The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1897-10-21
AT THE MERCY
>. OF THE WIND.
BY FRANK |. POLLOCK.
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snowless and cold, so that Lake Huron
was frozen to an almost unprecedented
distance from the shore. The long har-
Dor of Parry sound was a dazzling belt
OF thick glare ice, and from the mouth
of it's steamboat channel the great
Georgian bay stretched out to north,
west and south, white and still to the
very horizon.
AS the ice was i'll perfect condition
for skating, the harbor was usually well
sprinkled with moving figures on fine
afternoons, and | was generally among
the skaters.
One day, as 1 walked down to the
landing, | noticed that the west was
dark with ominous-loOking gray clouds,
among which the sun was already dis
appearing. A fresh northeast wind
blew down the sound, and this decided
me to take the south channel, in or
der to have the breeze at my back. AS
for returning, the wind might be eX-
pected to go down as evening advanced.
The ice was superbly smooth, and the
wind so strong that went flying down
'ilC itbilliNl q ANtbt 'l'NNH' IN N''' ~
heavily wooded shores streamed past
like panorama. l did not realize the
fun force of the gale behind me, for
there is sort of intOXication in rapid
motion through the open air, and ]
skated faster and faster, without the
least thought of danger or sensation of
fatigue. 1t was as if 1 moved by pure
volition.
did not notice the passage of time,
but in whatseemed a marvelously short
period | found myself rounding the
bluff head of Parry island, and com
ing out upon the open lake itself. There
/ looked at my watch; as it was five
o'clock l decided to take a short run
upon the lake and then return.
had never before skated upon the
open reaches of the Georgian bay, and
bad not imagined that the ice could be
so excellent. | knew that usually it
was cracked and ridgy, because the in
,cessant motion of the water prevented
it from freezing smoothly, but now it
was almost as CLASSY as the ice Oh the
harbor itself.
Away l flew, delighted. Once l was
clear of the island, the gale struck me
with increased strength and so greatly
accelerated my speed that | was quite
two miles from land before | took
thought, and began to fear trouble in
regaining shelter in the teeth of the
wind SO | circled about to the right,
faced toward the shore-and stopped
short! The gale met me like a wall.
It was impossible for me to skate
against it.
| took a few vigorous strokes, but in
vain. When tried to stand still went
sliding away before the wind Again
and again | renewed the struggle, des-
peratcly cXhausting myself. Every BIZ
Cyclist knows the heart-breaking strain
of riding against head wind but this
was worse, for | was not able to advance
even yard. Indeed, | actually lost
ground. | could stop myself only by
sitting down, and that was what did.
| was not then much alarmed. 1t
seemed absurd TO suppose that an able
bodied and active young man would be
prevented from crossing two miles of
ice by wind power alone. Could not
tack to right and left, and thus beat
up through the storm?
got up, and began to skate vigorous
ly in a sOutheasterly direction, bearing
to the east, so that the wind blew upon
my right side, or upon my weather
bow" For some minutes all seemed to
go well. l held my head down and
Travelled as fast as was possible. But
when | made ready to go about upon
the other tack, and looked to see what
progress I had made, | was Mortified
to find | had been blown so far to lee
ward as to be quite half a mile far
Their from shelter than before.
tried to rectify the error by striking
out strongly northeast to north, but
the force of the storm would not even
allow me to turn at right angles to its
course. | was gradually and imper-
ceptibly driven to veer westward. The
gale seemed to gain strength every mo-
ment. In ten minutes another half
mile seemed lost, and the headland OF
Parry island began to grow faint in
distance and gathering twilight
| now felt myself to be at the mercy
of the wind. There was no abatement
in its violence as night drew on. II
blew ineXorably with a steady, great
pressure, bringing a few grains of dry
snow, that slid swiftly like sand along
the ice. SO long as l remained OF
my feet l was borne farther and far
ther from shore, in spite of every effort
1t was bitter cold, the flying grains Of
snow cut when 1 faced them, and | sal
down once more, with my back to the
weather, and tried to think of "A plan fol-
saving my life.
The prospect was terrifying. hat
proved unable to make head against The
storm. The ice was so smooth tina
l could not walk on it with my skate,
off. | could not sit still and wait fol
the weather to moderate, lest | b,
frozen solid i'm few hours. The on,
active thing | could do was to ruI
straight before the wind
This was not 50 insane a proceeding a
it might appear. Wharton, Owen sount
and Meadford all lay opposite me across
the bay, and | might find ice on which
to skate the whole distance of about 81
miles, thus converting the wind from
GOO into ~, 81 That tl,,rn ,,,t Oh I,