Morris tribune., 1882-06-22

was at its height. The FAIR bride, her
long-delayed hopes fulfilled, hoated in
and out in the mazes of the dance, the
gayest of the gay, Ruth, herface flushed,
seemed to have forgotten her sorrow In
the enjoyment of this auspicious occa-
sion. BY her grace and tact could see
that she was adding much to the enjoy
ment of others The happy mother of
the bride moved about among the older
guests, dispensing smiles and bringing
pleasure wherever she went. Presently
Ruth came in and said with face beams
ing with joy:
''Oh, aunty, / am so glad we came. l
never knew it was such pleasure to make
others happy. | am not bit sad now.
I.believe could even meet Frank with
composure. Hark! What is that?" she
exclaimed, turning toward the open win
dow, through which came dull, harsh
murmur.
Before she had time to say more there
was an uproar at the lower end of the
room, a cry of "Crevasse! Crevassew
from the afrighted servants, and Frank
Russell rushing through a crowd Of dan
| GERS, leaped upon a chair not three steps
from us and shouted
",rhe ,levee has broken; save your
selves at'onee, there is no time to lose"
| There was an instant of awful silence
every breath was hushed, and rosy
cheeks were blanched with terror; then
| the voice of the despairing bride rang
| out:
cit has come true! 1t has come truew
she cried, and as she fell into the arms
| of her husband the guests fled in every
direction. The gray haired mother sank
upon her knees and we could see her
| lips move in prayer
| Franks eyes wandered over the hur-
rying crowd an instant in search of some
one he evidently expected to see. Even
in that terrible moment could not help
! thinking how brave and handsome he
was. / did not wonder that Ruth had
| lost her heart to him. At length his
eve rested on us. In an instant he was
beside us. - He put his arm. about Ruth
as if they had parted with kisses but
yesterday, looked quickly back, and
said, as his face blanched and his lips
shut close;
I'VE can only save ourselves. Gomez
He swung Ruth lightly through the
easement, clasped me by the arm, and
we fled away from the house of feasting
with the brides heart-rending shrek. in
our ears and the mothers blanched face
/ upturned i'll her hopeless prayer ever
before our eyes as we dashed out into
| the night and joined in the wild scram.
| BILE for life.
The blackness of the night, the roar.
| ing of the wind and the increasing thun-
| der of the river were enough to appa
the stoutest heart. But we were hur.
| ried on, stumbling over roots and stumps
caught and torn by vines and briers
dashed against trees by the raging wind
spattered by the spray Of the rising wat
er until we reached the place where
Frank had left his boat.
The river was full of floating trees, the
ruins of houses. and all of debris which
the mad water had wrested from its con
! querors. The current was so strong
seemed certain death to trust ourselve
to it, but it was the only chance. w,
stepped in the boat and each seized al
oar. We pushed out and the fight TO
life began.
! We were trying to force our wa,
through the crevasse up to higher grount
when suddenly bonfire some one ha,
lighted hours before blazed up, and w
saw clinging in the branches of a tre
rushing past us the bride clasped tightl,,
prophecy to be fulfilled, "never wifi
|
madness, we strove to reach them. For
tunately both Ruth and myself were &C
complished oarswomen and accustomet
to the river. Frank stood up and calle
to them while we bent to our oars witt
all our strength. The bridegroom hear,
us and waved his hand in acknowledge
ment. Frank changed our course AM
we shot off into the darkness again. Al
ter hours of desperate fighting for ou
lives, the faint light of dawn came t
our aid, and at last we were able to LAND
As soon as our feet We're on frr
!, ground again Ruth turned to Frank AM
held out both her hands with tears il
her eyes and trembling lips, but said n
word. He drew her to him and kisse,
her again and again. They were save,
for each other, but / thought of Ma.
Grant with q sigh.
We found hin! at the mouse of a frien,
miles.back from the river, where he ha'
been borne for safety, but the excite
ment and exertion hadbeen too great 70
his strength, and he was suffering fror
a severe hemorrage which was wastin
him leading Frank by the hand.
Some hours after, as the sun was sci
ting, we were all called to his room
Ruth knelt on the floor at his bedsid
with her face buried in her hands, an,
the majors hand rested on her head.
The dark curling hair lay in dam
rings on his white forehead. and tn,
large, sad eyes were lifted as if in pray
!. er. 1sRuth DEAR" he whispered. Sh
raised her head. He drew her to hin
with a yearning in his eyes that woul
not be refused. Their lips met in on
long, last kiss. Then he reached ou
and taking Franks hand pu
: Ruth's into it, and blessed them with
look of unutterable love till the ligh
failed from his ewes for ever