Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1880-05-12

me. AT the COLLISION OF my mVIal VI
gan and with the line the cigar bad
fallen into the satchel which had burst
open through the shock, and had set
FIRE to the paper enwrapping the re-
maInder of our meal. Ny exclamation
was: Fire !" All heard il and turned
toward me. Two Of them viewed the
destruction of their lunch with indlffer-
ence. Not so Fish, who considers eat
ing the prime object Of life. However
1 succeeded in putting it out without
resorting to the extreme expedlent pro-
posed by Fish, who ffAntically cried
out IN his excitement; y Spit On it !!
Spit on it !"
When the excitement abaLed, we
passed rapidly on. When we go to a
place where man by TIE name OF
Tyell lived, G. gave out completely.
Here he stayed all night and f. stayed
with him to keep him company. Itwas
now pitch dark, it began to rain, we
were yet six miles and a half from
home. The man OF Lou had gone with
us only on condition that [ should re-
turn home with him that night. BID
ding our friends goodnight, we passed
on. 1t was so dark and the sides Of the
road were so rough, that we were fore
ed to take the middle of the road and
the mud. A part of the way, at the
bottom Of a precipice by the roadside
we could hear the deep roaring Of Bu1a-
10 Creek swollen by the rains. We
soon got drenched to the skin and then
we could not stop to rest for fear Of
getting chilled and thus getting sick.
We walked and stumbled steadily on
till we reached the covered bridge over
Buffalo. My comrade had broken his
cane, and seeing him staggering good
deal. gave him mine. Here we paus,
ed a few moments until two boys, who
had been fishing, came up with torch.
By the light Of the torch l looked at my
watch and found it was twenty minutes
till eight. We had made the last four
miles in exactly one hour. Encourag-
ed by this, we got torch from the boys,
who lived near the bridge, and pressed
forward. 1t was still pouring steadily
down. We had yet five miles to tramp.
The torch only served to show us the
mud and water we must go through.
The rain soon put it out. The mud
was awful. When once it got the i'm
preston of ones foot it clung to it with
a strange tenacity and seemed 10th to
part with it. 1t required a strong and
quick jerk to loosen it. Such walking
as this was a terrible strain upon the
muscle and very exhausting. Add to
this 1t was now mainly up hill.
The crooks were all swollen. 4
plank lay across a stream. The water
was up even with it. Black foam had
lodged against it. My companion, Who
was in front, mistaking the foam for the
plank, stepped upon it and went down.
Warned by his mishap, l reached fer
the plank, found it, and crossed in safe
ty. Two hours Of weary walking,
staggering and stumbling, brought us
to the brow of a hill three and hall
miles from Buffalo. We were now
completely out Of breath, and halt
was a necessity. The rain now ceased,
the moon shown full and bright. a
cold wind admonished as that delay was
dangerous. We once more set out and
walked into our respective rooms al
abont thirty minutes past ten, wet
muddy and tired. Dry clothes, hot
fire. and then the sweetest and sound
est sleep for months followed. The
next morning found US without any
stiffness or soreness from our twenty
six mile walk Of the proceeding day end
our wetting. Though more than a
week has passed since that time, none
of US have as yet felt any inconyen-
ience therefrom. The next day about
10 A. NJ. Fish and G. got home. We
are once more a united and happy
family and hope to remain so till the
end of the session now rapidly ap-
preaching. NJ