San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1890-01-20


!. |. !.
| RCT IHEEH in these parts; and
| ~ } tMM my lord and from
! ,%S3&A &W curiosity, as was
| I$$N, M$FGWdy given OUT went in
| wb IEf H~%SJA his company. Sir
| NI.p lf.3 Srzaa && William was we'll
| MEAAknKN HN attended and liber-
METXK0h ElMHS ally supplied. Hun
| VKB 1MHi\lllNVW tiers broug b us
| UNNlIE@ilMO Wy venison, fish was
| IUM \MV WIN 7 taken for us daily
| MHl tuM \ u in the streams, and
| CWMN W1E u brandy ran like
| WI ! water We pro-
| ceeded by day and
| encamped by night in the military style; SEN
| tnels were set and changed; every man had
| his named duty; and Sir William was the
| spring of all. There was much in this that
might at times have entertained me; but
| for our misfortune, the weather was extreme
| ~ harsh, the days were in the beginning
| open, but the nights frosty from the first A
| painful keen wind blew most of the time, so
| that we sat in the boat with blue fingers and
at night, as we scorched our faces at the fire,
! the clothes upon our back appeared to be of
paper \ dreadful solitude surrounded our
steps, the land was quite dispeOpled there
was no smoke of fires, and save for a single
| boat Of merchants on the second day, we met
no travellers The season was indeed late,
! but this desertiOn of the waterways impressed
| Sir William himself; and | have heard him
more than once express a sense of mtimida-
ton Il have come too late l fear; they must
have dug up the hatchet," he said; and the
| future proved how justly he had reasoned.
could never depict the blackness of my
| soul upon this journey. | have none of those
minds that are in love with the unusual; to
see the winter coming and to lie in the fields
50 far from any house, oppressed me like a
nightmare; it seemed indeed, a kind of awful
Drawing of Gods power; and this thought,
which | dare say only writes me down a
coward, was greatly exaggerated by my pri-
vate knowledge of the errand we were come
upon.
was besides encountered by my duties to
Sir William, whom it fell upon me to enter
! tain, for my lord was quite sunk into a state
bordering on pervigilium, watching the woods
with a rapt eye, sleeping scarce at all, and
speaking sometimes not twenty words in a
whole day. That which he said was still CO.
herent, but it turned almost invariably upon
the party for whom he kept his crazy look
out He would tell Sir William often, and
always as if it were a new communication,
that he had "a brother somewhere in the
woods" and beg that the sentinels should be
directed 'to inquire for him." lam anxious
for news of my brother, he would say. And
sometimes when we were under way he would
fancy he spied a canoe far off upon the
water, or a camp on the shore, and ex-
hibit painful agitation. 1t was impossible
but Sir William should be struck with these
-, - l,rA L. IL Il,
limited his uneaSineSS. l touched my head
and shook it, quite rejoiced to prepare little
testimony against possible disclosures.
But in that case" cries Sir William, sis
it wise to let him go at large"
''Those that know him best" said l, "are
persuaded that he should be humored."
"Wel, WE'LL" replied Sir William, sit is
none of my affairs. But if l had understood,
you would never have boen here"
Our advance into this savage country had
thus uneventfully proceeded for about a
week, when we encamped for night at a
place where the river ran among consider
able mountains clothed in wood. The fires
were lighted on level space at the waters
edge; and we supped and lay down to sleep
in the customary fashion. 1t CHANGED the
night fell murderously cold; the stringency
coverings, so that pain kept me wakeful
and was afoOt again before the peep of day,
crouching by the fires or trotting to and fro
| at the streams edge, to combat the aching of
my limbs.
AT last dawn began to break upon boar
woods and mountains, the sleepers rolled in
their robes, and the boisterous river dashing
among spears of ice | stood looking about
mo in my CT Of lr,l1 finn
and the breath smoking from my scorched
noStriIS, when, upon a sudden, singular,
| eager cry rang from the borders of the wood.
The sentries answered it, the sleepers sprung
to their feet; one pointed, the rest followed
| his direction with their eyes, and there, upon
the edge of the forest and betwixt two trees
we behed the figure of a man reaching forth
his hands like one in ecstasy. The next mo-
| ment he ran forward, fell on his knees at the
side of the camp and burst in tears
This was John Mountain, the trader, es-
capped from the most horrid perils; and his
| first word, when he got speech, was to ask if
we had seen Secundra Dass.
seen what" cries Sir William
"No,' said l., 1--WE have seen nothing of him
Why"
"Nothing' says Mountain. Then | was
right after all" With that he struck his
| palm upon his brow. But what takes him
back" he cried. What takes the man back
among dead bodies2 There is some damned
mystery here"
This was word which highly aroused our
curiosity, but shall be more perspicacious if
narrate these incidents in their true order
| Here follows a narrative which have COM
piled out of three sources, not very consistent
in all points:
First, written statement by Mountain. in