San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1890-01-09

from his engagements; nothing but peril APP
peared 70 environ the poor fugiives, and for
some time we drowned our concern in very
irregular course OF living.
This, too, proved to be fortunate; and
it's one of the remarks that fall to be made
upon our escape, how providentially our
steps were conducted TO the very end What
a humiliation to the dignity of mani Ny
philosophy, the extraordinary genius of Bal
lantrae, our valor, in which grant that we
were equal-all these might have proved in
sufficient without the divine blessing on our
efforts. And how true it is as the church
tells us, that the truths of religion are, after
all, quite applicable even to daily affairst
At least it was in the course Of our revelry
that we made the acquaintance of a spirited
youth by the name of Chew. He was one of
the most daring of the Indian traders, very
well acquainted with the secret paths of the
wilderness, needy, dissolute, and by 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
for our flight; and one day we slipped out
of Albany, without a word to our former
friend, and embarked, little above in a
canoe
1t was our design to mount the head waters
of the Hudson, to the neighborhood OF Crown
Point where the French had a strong place
in the woods, upon Lake Champlain. But to
have done this directly were too perilous, and
it was accordingly gone upon by such laby-
rinth of rivers, lakes and portages as makes
my head giddy TO remember. These paths
were in 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 | shall never forget; how, as
dawn was coming in, we were suddenly sur
rounded by five or six of these painted devils
utterng very dreary sort of cry and brand
ishing their hatchets. 1t passed of harm
lessly indeed, did the rest of our encounters
for Chew was well known and highly valued
among the different tribes.
We were come to the most critical portion
of our course, where we might equally ex-
pect to fall into the hands of French or
English, when 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 boasman and our passport
for he was all these in one, and found our
selves reduced, at a blow, to the most des-
perate and irremediable distress. Chew, who
took great pride in his knowledge had in
deed often leCtured us on the geography, and
Ballantrae, | believe, would listen. But for
my part have always found such informa-
ton highly tedious; and beyond the fact that
we were now in the country of the Adiron-
dack Indians, and not so distant from our
destination, could we but have found the
way, was entirely ignorant The wisdom
of my course was soon the more apparent.
for with all his pains, Balautrae was nc
further advanced than myself.
He knew we must continue to go up one
stream; then, by way of a portage, down
another; aud then up third. But you are
to consider, in mountain country, how
many streams come rolling in from every
hand. And HOY is a gentleman, who is
perfect stranger that part of the world, to
tell any one of them from any otheri Nor
was this our only trouble. We were great
novices, besides, in handling a canoe; the
portages were almost beyond our strength,
so that have seen us sit down IN despair for
half an hour at time without one word and
the appearance of 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 if Balantrae showed something of a
glooming disposition; his habit of imputing
blame to Others quite as capable as himself,
was less tolerable, and his language it was
not always easy to accept. Indeed, he had
contracted on board the pirate ships manner
Of address which was in high degree unusual
between gentlemen; and now, when you
might say he was in a fever. it increased
upon him hugely.
The third day of these wanderings, as we
were carrying the canoe upon a rocky port
age, she fell and was entirely bilged The
portage was between two lakes, both pretty
extensive; the track, such as it was opened
at both ends upon the water, and on both
hands was mclosed by the unbroken woods,
and the sides of the lakes were quite impassa.
BILE with bog so that we beheld ourselves not
only condemned to go without our boat and
the greater part of our provisions, but to
plunge at once into impenetrable thickets and
to desert what little guidance we still had
the course of the river Each stuck his pis-
tolls in his belt shouldered an ak, made a
pack Of his treasure and as much food as he
could stagger under, and deserving the rest
of our POSSESSIONS, even to our swords which
would have much embarrassed US among the
woods, we set forth on this deplorable ad-
venture. The labors of Hercules, so finely
described by Homer, were trifle to what
we now underwent.
Some parts of the forest were perfectly
dense down to the ground so that we must
cut our way like mites in cheese In some
the bottom was full of deep swamp, and the
whole wood entirely rotten have leaped
on a great fallen log and sunk to the knees
in touchwood. have sought to stay myself,