The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1903-07-11

Diuc, sir, VIC make you comiott-
able
No. no. said 1. Il must get to
my own bed
III you'll not go round by the
shore, SIR said the man, leave me
pilot you across
Stay with your lad said some
what testify. III cross by the ice.'
"Twili be the longest way home
the night said he.
when man is sleepy and worn
out he can be strangely perverse. ]
would have my own way; and, to my
cost, / was permitted to take it:
Tommy's father led me down to the
landing-stage, put n gaff in my hand,
and warned me to be careful-warned
me particularly not to take step
without sounding the ice ahead with
my GAIT; and he brought the little
lesson to an end with a wistful,
'Wisht you wouldn't risk it,
1.-The tone of his voice, the earnest
ness and warm feeling with which he
spoke. gave me pause. hesitated;
but the light in my surgery window,
shining so near at hand, gave me Wis
ion of clean and comfortable rest, and
put the momentary indecision away
from me.
1T is a quarter of mile to my
surgery by the ice,' said, and it is
four miles round the harbor by the
road. I'm going by the shortest way
You'll find il the longest, sir,
said he.
Il repeated my directions as to the
treatment of Tommy, then gave the
man good night and stepped out on
the ice, gait in hand. The three hours
following were charged with more
terror and despair than, doubtless,
any year of my life to come shall
know. am not morbidly afraid Of
death. 1t was not that-not the SIM
pie, natural fear of death that made
me suffer. 1t was the manner of its
coming-in the night. with the harbor
folk, all ignorant of my extremity,
peacefully sleeping around me-the
slow, cruel approach of it. closing in
upon every hand, lying all about me,
and hidden from me by the night"
The doctor paused. He looked over
the quiet water of the harbor.
'Yes." he said, repeating the short,
nervous laugh, lit was narrow
escape. The sun of the afternoon
it had shone hot and bright-had
weakened the ice, and strong, gusty
wind, such wind as breaks up the ice
every spring, was blowing down the
harbor to the sea. 1t had overcast
the sky with thick clouds. The night
was dark. Nothing more of the OPP
posite shore than the vaguest outline
of the hills-a blacker shadow in d
black slsy-was to be seen.
but l had the lamp in the surgery
window to guide me, and l pushed out
from the shore, resolute and hopeful.
| made constant use of my gaff to
sound the ice. Without it l should
have been lost before had gone
20 yards. From time to time, in
rotten places, it broke through the
ice with but slight pressure; then 1
had to turn to right or left, as seemed
best. keeping to the general direction
as well as could all the while.
las / proceeded, treading lightly
and cautiously, i was dismayed to find
that the condition of the ice was
worse than the worst had feared.
e 'Ah,' thought j, with a wistful
glance toward the light in the win
dow, III be glad enough to get
there
..T.bar, ,yara IoGaS Of oman ago q or In,
my path; there were flooded patches.
sheets of thin. rubbery ice. stretches
of rotten 'slob.' was not even sure
that a solid path to my surgery
wound through these dangers; and il
path there were, it was a puzzling
maze. strewn with pitfalls. with death
waiting upon a misstep.
Had it been broad day, my situa-
ton would have been serious enough
In the night, with the treacherous,
places all covered up and hidden, it
was desperate. determined to re-
turn; but l was quite as unfamiliar
with the lay of the ice behind as with
the path ahead. A moment of thought
persuaded me that the best plan was
the boldest-to push on for the light
i'm the window. 1 should have, at
least, a star to guide me.
II have not far to co. thought.
Il must proceed with confidence and
common sense sort of caution. Above
all, i must not lose my nerve
1T was easy to make the resolve;
it was hard TO carry il out. When 1
was searching for solid ice and my
eaff splashed water. when the ice Of
fered no more resistance to my
GAIT than a similar mass of sea-foam
when my foothold bent and cracked
beneath me, when, upon either side,
lay open water, and a narrowing, I'M
certain path lay ahead, my nerve was
sorely tried.
Eat times, overcome by the peril
could rot see, l stopped dead and
trembled. / feared to strike my gait,
feared to set my foot down, feared to
quit the square foot of solid ice upon
which stood. Had it not been for
the high wind-high and fast rising
to a gale-I should have sat down and
waited for the morning. But there
were ominous sounds abroad, and al
though 1 knew little about the ways
- too 4 70 that ho hraa Inn xvonlI