Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1888-04-12
and the gloom and the silence over-awed

ming across; time in such circumstances
cannot be measured by mere minutes.
| only know it seemed to me then a
whole eternity. Stroke after stroke,
swan mechanically on, each movement
of nv thighs coming harder and harder.
Nv trousers inpeded my movement ter
riblv: and though l had thrown off my
coat on the further bank, to leave the
arms free. the boots which | had tied
around nv neck made swimming more
difficult, and weighed my head from OBJ
serving my ar-guides. Still l went on
and on in dogged fashion, my limbs
moving rs if by clockwork. l must have
been nearly three-quarters of the way
across when | became aware of new
terror unexpectedly confronting me. My
eyes had been fixed steadily upon the
stars. So | had not noticed it before: and
the noiseleSS working of the little screw
had escaped my ears even in that ghast-
" silence. But, casting haSty glance
down the river sideways, noticed all at
once, with thrill of horror, that a small
steam launch, making up stream. was
almost upon me. l knew Immediately
what she must be-the launch of the
| Rappahannock, Confederate irOnclad,
on her way up from Chesapeake bay to
the quays at Richmond.
l must live it out to get back to Elsie.
That was the one thought that made up
my whole being as | lay there motion
less, floating Oh the still water numbed
with cold, and half dead with my exer-
tiOnS.
l dared not move lest the launch should
see by the dancing reflection of her
/ light on the rippled waves l made there
was something astir ahead and should
give me chase and capture me as de-
Serter. | f1Oated like log on the silent
surface, and waited with upturned face
and closed eyes for the launch to pass
by me-Or run over me.
AS | f1oated l heard her screw draw
nearer and nearer. wondered whether
| lay direct in her course. If so, no help
for it; she must run me down. 1t was
safer SO than to swim away and attract
attention.
| turned my eyes sideways and opened
them cautiously as the noise came close.
straight for me!
| At Harvard l had always been a good
diver. | dived now, noiselesslv and in
perccptibly; it would almost be truer to
say | let myself go under without con-
! sciOuS movement. The water closed
above my face at once. | seemed to feel
something glide above me. | was dim
" aware of the recoil from the screw. |
shut my eyes once more and held my
breath in my full chest. Next instant l
was whirled by the after current back to
the surface in the wake of the screw, and
saw the white stars still shining above
me.
something black on the water, shout
ed voice behind. "Otter, take it; or
might be nigger contraband bound
North. Which ever it is, I'll have a
cock-shot at it, Captain, anyhow"
l dived again at the word, half dead
with cold and fear; and even as | dived
felt rather than heard the thud and hiss
of a rifle bullet ricOcheting on the water,
just at the very point where my head
had rested an instant earlier.
. "Otter!" the voice said again, as |
reached the surface, numbed and breath
less, more dead than alive, and afraid to
let anything but my mouth and ears rise
above the black level of the water. And
the steam launched moved on her way
without waiting to take any further no.
tice of me.
The danger was past once more for
the moment, but [ was too eXhauSed to
swim any further, deadened in my limbs
with cold as l was, and cramped with
my exertions. l could only float face
upwards on my back, and soon became
almost senseless from exposure. Every
now and again, indeed, consciousness
seemed to return fitfully for moment,
and [ struck out in blind energy with
nv legs, l know not in what direction;
but for the most part merely fioated
like log down stream, allowing myself
to be carried resistlessly before the slug
giSh current.
AS day broke l revived little. l
must then have been at least three hours
in the ice-cOld water. | saw land with
in hundred yards of me. With one
despairing final effort, know not how,
l struck out with my legs like galvan-
lied limbs and made for it-for land
and Elsie. Would Federal pickets be
guarding the shore? That was my next
anxiety. If so, my doom was sealed.
Fortunately the shore here was unguard-
ed; below Mitche!i's redOubt, indeed, at
tack from Southwark was always held
impossible. ! dragged myself on land,
over the muddy tidal fiat. and found
myself in the midst of that terrible, des-
olate, swampy region known as the viii
derness, the scene of the chief early
struggle for disruption, and of the bat
tlefieidS where Lee and StOneWall Jack
son stood at bay like wounded tigers.
When l came to realize my actual
plight began to feel what a fool had
been to run away from Richmond. | sat
there on the bank frozen and dripping
from head to foot my soaked boots
hanging useless around my neck. my
limbs shivering, my heart almost dead,
and vet with a terrible sense of fever in
my cold lips, and a fierce throbbing in
my aching head. Around me stretched
that broken, marshy country, aiterna-
ting between pine barrenS and swampy
bottoms. Scouts and pickets held the
chief points everywhere: to show myself
before them in my wet and ragged Con
federate uniform would be to draw fire
at moments notice. What to do L
mad no conception; merely sat there,
my head in my hands, and waited and
waited still, till the sun was high up in
the blank blue heavens.
won't describe the eight days of
speechless agony in the Wilderness. |
wandered up and down through scrub
and pine woods, not daring at first to
show myself openly, and then, when
hunger and fatigue at last conquered
my fear, not knowing where to look for
the Federal OutpOsts. Night after night
lay upon the bare ground, in the high
oct and driact mart of tho wild nina hor