Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1889-12-07

I
We had reached tho town of New York we
had come TO full agreement; that he should
carry us as far as Albany upon his ship and
thence put us on way - pass the boundaries
and Join the French. For all this VIC were to
| pay at n high rate, but beggars cannot he
choosers nor outlaws bargainers.
We sailed then up the Hudson river, which,
Iprotest, Ia very fine stream. md put up at
the Kings Arms, In Albany. Tho town was
full OF the militia Of tho province, breathing
slaughter against tho French. Governor
Clinton was there himself, very busy man,
and, by what l could learn, very ncar dis
tracted by the factiousness of his assembly.
The Indians on both sides were on the war
path; we saw parties OF them bringing In
prisoners and, what was much worse, scaips,
both male and female, for which they wcro
paid at n fixed rate, and, assure you, the
sight was not encouraging. Altogether We
could scarce have come ut a period more
unsuitable for our designs our position in the
chief inn was dreadfully conspicuous; our
Albanian fubbcd us of with thousand 60
lays and seemed upon tho point Of retreat
from his engagements; nothing but peril ap-
pcared 10 environ tho poor fugitives, and for
some time we drowned our concern In a very
irregular course Of living
This, too, proved to bo fortunate; and
it's ono Of the remarks that fall TO bc made
upon our escape, how providentially our
steps were conducted TO the very end. What
humiliation TO the dignity Of mani NY
philosophy, tho extraordinary genius of Bal
lantrae, our valor, IN which grant that wo
were equal-nll these might have proved in
sufficient without the divine blessing on our
efforts And how true IL Is, as tho church
tells u.s. that the truths Of religion are, after
all, quite applicable even TO daily affairsl
AT least 1t was In the course Of our revelry
that we made tho acquaintance of a spirited
youth by the name of Chew. He was one Of
tho most daring OF the Indian traders, very
well acquainted with tho secret paths OF the
wilderness, needy, dissolute, and by a last
good fortune, In some disgrace with his fam.
lily. Him We persuaded to come to our re-
lief; he privately provided what was needful
Tor our flight; and one day wo slipped out
Of Albany, without word to our former
friend, and embarked, a little above, in a
canoe.
1t was our design tomount tho head waters
OF the Hudson, to tho neighborhood of Crown
Point where the French had a strong place
In tho woods, upon Lake Champlain But to
have done this directly were too perilous, and
1t was accordingly gone upon by such o laby-
rinth OF rivers lakes and 80 Ii'ih'ia
my head giietv open thepoilagcs as makes
were jene Say to remember. These paths
to- an ordinary times entirely desert, but
the country was now up, the tribes on the
warpath, tho woods full Of Indian scouts
Again and again We came upon these parties
when we least expected them, and one day,
In particular, l shall never forget; how, as
dawn was coming in, we were suddenly sur
rounded by five or six OF these painted devils,
uttering very dreary sort Of cry and brand
al l.,t,. 81
lessly indeed, as did the rest of our encounters,
for Chew was well known and highly valued
among tho different tribes.
We were come to the most critical portion
OF our course, whore we might equally ex-
pect to fall into tho hands of French or
English, when n terrible calamity befell us.
Chew was taken suddenly sick with symp-
toms like those of poison, and in the course Of
few hours expired In the bottom of the
canoe. We thus lost at once our guide, our
interpreter, our boatman and our passport,
for he was all these in one, and found our
selves reduced, at blow, to the most des-
perate and irremediable distress. Chew, who
took great pride in acknowledge, had in
deed often lectured us on the geography, and
Ballantrae, i believe, would listen. But for
my part have always found such informa
tion highly tedious; and beyond the fact that
dack Indians, and not SO distant from our
destination, could we but have found tho
way, was entirely ignorant. The wisdom
of my course was soon the more apparent,
for with all his pains, Ballantrae was no
further advanced than myself.
He knew we must continue 10 go up one
stream; then, by way OF portage, down
another; and then up n third. But you are
to consider in a mountain country, how
many streams come rolling in from every
hand. And how is "A gentleman, who is u
perfect stranger in that part Of the world, to
tell any one of them from any otherl Nor
was this our only trouble. We were great
novicS, besides, In handling canoe, the
portagcs were almost beyond our strength,
so that have seen US sit down in despair for
half an hour at time without one word and
tho appearance of n single Indian, since we
had now no means of speaking TO them,
would have been in all probability the means
! of our destruction. There is altogether some
excuse IL Ballantrae showed something of Il
! gloomng disposition; his habit of imputing
blame to others, quite as capable as himself,
was less tolcrable, and his language it was
not always easy to accept. Indeed, he had
contracted on board the pirate shipa manner
4 Of address which was in a high degree unusual
between gentlemen; and now, when yol
/ might say he was in a fever it increased
! upon him hugely.
| The third day of these wanderings as we
We're carrying the canoe upon rocky port
age, she fell and was entirely bilgod. Tho
! portage was between two lakes, both pretty
/ extensive; tho track, such as it was, opened
at both ends upon the water, and on both
hands was iRelosed by the unbroken woods,
and the sides Of the lakes were quite impassa.
BILE with bog so that wo bcheld ourselves not
only condemned to 30 without our boat aud
the greater part of our provisions, but to
/ plunge at once into inpenctrable thickets and
TO desert what little guidance we still had
tho course Of tho river. Each stuck his pis-
tolls in his belt, shouldered an AK, made u
pack of his treasure and as much food us he
/ could stagger under, and deserting the rest
of our possessions, even TO our swords which
would have much embarrassed us among the
woods, we SIT forth on this deplorable ad
venture. Tho labors of Hercules, SO finely
described by Homer, were a triile to what
wo now underwent.
Some parts Of the forest were perfectly
dense down to the ground. so that we must
cut our way like mites in chrese In some
the bottom was full of deep swamp, and the
whole wood entirely rotten. l have leapcd
on u great talbn log and sunk TO the knees
. III lpuch"ood' nave Sought 10 stay myself
IN falling, against what looked TO be a solid
trunk, aud the whole thing has whitfield away
at my touch like sheet of paper. Stun
bling falling, begging to the knees, hewing
our way, our eyes almost put out with twigs
and branches, our clothes plucked from our
bodies, we labored all day, and it is doubtful
I If we made two miles. What was worse, as
We could rarely get view of the country and
were perpetually jostled from our path by
obstacles, it was impossible even to have q
guess In what direction we were moving,
Ballantrae often decided on our course by
the spinning of coin, and once, when / ex-
postulated on this childishness, he had an odd
remark that have never forgotten. "Iknow