Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1896-06-06


about my neck, higher, higher-over
my chin; over my Gghtly-closed lips.
until my breath. I tell you a mans
mind ruslles when he gets SO near the
borderi
81 shouted for help, in the hope of
attracting some one, but it only eX-
hausted me, and my struggles caused
me to sink faster.
I'm extreme agony Of mind, I threw
myself on my face-I had not sunk be-
low my waist-and clawed the bank in
n frantic endeavor to draw myself out.
My fingers slipped through the soft
mud and touched some hard, smooth
substance, buried about three inches
below the surface. FEa
'I struggled to grasp it, but it was
too large for my fingers to grip. 1t was
a tree that had probably grounded on
the fiat long ago, and the tides had
gradually drifted the sand over it.
"When one is in a position of great
bodily danger, events succeed one an
other much more rapidly than they
can be afterward told. The telling of
this has taken d great deal longer time
than its actual occurrence. A few min
utes only had passed since started to-
ward the dyke.
'The sound of the tide now rushing
over the lower part of the flats called
me to a sense of new danger.
'Even if was able to keep from sink
ing for little while, the red water
would soon rise over the place of my
imprisonment and complete what the
quicksands had SO surely begun.
Drowning is said to he the easiest
of Deaths thought /, though any kind
was preferable to being smothered in
oozy quicksand.
''In the water, too, I could at least
struggle-fght for life. But in that
narrow, clinging grave, every limb
bound as with elastic cords, allowing
freedom only to the extent of simply
maddening one, caught like a miserable
fly in a spiders web, would not even
have the satisfaction of struggling.
1.-The feeling of fear that first pos
sessed me gradually left, or maybe
numbed my senses, and in its place
came strange fancies, such as ond
dreams when lying half awake.
THE sun seemed beating its piercing
rays into my brain. The hoarse cry of a
raven far up in the sky came family to-
me. 1 pictured him and bis mate, dark
specf1s showing against a background
of white clouds, notwithstanding and
watching.
81 wondered if the peck of a ravens
beal1 on ones head would hurt much-if
they were up there waiting for me to
die. Then 1 remembered that befd-e
was dead would be buried.
81 smiled grinly at the thought OF
cheating them. But if they came be-
fore? Instinctively 1 felt for my knife.
1 could keep them off with it. My knife!
Like a flash came the thought that it
would be a means of rescue
1.-The cloud of fancies seemed to lift
from my brain. With trembling fin
gers, I hurniedly drew it out and opened
it. 1t was the kind known among SCHOOL,
boys as 'toadstabber,' stout and strong.
Hopefully, with one haUd, felt for
the tree; but 1 had sunk so far in the
mud that it was now beyond my reach.
A groan burst through my clenched
teeth, as my last hope fled.
1T seemed as if I must give up. But
life is sweet-so sweet to one about to
lose it. One more effort, then-a re-
QUEEN chanted by the waves and flung
landward by the winds.
Making u violent struggle, thrust
my hand that held the knife as far for
ward as 1 could and struck down with
all my strength.
1.-THE tree must have been lying
obliouely along the sides of the gully,
so that my left hand had not been able
to reach it; but my right, in which was
| the knife, had found it. The blade sank
into the soft, half-decayed wood. Slip
| ping my hand down as closely to the
tree as possible, so not to pull the
knife out, and placing my left hand over
my right, to give myself greater pur-
| chase, L pulled. Slowly, almost imPer-
| ceptibly, the dreadful sucking power
was lessened-was stopped! Slowly
my arms bent-I was gaining! Wrench
| ing the knife out, drove it in farther
up the trunk, repeating this again and
again, for 1 was able to draw myself
only a few inches at a time, until ]
finally lay my length over the tree
saved!
II had thrown the gun high up on
fast. Recovering it now, gained the
| dyke, to fall weak and trembling on the
grass. lay there until the tide had risen
to the dyke. Then washing the mud out
| of my clothes spread them in the sun
| to dry. When / had finished it was
| flood tide, the water was still and
smooth as a mirror, except where here
and there mounds of amber-colored
| foam or a piece of driftwood broke the
surface
Il shuddered my eyes, drawn by a
strange fascination, sought out the
spot, now covered by many feet OF
| water, where a short time before had
so narrowly escaped terrible death.
1 T