The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1885-06-05
EBENSBURG, PA. FRIDAY. JUNE 5, IS

and nearer a small yacht, lay becalmet,
/ haaving on the long biIiews. | could loo K
down her cabin stairway almost, and it
/ seemed scarcely more thaiI long leap to her
deck
/ 'PuzzIed hy the singular conduct of The
( SEA birds. / soon stopped and set my back
1 against the cliff to rest while watching them.
/ The day was deadly still and very warm.
/ I remember taking off my cap aud wip-
/ ing rbe sweat from my face and forehead
/ with my sleeve. While doing this. looked
/ down iuyoIuutariiy To the fissure at my feet.
! Instantly my blood a aImost froze with hnTroul
| There was distinct crack between the 10
| npr edge of the fssure and the hard packed
/ root threaded soil with which it was filed
/ ForcibIv pressed back aud In a fash look
/ ed along the ledge. Tne fssure was widen
/ ing under thy eyes, the rock before me seem
/ ed sinking outward, and with a shudder and
a groau aud roar, the whole long platform
/ fell crashing to the sea below | stood on
margin Ot rock scarce a fOos wide, at my
back perpendicular cliff, five hundred feet
/ below the ocean, now almost hidden by the
vast concoHrse of wheeling and sffrighteG
birds.
Can YOU believe that my first sensation
was one Of relief? / stood safe Even
feeling Of interest held me for some mo
meuts. Almost cooily | observed long aud
mighty wave roll out from beneath. II went
forth with high. curling crest "a solid wall
of water 1t struck tEc yacht stern on,
plunged down on her deck, smashed through
her swell of sail, and swept her out OF sighg
forever.
Not till then did my thoughts dwell en-
tirely on my own position not Jlil then did
| comprehend its b0pelessuessl Now my
. eyes closed cUnvulsiyelY, TO shut out the
. abyss down which my glance had fallen
shuddering. / pressed hard against the solid
wall at my back an appalling clod slowly
( crept through me I Ny reason struggled
against wild desire to leap; all the demons
of despair whispered to ME TO make an in
stand end. In Imagination had leaped L
felt the awooninR helpiessness of falling,
and the cold, upward rush of air
Still pressed hard back against the wall
of rock, and though nearly faint from ter
tor, never forgot for an ins tant the death at
my feet nor the utter danger OF the slight
est motion. How long this weakness lasted
| know not l only know that the unspesk-
able horror of that first period has come TO
me in waking dreams many and many day
since that to think OF the past is TO stand
again on that narrow foUthOld, and to look
around on the earth is often to cry out with
Joy that it widens away from my feet
The old man paused long. CHANGING side
wise at Jack saw that his face was pallid.
l myself had shuddered and grown cod-sO
strongly had my Imagination realized the
awful experience that PetheIick described.
Suddenly said the O,d man, ''these
! words flashed to my brain Are not two
: sparrows sold for a farthing ? And one OF
them shall not fall on the ground without
: your Father Fear not, therefore; ye are
of more value than many sparrows.' Ny
faculties so strained, 1 seemed to hear the
words. Indesd, often yet think that did
> truly hear a voice utter them very near me.
8 Instantly hope arose, consciously desper
3 ate indeed, bot 1 became calm, IesOurcefui
: capable, and feeling unaeeountsby aided.
:, Careful not to look down opened uy eyes
, and gazed far away over the bright sea. The
2 rippled pillows told that light outward
j breeze had sprung up. Slowly, and some
e what more distant, the two brigs moved to
ward the horizon Turning my head, 1 could
Il trace the narrow stone of my footing t
l. where my rope daneled, perhaps three hun
= dred yards distant.
the cliffs face, and instantly resolved anC
"a instantly proceeded to work toward it
l No time remained for hesitation. Nigh
! was coming on. reasoned that my com
+ rades thought me killed. They had proba
bly, gone to view the condition of the preci
s pice from the lower station, and on their re
y turn would haulup and carry of the rope
o made move toward it. Try to think o
n thet journey !!
IS / nodded to him silently.
g Shutting sidewise very carefully, l hat
n not made five yards before 1 knew that
I could not continue to look out over tina
} abyss without glancing down, and that
e coud not glance down without losing M
senses. You have the brick line to Keel
eyes on as you walk along the factory wall
S do you think YOU could move along it erect
: looking down as sou would have &c Yet /
> Is only one hundred feet high Imagine fiv,
5 more such walls on top of that and you try
J ing to move sidewise-incapabe of closing
your eyes, 70 reed to look down, from end Il
u end, yes, three times further Imagine
= Z you've got to go on or jump of WOulC
! you not, in an ecstacg of nervous agitation
= fall to your knees, get down face first at ful
u length, clutch by your hands and with shu
. eyes feel your way d? l longed to lie dowr
and hold. but of course that was impossible
still there was a wall at your back, OBJ
served Jack. -t r
; That made it worse The cliff seemed
: to press outward against me. 1t did, in fac
Z incline very slightly outward. It seemed t.
4 be thrusting me of On, the horror of tina
j sensatloni Your toes on the edge OF pre-
' cIpice, and the implaca5le. calm mountait
! apparently weightinR YOU slightly forward.
, Beads of sweat bIoke out over his face al
the horror he had called before him. Wip
ing his lips nervously with the back OF hi:
hand, and looking askant, as at the narrow
L pathway, he paused long. 1 saw its crue
, edge and the dark CLEANS of its abysma
i water.
i knew he resumed, that with my bacl
to the wall i could never reach the rope.
l could not face toward it aud step forward
d so narrow was the ledge. Motion was per
{ haps barely possible that way, but tn
y breadth of my shoulders would have forced
i me to lean somewhat more outward, an'
and this dared not and could not do. Al
5 so, to see solid surface before me becam'
an Irresistible desire. l resolved to try Z
turn around before resumng the desperate
j. journey. To do this bad to nerve mysel
/ for one steady look at my footing.
Tn the depth below the myriad sea fow
then rested on the black water. which, tho