The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1897-03-31

| path after the Indian. l iouud him
ut the rivers edge, bniling out mn old
ilnt-bottomcd boat with an oyster can.
| must admit / was nervous, and ! re-
volved in my mind the ndvisnbility OF
going Off with this Indian, but ] could
not see how ! could improve my situ-
alton by remaining. ! was in for it,
and by the time the old Indian had
reduced the water to about two inches
from the bottom, decided 10 go at
all hazards. The Indian, after push
water went bnck, and from under
stump brought out n dirty old sail.
The wind was blowing stiff breeze
| down the river, and the sight of that
sail gave mo the cold shiycrs. There
was no uso demonstrating with him,
for he evidently couldn't understand
me, SO ! watched him dismnlly while
he shipped it. aud thought of the wife
aud baby had left in Boston. Tho
Indian had evidently noticed my tre-
pidation, for he stopped abruptly and
held out his hand suggestively. Iput
the stipulated 50 in his palm and he
then motioned me to get in the boat.
] must confess that never hated to
do IA thing in my life ns | did to step
into that rickety box of n boat. Ibid
| it, however, sort of fascination
drawing me on that / could hardly re-
sist, and / sat down on one of the
thwarts, with the water in the bottom
of the boat running into every Granny
of my shoes.
''The next instant the Indian pushed
the boat out into the stream and
| jumped into the bow. The wind caught
the sail, which was tied fast aft, and
the little craft carcened, till the watcr
poured in over the gunwale, but the
Indian was quick, and second later
he had seized the tillcr and brought
her around, catching tho wind and
sending MS out into the stream and
almost utter darkness. I noticed that
the current was very swift, and that III
| spite of the sail we were drifting down
stream rapidly.
81 didn't know what was below us,
| or this would have added to my men
i
tai condition. Soon tho dim black
line that marked the mountains back
of us faded anl | could make nothing
ont but the boat and the form of the
old Indian crouched down in the
stern. We soon found ourselves in
| the midst of driftwood, into which the
boat kept humping and sliding over
| at an alarming rate. We struggled
on in this iitful way for what seemed
to me an hour. was chilled to tho
bone, and there was something in that
terrible darkness amid the wailng OF
the wind so suggestive of death and
its horrors that l wonder my hair
didn't turn gray with fright.
CAL of n sudden some great big
black object seemed to jump up right
in front of us, and before knew what
had happened, over went tue boat and
threw us out into the icy water of tho
Columbia.
81 am pretty good swimmer and
got to tho surface in pretty quick
time and grabbed the nearest piece of
driftwood / could find. which proved
to be II big railrond tie. Frightened
and chilled as / was, could not help
looking around for the Indian, but
failed to see anything of him or the
boat, the swirling eddies in that swift
running current having separated us
SO that we were lost to one another.
81 kept on floating down tho river
in totally helpless condition, for the
cold had numbed my limbs so that /
could scarcely maintain my hold on
the log. i, however, could see tho
faint outline of what supposed was
the shore and used my hands, with
my body across the tie, to paddle
toward the shore. felt that my only
salvation now lay in reaching the
shore as soon as possible, for the
water was so icy cold that felt that
| conld not hold on much longer.
''As driftcd along dull roar,
which l hnd noticed several times
above the sound of the wind, made it.
self audible. Louder and louder the
sound grew, and it was not until it
drowned almost every other sound
around that it dawned upon my be.
numbed senses that Wyeth was only a
few miles above the Cascades, and 1
A n