Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1881-01-19

narrow road, and at the same time to
rein them in with all his strength. The
four horses at once were thrown into a
Wild run; then I comprehended that he
was about to undertake to keep in the
road, instead of abandoning the coach to
it's fate.
| It was not full second from the civ
ing way of the brakes till we were shoot
ing down the steep incline with the
! swiftness and weight of thunderbolt.
| The broad sombrero of the driver had
been caught away by the wind, and as
he stood his long white hair was tossed
on the air like the name of runaway
horse. How I saw this detail and others
know not. What passed is like some
paralyzing nightmare. I felt nothing;
saw objects near me and in the distance,
and yet without fully comprehending
them. The most salient recollections are
the long hair brushing my face, and the
horses, which did not seem to be indi-
viduals, but a rushing solid mass of
white, like great mass of foam driven
in front of a powerful steamer.
So far as I can remember, there was not
a word uttered after the terrified excla-
nation OF the passenger to my left, and
the shout of the driver to the horses.
All appeared to be frozen into silence.
The only sound was that of the fierce
pounding of the iron hoofs on the rock
bottomea road, and the sharp contact of
the wheels with the occasional boulders
which lay across the track.
On either side there was nothing which
took precise shape. We moved, as it
were, tetween two great walls Of dark
ness, somewhat as is the case when one
gazes from the window of railway train
when rushing through narrow gorge.
There was no especial difference between
the wall Of rock on one side and the
abyss on the other. I had not resumed
my seat. stood, clinging with deadly
grasp to the stanchions of the roof, pos
sessed with vague impression that
safety lay in a jump to be made at some
approaching crisis. have most in
distinct recollection that the woman in
front had both her arms about the waist
of the Englishman, and that he had his
face half turned to the wall to the left as
he chung to the railing of the seat like
drowning man to a floating spar.
1t seemed as if we were scarcely at all
on the ground; that our movement was
that OF vast leaps, in which we struck
the rock with tremendous crash, like
vessel in storm when it's bow en-
counters savage wave. The air met
my face as though it were some hideous
force trying to wrench me from the roof
of the coach. All the time the rock
which I had noticed in our front was in
my mind like IN impending doom. I
felt that it was the fate that menaced us,
and that it was the boundary of life; it
was black wall into which we would
plunge, and Observation-Disclosures.
1 have no note of time; it might have
been a second, it might have been a cen
fury, for aught that comprehend at the
time of our passage. can recall that
we went rocking and laundering down
the steep grade, and then-unconscious-
ness. When I next remember we were
in front Of ranch. The coach had
stopped, and two or three men were run
ming toward lis from the straw-covered
stables. We were on a broad level
space at the foot of the pass. The four
white horses stood with dropping heads
in front of the coach, and were scarcely
visible through dense cloud of steam
which rose from their heaving bodies.
The driver was sitting in his seat, his
elbows on his knees, his chin resting in
his hands, and himself as motionless and
as if he were cut in marble.
Here the swarthy man suddenly
ceaseu his narration.
"Hey! hey! what jewsay?" asked the
old gentleman, who was awakened by
the silence from long nap.
ooh, nobody said nothing" was the
answer of the youth with the cunning
face, i'll tone which he endeavored to
make terribly ionical.
How did you git around the rock
that's what I'd like to know?' queried
the artillerist, as he suspended for mo-
ment his long-range practice at the han
die of the stove door.
''That's what I'd be glad to know my
self" replied the swarthy man. II be-
lieve, however, that just where we round
eel the rock was a deep depression in the
road on the side next to the wall, and
that the falling Of the wheelson that side
into this depression prevented us from
going over into the abyss. It vas the
tremendous shock of the coach as we
struck this rut, and the thought that we
had dashed against the rock and I Was
killed, which rendered me insensible.'
Anybody hurt ?" sententiously asked
r man who was looking at the stove be-
tween his boots, at an elevation consid-
erably higher than his head.
"Not hair of anybody's head" said
the swarthy man. "The driver had
landed us as safe as we are in this room
at this moment. We made up a purse
for him on the spot, of $500, and the
company made him present Of 81 1000
more. That's all. I'm off. Good
night!'
He went out; the others took some
more cider; surreptitiously stuffed a
handful or so of crackers in their pock-
cts while the proprietor was in the back
room putting out the kerosene lamp;
and then the meeting adjourned till the
next time.