues out, were coming down off the
. mountain, seeking safety along and in the
stream which flowed through the canyon.
Grouse were flying about seemingly as much
perplexed as l imagine Noah's dove must
have been on its lonely hunt for roosting
place, and bear toddled along the banks of
the creek seeking place of refuge.
/ Toward evening the wind went down, and
as the fire had spent its fury in the vicinity
. where we had left our mule two of the men
volunteered to go down and see if they could
save anything from the wreck. They sue
ceeded in following our track through the
ashes and embers, when they finally came to
the place where the mule had been. They
found tools and other articles scattered about,
but the mule, oh, where was he The first
thought they had was that the magazine had
exploded and blown mule and all to the four
winds, but after short investigation they
/ concluded that the old fellow must be in the
ppipl1 1hpvDpp1 -ploayybarn nd
iOus to know what had become Of him COM
menced a search. In a little while they
struck his tran and following it for some
distance came to point where it led to the
edge of a precipice. Over this the unfortu-
nate animal hal no doubt bIindIy staggered!
Sure enough, about thirty feet below, on a
bench Of rock, lay the mule, his heels stick
ing up, and held from going over by a clump
Of stunted cedar brush.
The men returned and reported everything
lost. They had not been back long before
night set in. The wind sprang up again and
at times blew almost gale, and the FIRE took
a fresh start. Toward midnight the scene
was terribly grand. Now and then the wind
would go down for a time and the smoke
would hang in great black cloud above us
until the wind again freshening famed the
fire into flames. The Iurid glare reflected on
the bioOd-cOlOTed rocks made them look like
a huge mass of Furnished gold. The crash
of falling timber could be heard for miles
while massive pieces of rock cut loose from
the lodges above would 90 tearing down the
sides Of the mOutain like an avalanche car
rying everything before them. As they fell,
striking against other rocks. these great
bouldcrs would burst like a bombshell and
scatter their fragments in every direction.
Rocks weighing several tons and glowing
with heat went bounding along like swift
deeting meteOrs, making a noise not unlike
the howl OF wild beasts in terror, and plung-
ing with kissing cry into the stream below.
. 1t seemed like pandemonium let loose. we
finally laid down to rest but not to sleep.
There was a great tree slowly burning away
at its base, and we calculated whether it was
tall enough to reach where we had spread
our blankets. We concluded that It was not
but during the night it came down with
crash, falling to one side of where we lay and
reaching a number of feet beyond us.
The following morning, after breakfast,
we saddled u2 and started down the trail
again. On arriving where we had been the
day before, we found a little heap of scorch-
ed flour here and burned sugar there, and
bottles which had contained acids and other
chemicals, together with the tubes, were all
melted l took my carbine and went down
in search of the mule, to put him out of mis-
cry, if he was yet alive When l got to the
brink of the precipice and looked over Mr.
Mule was nowhere to be seen. He had evi-
IDENTIFY fallen from the bench where he had
lain, and as this projected 50 that could not
see beyond it, | went further down the
stream until l found a place where it was
possible to get down to the bottom Of the
canyon, which ! followed up with considera-
bic difficulty, as ! was compelled tO'cross the
stream several times over logs and flood
wood. As l passed around point of rocks
/ l came all of d sudden upon the mule. He
was standing on little gravel bar. at first
thought it was apparition, but soon dis
covered that the old chap was worth several
dead mules, albeit badly burned and bruised.
His rumps looked like some old venisOn hams
/ that you often see hangingin in front of restau
rants, besides lie had received other injuries
I (Which, however wcll-bred and circumspect
he may be, the energetic mule always makes
use of when you get near him) he had lost
his tail! When he saw me he brayed-and
such a bray, 1t was as the paintve wall of
one who had bid adeu to the pleasures Of
this life, and been shut forever in cave of
gloom. ! at once began to look around to
. see if there were any way to get him out Of
there went up the stream a short distance,
/ but came to a perpendicular fall and found
it impossible To make any further progress in
that direction, so ! started down the canyon
and found that by crossing the stream two or
three times and cutting away a few logs,
. that l could get him out that way, 50 | went
to where the other party was and got an axe
and a long rope, and asked two of the men
to go with me. We soon chopped the logs
of and got them ont of the way. l went
. over on a log and fastened cable to bis neck,
and then tOwed him across the raging torrent
and landed him on the right side Of Jordan,
which lie undoubtedly realized was hard
road TO travel,
I then went back and gathered up some
. scorched flour aud sugar and few beans,
which by the way were nicely baked the
cold fellow" aforementioned, with the mule
+ in tow, finally took up the line of march on
the old trail, = little the worse for wear all of
. us, as a consequence Of our two days expe-
rience on .he burning mountain.
If were a story writer. you can see from
the facts l have SO poorly strung together
what an interesting romance might be writ