Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1889-05-26

"hoss, unable to do anything, stood
crouched in the middle of the raft, while
Knapp and l piled our board paddles at
either side. A sudden crashing together
of opposing waves lifted us or sunk our
float, and We were all at sea. The raft
rlghted itself In a moment, and | regained
my footing close to the side log, where l
found Knapp struggling to sustain himself
and endeavoring to draw his companion
from the river. l came to his assistance,
and again We placed Ross in the center.
He was unable to speak and limp as a rag,
and to prevent him from sinking down in
the water, that at all times covered our
sodden logs, Knapp was complied to stand
by and hole him up. Just then a voice
came out of the darkness, and sharp and
abrupt came the challenge:
"sNNho goes thereg
u did not answer, neither did Knapp.
Again and again came the challenge,
but no answer was returned.
knowing that the rebs were in posses
sion of the river at that time and place, |
supposed the challenge to have come from
a Confederate picket boat. 1t was wholly
impossible to see us, therefore whoever
challenged must have done so by reason OF
having heard our voices, or, possibly, the
splash of my paddle.
"We heard the challenge no more-but
my paddle was gone. Startled and amazed
by the unexpected voice, l had dropped it
in the river. and Knapp's having been lost
in saving his friend, we were left with
nothing to aid our flight or direct our
course.
presently Knapp shouted to me that he
thought his companion was dead-and sure
enough, the spirit of Ross had departed
starvation had done its work, and the first
measure of the Virginian's terrible plan
was full and complete. Worn almost to
the door of death, Knapp could bear up
his comrade no longer; yet he chung to the
dead form with a t~enacity dumb, strange
and u~naccountable. / argued and expostu-
lated, but received no answer. Like a mute
insane, Knapp chung to the cold corpse of
his comrade, while his weakness yielded to
its weight, and every surge and wave
dragged the living and the dead nearer
and nearer to the verge of the raft. A
sudden lurch wrenched the body from the
failing grasp of its custodian, and all that
was mortal of Ross fioafed away on the
waters of the Potomac.
"This event seemed to take the last
grain of grit out of Knapp; his very soul
seemed crushed; and, to tell the truth,
though much stronger physically, l was
but little better mentally. We never again
exchanged a word, but in dumb despair
shivered all night long in the cold and
gloom.
"All night long we drifted-drifted-
drifted-drifted, in the darkness. Without
oar or paddle, and wholly at the mercy of
tide and current, the thought flashed upon
me that perhaps re had escaped the rebels,
and the slow torture of starvation to which
the diabolism of Lewis, the Virginian.
had doomed us, only to be swept out to
sea. Standing to the knees in the chill,
pitiless water, from time to time, drenched
throughout by the splash and spray of the
waves, silently we covered in our misery,
weak-cold-famished -spiritless. God
1t was terrible.
San eternity of darkness seemed to have
enveloped us, and l began to imagine that
night wo1ld never wear away. 1t did
wear away, however, and the first faint
CLEAN of light thrilled me with Joy never
experienced since or before-a Joy, | have
often thought, something like unto that to
be experienced by the dead when they
emerge from the gloom of the grave, and
first behold the dawn of eternal day.
81 shouted to Knapp, but he simply
stared in silence. | drew closer to the
han and found him crouched down like
one who would sit upon his heel-crouched
so low that only the shoulders and head
were above the waters that covered our
raft. Bending in the growing light and
peering in his face, l saw with horror the
awful change that had taken place. His
hair-which, when | last saw it, was black
as my own, was now white as driven snow.
His features were blanched and shrunken
like those of an octogenarian, and his eyes
glared upon me with a soft, beseeching
stare, fixed and expressionless as that of a
dying beast. l was frightened. / was
young. A cold wave of superstitious
terror thrilled my frame. l shook him by
the shoulder-the youth SO suddenly and
terribly transformed-I spoke to him in
accents in which fright and kindness were
strangely mixed, but received no answer.
Suddenly theiraft struck-remained mo-
~tionless a moment-swung slowly around
ard was still. Peering through the fading
fog which had prevailed, and which
Gods glorious sunlight was rapidly dis
| polling, | was soon enabled to see that we
were close to the strand in a few moments
/ a AOAlb ~ lh0 wv Olu4l dlld. a CDOll l
distance beyond, a farm house.
81 waded ashore expecting Knapp to
follow, but he remained crouched and
motionless upon the raft. Retracing my
steps | half forced and half supported him
to the land, where, again crouc hing upon
his heels, he fastened upon me the same
vague, animal-like stare that frightened
me before.
"The strange spectacle had been seen at
the farm house several negroes hurried
down, and after a brief explanation
Knapp was carried and l supported up the
bluff to the farmyard and laid at the foot
of a straw stack. The place to which our
raft had drifted is called-if | mistake not
-Posey's Point, situated above Port To-
bacco, many miles below the island from
which we started, and Mr.. Posey was the
owner of the plantation.
"From the moment of landing my
strength rapidly failed, and when the
planter appeared it was with difficulty
that | could make the explanation re-
quired. But the whole story was finally
and frankly told. Posey was a harsh man,
one of the old Southern school, a conscien-
tious Confederate and a hater of Yankees;
| but when informed that l had been seven
nights and six days, and my companion
eight nights and seven days without food,
he was visibly affected, and left US abruptly
and without a word. In a few moments a
darby appeared with a bowl of thin warm
corn Cruel, of which Knapp and l received
a tablespoonful each. Knapp partook of
the nourishment mechanically and in 81 /
lence. !, however, begged and argued for
more, but without avail. The negro shook
his head and disappeared. In half an hour
we were again supplied with a tablespoon
full of Cruel. This regime was kept up,
our corn Cruel ration being gradually in |
creased until about the middle of the af-
ternoon, when it assumed a degree of eau
| tious liherality.
"We saw no more of Planter Posey.
From the negroes we learned that we
were very unwelcome waifs-that the
rebs were on both sides of the river
and that some New York "Yanks' were
camped close at Ellicott's Mills, a place
but a few miles distant. All of which
determined me to make a supreme effort
to reach the mills. l impaired my reso-
luton to Knapp and received the same
dull stare in answer.