Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1881-03-22


superior. even upon his native heath
i and among his chosen and hereditary EN-.
ployments. 3I9
Captain Van Bibber had long beer
noted as the strongest, fleetest and most
formidable hunter Of the Kanawah VAL
ley. .Nobly did he vindicAte his reputa.
tion on that eventful day.
He not only acquitted himself so cred.
itably as to keep beyond the range Of the
poor rifles with which his pursuers were
armed, but was also enabled to losd and
fire as he ran, thus causing several Of
them to bite the dust before they finally
drove him to bay out upon the further.
most point of Wah-kun- gee-tah, the
great, jutting rock overlooking the terri
bic whirlpool at the foot Of the falls, and
his humble but smiling home on the far
opposite bank.
Yes, the Indians, though unable to
oye-take their fugitive had nevertheless
succeeded in battling all his attempts to
reach the river at the point at which he
had effected a crossing in the morning.
They had so managed to dictate the
direction of his flight as to bring him
at last to final and apparently hopeless
stand upon the very edge of this tre-
mendous abyss, with obviously no choice
left him but surrender or death at their
hands, or an equally fatal plunge into
the boiling, caldron-like whirlpool, far,
far below.
But. even in this desperate strait. Van
Bibber did not lose jot of his cool and
collected daring.
Ensconcing himself behind a small
group Of stones and bushes, and loading
and discharging his trus,y rifle with won-
ful rapidity, he succeeded in keeping the
enemy at bay for more than an hour. in
full view of his wife and friends on the
opposite bank Of the river, while the In
dians. though not venturiug out upon the
open shelf, within range Of his terrible
Workmanship, clustered along its bushy
sides, and even crept down far below in
the very face of the cliff, yelling like
demons, in the certainty of his speedy
capture or death, and seeking every op-
por,unity to pick him off from behind his
little fastness in which he had temporari
ly intrcnched himself.
Tha, it was only temporarily, soon be-
come evident.
Captain Van Bibber suddenly stopped
firing, and, for the first time, feeling oil
despair must have come over him. He
had used his las, bulle. in his pouch, and
was no longer capable Of defence!
The savages soon suspected as much,
and began to swarm over the top Of the
rock in full view, and with revengful
cries.
But at this instant, when he was
about giving himself up for lost, a clear,
encouraging cry came floating to him
fr IN far across the yawning abyss, and
making itself distinctly heard above the
roaring Of the waters.
1t was a woman's voice-his wife's.
I'm coming under the rock in the
canoe" leap. and meet me.
He turned and looked in the direction
from which the summons had come,
dazed and bewildered-for such a leap
had never been made, nor even contem-
plated before.
But the heroic woman was already IN
the canoe, paddle in hand, having laid
her baby on the grassy bank. and rushed
to the rescue, in spite Of the opposition
of her neighbors, who looked upon her
husband as already doomed beyond re-
demp'ion, and regarded her attempt to
navigate the boiling waters OF the whirl-
pool as simple madness.
But she pushed off, and just as she did
so, Brownie, the pet bear clambered into
the stern Of the canoe, and sat upright
upon his launches, keeping his balance
perfectly. and in reality aiding not lit
tie in trimming boat and ballasting it,
as it were, throughout the wild voyage.
As Mrs. Van Bibber succeeded in
reaching the centre Of the stream, direct
ly under the ledge OF the rock, her hus-
bands foes were almost upon him.
"Wife wife," he shouted, drop
down little lower. I'm coming
With this, and with the clutches Of
the Indians almost closing upon him. he
sprang from the crag, and descended like
a plummet into the water, feet foremost.
In an agony of suspense the wife rest
ed from her toll for moment, watching
for him to rise to the surface, the canoe
bobbing about like cookie shell upon
the angry food, and the pet bear cycling
his mistress atfectionately, as though full
ly sympa.hizipg with her distress.
1t was only a moment, but an awful
one; it seemed an age to her. Would
her husband ever rise:
Her earnest gaze seemed to penetrate
the very depths Of the turbid water, and
then, with joyful cry, she darted the
canoe further down the stream.
He arose to the surface quite near to
her, and was enabled to scramble into
the little craft without assistance, and
amid shower Of bullets that was poured
after him by the baffled redskins, not one
of which, however, harmed either him or
his wife.
Then, seizing the paddle from her
hands, he swung the craft around, turn
ing Brownies back to the hostile bank,
and padded swiftly out Of range of the
shots that were still sbowered after him.
But it is more than likely that poor
bruin had much to do with the immuni-
nifty with which his master and mistress