The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1894-03-29

scene OF the luck less Bird OF Paradise. In.
stead Of a shallow beach the water ran close
TO high rocks, penetrated by rugged gorges,
into which the sea flowed No port, town
or human habitation was to be seen But
that, all things considered, was not surpris-
ing
darkenng brows of lofty cliffs, and imme-
diately the sails fell together with flap
Almost before they ceased fiuttering they
were in and furled Then boat was low
cred, half dozen steel sinewed men got
into it and rowed, pulling the ship by
cable Light and of small draft, she fol-
lowed easily, and in half an hour or SO, aft
er manifold windings, we came to a rude
jetty hewn, as it appeared, out of the solid
rock Here we disembarked. the vessel be-
ing made fast to a rough stone pillar
As we lcaped from the bulwarks to the
ledges of rock that formed the pier my
heart beat quickly with conjecture and ap-
prehension, for it was plain that a crisis
was at hand. To guess what it might be
was enough to make the stoutest tremble
The black precipces, the yawning caverns
and hoarse roar of warning waters were OF
evil suggestion, but Of far darker import
than any menace or ugliness of nature were
These men had shown during the day by a
hundred expressive tokens that they resent
ed my presence among them, and now fan
cied caught them casting sidelong looks
at one another, then at their weapons, then
at me, az il settling by such glances of in
telligence the manner of getting rid of me-
With quaking limbs and the worst fore
bodings fell into line at the bidding of the
captain, and we struck, single file, into
a craggy path, at its best no broader than
sheep run in the highlands and in places so
narrow as scarcely TO afford foothold for
weasel. Looking upward from the bottom
one could not imagine how it scaled the
darkening precipices that frowned upon us
in vast swellings and outings with the saw
are, solitary pride OF the inaccessible. If the
ascent did not prove utterly impossible, il
was because every man Of us had the feet
pf goat and the sinews and agility of a
monkey
Our ribbon OF path wound in crazy coil
ings and twistings, now rising vertically in
steps higher than our heads, now dropping
treacherously at critical point, ceasing
suddenly and again appearing beyond some
perilous projection that chamois would
hardly have attempted to pass. Often we
had To 90 on our hands and knees, scraping
with toes and clutching with finger nails
"a we crawled over some slippery mass,
like ants on the polished knob of glacier,
or scrambled up q Jagged rock, the point Of
which cut aud rent like sharpened fints. or
slid down, face inward, twice our own
length TO scarcely perceptible crevice,
forming fresh starting point
Twas hunter and knew what IL was TO
tread dizzy ways had followed the fox
To his lair "hen the hounds had turned
tail and robbed the eagles eyrie when the
hardest Of my companions stood holding
his breath in awe But the self possession
and free spirit OF audacity which prompted
10 such hazards and gave them relish were
utterly gone. To speak the truth / shiv-
cred like one suddenly taken with an ague
IL was not the terror of the place alone
that appalled, ma To go leaping and
scrambling ON hair line along the brink OF
q tumbling kissing gulf that sent the
spumes of itswrath high mp in clouds, with
no outlook or hope OF escape. was indeed
disconcerting enough. yet scarcely Of itself
sufficient 20 take the heart out of born
mountaineer. The tremors and shakings.
the alternate spasms Of heat and cold. were
duel trust IL 10 not cowardly TO confess