The daily Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1878-1???, 1882-12-24

Chrissermus' Eve o. all good am bad
ewes o. which he'd ever Glanced to hear
tell;b aud, indeed, the young man
could not wonder, his own plight
seemed comfortless enough, but the
condition Of the man outside, he re-
Elected, must be ptiable in the extreme.
Dick had just arrived at the conclusion
that he must have been worse than
mad to have undertaken the journey
| knowing the country was under snow,
when suddenly a jolt. lunge, an indie
scribable shock, and behold! the vehicle
landed on its side, the poor horse down,
struggling frantically between the
shafts, and buried up to the girths in
a snow-drift; Dick himself unhllrt, only
somewhat stunned by the shock of the
disaster, and bruised about the shout
ders by the force with which he had
been precipitated from one side of the
cab to the other.
He called aloud to cabby, but as there
was no response the young man fought
his way out as best he might to find,
when landed on his feet, that the vehi-
Gle had shed wheel. the horse had
stumbled beneath the shock Of the con-
sequent overthrow, whilst the man was
not apparently, for Dick looked around
for him in vain.
The poor fellow had, indeed, been
roughly pitched out of his seat head
foremost, and now lay numbed, stun
ned and insensble, almost buried in the
| dritted snow, which treacherously COW
cred an adjacent ditch; but some long
moments elapsed before Dick even sue
ceeded in discovering his whereabouts;
meanwhile the horse plunged and strug-
gled trantically, vainly seeking 10 ex-
tricate itself from the traces and brok-
en- shafts, TO the imminent peril of life
and limb.
The young man glanced desparingy
around then be laughed aloud, for des-
pite the undoubted terrors of the situa-
ton, it appeared to him an element of
the ludcrOus was not altogether want
ing. For he knew himself TO be within
a few miles of the great modern Baby
Ion on the one hand, and the snug vic
arage on the other. The hour was not
yet six, and lat home without doubt
| "the girls were preparing for tea; the
| fire blazed, the lights were lit, all things
wore festive air, out of compliment
no less to the season than the anYiousHY
! expected guest. Meanwhile Dick told
| himself It was by no means improbable
| this Christmas Eve would be his last on
earth, for he felt convinced he should
| never survive the long night SeXposme
| TO the frost and snow if he were deS-
| tined to remain IN present quarters mn
| HI morning, yet circumstances seemed
| to render hopeless and preposterous
| the mere notion OF reaching home that
! night
One of the carriage lamps fortunately
! yet bla2ed brightly OF the condition of
/ the hap!ess travellers would have been
/ additionally pltiable. Dick Wentromd
to the horses mead, and released it
| from as much of the CALLING harness as
| was practicable, but finding the poor
! brute too deeply buried in the snow to
! render any attempt to raise II feasible,
he Cyntented himself by loosening It's
| girthS and mstrapping the shafts, laay-
| ing the unfortunate beast TO subsde
| gradually, as 1t grew numbed and
exhausted by its struggles in the drift
/ cd snow,
Then Dick took the lamp in his own
/ stiff hand and, having thaWed his froz-
| en- fingers by contact with the heated
| glass, proceeded in search of the hap
less driver, whom he presently discOv-
cred at distance Of some haIf-dCZen
/ yards buried up to his armpits, and ev.
/ identity senseles5-H not, indeed, al
ready dead. reflected Dick, with an ON
nous thrill at his heart
But even to reach the mans side was
/ in Itself matter OF no small difficulty.
/ Finding the snow give way beneath bis
feet, and perceiviug the grisIy tops Of
some bushes hardly Dick at once
/ jumped TO the conclusion that the poor
/ fellow had been rreCipltatcd into
/ sNow-cOyercd ditch, whence his eXtri-
/ cation Wa5 likely to prove no easy mat
/ ter. Carlisle was brave Of heart as
| gtolt OF limb, yet the reader will scarce
/ y be surprised TO learn that a sudden
nam less dread took possession of him
As be glanced appealingly around, as
though yainly imploring help from
earth and heaven, whilst the bitter
wind alone made reply, soughinG deris-
yely among the trees which uprOse
here and there at long intervals, max
ing The landscape seem. If possible,
but the more grim aud fOrbidding.
The snow, however, had temporarily
ceased, which was in itself no small
iI'lI5HNibIl VI LHC SOIilS ludiI y UilStIN,
lie could HOW at any rate take a survey
OF The scene for some distance on either
side, and percelVing wooden gate a
Few yards to the right, Justly conclud-
ed mat 1t must mark the entrance to a
held beyond, communicating by slip
OF land spanning the ditch with the
main road, So he forthwith turned his
steps in that direction, and prodding
the snow with bis umbrella. which in
this emergency proved Invaluable. he
found that 1t was here only some few
inches deep, so he stumbled easily
enough across to the gate, whence,
Clnglng TO the snow-clad bushes. he
CROPPED his way along the back of the
ditch towards the still motionless fig
ure, which seemed gradually sinking,
as the lightly drifted snow gave way by
slow degrees beneath his weight and
natural warmth.
Arrived within arms reach Of his dis
abed cOmrade, still Dick hesitated. 1t
seemed that by plungiug bodily into the
snow he would sink beside the man,
and husrender himself altogether
erleSs. Yet TO see q fellow creature eX-
tended motionless as death, within a
couple Of yards Of ones own hand, and
yet make no effort to rescue him was
TOO terrible a contingency to be even
mOmentarllV contemplated Auain