The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1885-05-28

bOAoWs oaoAA ohStO WSi0 huAufeuS, "
now there were millions on the wing, and
instead of darling forth in playful motions,
they seemed to be wildly excited, screato-
ing shrilly, rushing out as in terror and
returning in masses as though to alight,
only to wheel in dread, and keep the air in
vast clouds.
t.The weather was beautiful, the sea like
glass. At no great distance two large briggs,
and nearer a small yacht, lay becalmed,
heaving on the long pillows. I could look
seemed scarcely more than a long leap to
her deck.
puzzled by the singular conduct of the
sea-birds, l soon stopped and set my back
against the cliff, to rest while watching
them. The day was deadly still and very
warm.
Demonstrating off my cap and wiping
the sweat from my face and forehead
with my sleeve. While doing this, I looked
down ~involuntarily to the assure at my
feet. Instantly my blood almost froze with
horrorl There was a distinct crack be-
tween the inner edge of the assure and the
hard-packed, root-threaded soil with which
it was filledl Forcibly 1 pressed back, and
in a fash looked along the ledge. The
assure was widening under my eyes, the
rock before me seemed sinking outward,
and with a shudder and a groan and roar,
the whole long platform fell crashing to
the sea below! I stood on a margin of rock
scarce a foot wide, at M back a perpen-
dicular cliff, and five hundre feet below
the ocean, now almost hidden by the vast
concourse of wheeling and affrighted birds.
Scan you believe that my first sensation
was one of relief? I stood safe! Even a
feeling of interest held me for some mo-
ments: Almost coolly 1 observed a long
went forth with a high, curling crest-a
solid wall of water! It struck the yacht
stern on, plunged down on her deck,
smashed through her swell Of sail, and
swept her out of sight forever.
"Not till then did my thoughts dwell en-
tirely on my own position; not till then
did I comprehend its hopelessness! Now
| my eyes closed convulsively to shut out
the abyss down which my glance had fall
en-; shuddering, 1 pressed hard against
the solid wall at my back; an appalling
cold slowly crept through me! My reason
struggled against a wild desire to leap; all
the demons of despair whispered me to
make an instant end. In imagination l
had leaped! 1 felt the swooning helpless
ness of falling and the cold, upward rush
of air! !"
"Still I pressed hard back against the
wall of rock, and though nearly faint from
terror, never forgot for an instant the
death at my feet, nor the utter danger of
| the slightest motion. How long this weak
ness lasted 1 know not; 1 only know that
the unspeakable horror of that first period
has come to me in waking dreams many
and many a day since; that I lave long
nights of that deadly fear; that to think of
| the past is to stand again on hat narrow
foot-hold, and to look around on the earth
is often to cry out with joy that it widens
away from my feetP'
The old man paused long. CHANGING
sidewise at Jack, I saw that his face was
pallid. l myself had s~huddered and
grown cold,so strongly had my magma.
Petherick described.
a~Suddenly," said the old man, "these
words flashed to my brain: Are not t,cO
sparro,os sold for a tdrthing? And one OF
your Father. Fear not, therefore,; ye are OF
more ualue than many spdrrOtos.' My facul-
| ties so strained, l seemed to hear the words.
Indeed, often yet 1 think I Lie truly hear a
voice utter them very near me-"
~"Instantly hope arose, consciously des-
perate indeed. butt became calm, resource
full, capable, and feeling unaccountably
aided. Careful not to look down, 1 opened
my eyes and gazed far away over the
bright sea. The rippled pillows told that a
ly, and somewhat more distant, the two
briggs moved toward the horizon. Turning
my head, I could trace the narrow stone OF
my footing to where my rope dangled, per-
haps three hundred yards distant.
s1It seemed to hang within easy reach of
| the cliffs face, and instantly Iresolved and
as instantly proceeded to work toward it.
No time remained for hesitation. Night
was coming IN. reasoned that my com
rades thought me killed. They had prob
ably gone to view the new condition of the
precipice from a lower station, and on their
return would haul up and carry off the
rope. I made q move toward it. Try to
think of that journey"
nodded to him silently.
"Shufiing sidewise very carefully, I had
not made five yards before l knew that ]
could not continue to look out over that
abyss without glancing down, and that ]
could not glance down without losing my
senses. You have the brick line to keep
eyes on as you walk along the factory
wall; do you think you could move along
it erect, looking down as you would have
to? Yet it is only one hundred feet high.
Imagine five more such walls on top of that
and you trying to move sidewise-incapa.
BILE of closing your eyes, forced to looE
farther! Imagine you've got to go on Oh
jump off! Would you not in an ecstacy Of
nervous agitation, fall to your knees, gel
down face-first at full length, clutch by
your hands and with shut eyes feel you
way? Ilonged to lie down and hold, bur
of course that was impossible"
"Still there was a wall at your back
observed Jack.
s'That made it worse! The cliff seemed
to press outward. against me. 1t did, il
fact, incline very slightly outward. L
seemed to be thrusting me off. O., the
| hOI vi uhdu oOhodUlOh IouI UocS jill Uus
edge of a precipice, and the implacable
calm mountain apparently weighing yor
slowly forward"
Beads of sweat broke out over his whit
face at the horror he had called before him
Wiping his lips ~nervously with the pack O
his hand, and looking askant, as at tn,
narrow pathway, he paused long. 1 saw
its cruel edge and the dark CLEANS of it
abysmal water.
81 knew" he resumed, sthat with m,
bach to the wall / could never reach tn
rope. I could not face towards it o nd ste,
forward, so narrow was the ledge. Motion
was perhaps barely possible that way, bu
the breadth of my shoulders would hav
forced me to lean somewhat more outward
and his l dared not and could not do
Also, to see a solid surface before m,
became an irresistible desire. | resolved
to try to turn round before resuming tn
desperate journey. To do this I had t.
nerve myself for one steady look at m,
footing.
SIN the depth below the myriad sea fow
then rested on the black water, which
though swelling more with the rising wind
had yet an unbroken surface at some littl
distance from the precipice, while farthe
out it had begun to jump to white-caps
and in beneath me, where l could not see
it dashed and churned with a faint, per
vading roar that l could barely distinguish
Before the descending sun a heavy bank O
cloud had risen. The oceans surface Dor
that appearance of intense and angr
gloom that often heralds a storm, but, saw
the deep murmur going out from far belo,
my perch, all to my hearing was deadl
still.
"Cautiously 1 swung my right foot be
fore the other carefully edged around. Flo
an instant as my shoulder rubbed agains
the rock, l felt that 1 must fall. l di
|, stagger, in fact, but the next moment stoo
J firm, face to the beetling cliff, my heels o
the very edge, and the new sensation
the abyss behind me no less horrible tina
that from which l had with such difficult
+ escaped. | stood ~quaking. A deliriou
horrorithrilled every nerve. The skin abor
} my ears and neck, suddenly cold, shran
|. convulsiveiy.
: "Wild with fear, 1 thrust forward m
!, head against the rock and rested in agony
[ A whir and wind of sudden wings made m
conscious of outward things again. The
! a mad eagerness to climb swept away 9TH
feeling, and my hands attempted in vain /