The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1898-10-30
WHY BEN GR|NNE[I JOINED 1HE CHURCH
A Moonshners Terrible Experience the Edge of
a Mountain Cliff


had kindied the fire and hlewed il aleng
until the who.e face ~ tie eli around the
root OF my tree was in light blaze. and
| begun 10 think tia; ia have 10 wait til
X HAD burned down Aame afore | yentarSd
10 pass through il.
But | vas eager 10 reach some shelter
afore the Storm struck me. and | had nigh
'ooG, reached fhe root % the tree when
was nearly scared out Of my senses by
nearing The deep jar OF rattiesnaAe
come nigh los.n' my ho.d on the limbs
and begun 10 lock round for the sarqint
AT las, he made 4 slight movement. and
from the roat. cat al the reach Of the ire.
but betwsxt me and the edge OF the c.iif
Ny hair stood straight up as | stood there
as IN baa d er s fep The hs sfS had d1 r1
the snake outn his hole, and he had
crawled cut little piece on the ;ree 10
how uloca hotter tho blaze might git, ana
how much furder oat ii msns drive that
ere snake The wind Wa jest howi.n'
around ne, and had 10 keep firm grip
on the limbs 10 keep from bein' bowed
away. and Al the same time | kept my
eyes on the sarpint. e2ectin' him 10 start
to'ards NE eyry mint.
"A terrible clap OF thunder stunted me.
and q ~ adn' Hash Of ,'ghtn.n tore
through the woods, and then everything
turned dark. and the storm struck the
an! wrung ard twisted thar tree and the
limbs bent beneath my weight till |
thought several times they would break.
l was clinsin on Cor dear life. while the
smoke that almost 5s.ifed me. SIN |
was almost afsared "a pat one fooi ahead
OF 't'other OH count Of that snake. l
couldn l. See whether hi had retreatrd
was advancin', or whether he was s;ill
camped there at the foot of the tree.
1t seemed 10 ME that IL was the longest
lastin storm tha. ever seed in all my
little. and then | would keteh my breath,
hut about the time done that here would
coma another gust. and the tree would
Ia have to cling on for dear life again.
AT last the rain SACKED up a little. but
the sun nad gone down. and night had
come. and the clouds hung so low and
heavy that 1t was as dark as pitch and |
couldn't see my hand afore me- l sQua;ted
down on the log and tried to sight along
out If he had moved. bat ] couldn't see
over three feet ahead and / was afeared
10 move because he mought have moved
furder ont ana got ciosler 10 me In the
darkness so that i was Tribe TO feel his
fangs in my foot at any mint.
1T was the darkest and the longest
night ever spent. My cloes was drenched
with rain. and began TO git cold. and so,
there shiverin' and wishin' that the ,ire
would spring up ag'in and give ME a istie
light and heat. but the rain had put IL out.
except some smolderfn' chunks that sen;
up stifi:n' smoke without any light or
warmth. | hearn the night owls hootin' In
the woods. and they seemed to be mockin'
at me Then II occurred to me tina, I'd
been pretty wicked sort OF Teller, and
| made up my mind that what il to be VIII
be. and that IL Old Mars;er would let me
git our of thai scrape I'd stop moonshinin'
and cussin' and cavortin' round, and that
ia iine the good old Primitive Baptisis
the very next chance had.
Il thought bout prayin' oncet or twicet
but then j reelected that ia never done
nothin TO put the good Lord under any OBJ
legations to look alter me. and that liz he
was agwine TO save he'd save me any,
how. and j jest lowered up among them
leaves and sot there and shivered while the
hours drug slowly along. Sometimes a
little breeze would rustic through the