The Opelousas courier., 1904-09-03
Under a Cake Of Ice.

IL Woo hACO 4OS VA ~
March afternoon when Henry Duncan,
ak on shoulder, walked whistling out
Of the village of Winterport on the
Penobscot River. He followed the
main road for about a hundred rods,
and then took a by-path througbEsne
fields that led himrdaE.~-Tr 60 n wa
ter, nearly a half-mile north Of the
town.
His goal was a dock between two
old wharves, where lay his coasting
schooner, the Elsie, tied up the pre-
vious December, when the Penobscot
froze over, find now, although the
river had been open a fortnight, still
thickly ice-clad from the tapping of
the water against her sides. 1t was
his mission that afternoon to cut of
this winter coat, and begin to get his
vessel ready for the seasons business.
Duncan sprang lightly down the
slippery bank, and stood on the old
wharf, with its sodden legends and
brown, rotting cobwork covered with
masses of clinging rockwell. The
tide has just begun to rise, but was
still some distance below the schoon-
er's rudder; the hard mud bottom
of the dock was bare, except for a few
stranded ice-cakes.
It had been a cold winter, and thu
coating on the Elsie was in some
places more than a foot in thickness.
The melting warmth of the March
sun had set the water flowing between
the outside planks and their covering,
so that the ice had started away a lit.
tie from the side. II it were creased
into sections with an TX and then cut
more deeply, it would fall off in great
slabs.
Descending Q short ladder at the
head of the dock, he took off his coat,
laid 1t upon an ice-cake behind him,
and began chopping away at the mass
that concealed the outlines of his YES
sci near the stern. AT first he worked
with considerable caution; but as the
Ice was Unexpectedly hard and came
off in very small pieces, he grew a
little impatient and struck more Wig
orously.
There was a sharp cracking, and a
section more than ten feet long and
nearly as high as the schooner's side
split off bodily.
Duncan saw it coming, but so quick
ly did it drop that he had no time to
get out of the way. 1t fell across his
body, bearing him backward and pin
ming him down upon the mud.
The plight in which the young own
er SO Unexpectedly found himself was
both painful and dangerous. There
he lay, fat or hts back, covered from
the tips Of his toes almost to his
shoulders by a slab of ice weighing
several hundred pounds.
The under side was rough with ir-
regular bosses, and these, pressing
down upon the mud, held up the cake
from his body; otherwise his life
would surely have been crushed out in
o short time.
So far as he could tell, no bones
had been broken, but his body and
lower limbs were fastened into abso-
Lutte immobility. His arms, however,
were free, and he could breathe with
no great difficulty. Pressing his
hands strongly against the edge of the
slab, he attempted to drag himself
from under 1t. But struggle as hard
as he might, he found to his great
alarm that he could not work him
self backward the fraction of an inch.
He began to shout for aid:
Hi. HI! Hi! Help!"
The narrow dock resounded with
his cries. From the opposite shore
Of the river a faint echo rolled back.
How could they help hearing him in
the village, half a mile below? He
became silent and waited. Surely
rescue would soon come. But at the
end Of ten minutes no approaching
footstep had gladdened his ears.
Again he sent forth shout after shout;
but still there raj no response. The
dock was In an unfrequented spot,
under a high bank, and the wharves
that hemmed it in prevented his voice
from being heard. Evidently it was
useless 20 count on assistance from
| others.
Duncan turned his head and looked
out across the level river. It was a
beautiful afternoon. The Penobscot
seemed rejoicing in It's freedom from
the chains of winter. No breeze rip
pied the surface visible between the
wharf-ends. An occasional ice-cake,
drifting slowly by, was the only thing
that broke the monotony OF the
smooth, blue current.
The pressure upon the prisoners
body was becoming heavier and more
painful. chilling it and checking the
circulation. He could just breathe,
and that vas all. Pull and strain as
he might, he could not e~xtricate him
self. Then a sudden fear struck him
az he noted the progress Of the tide.
It had already crept up several
inches!
He was neal the lower end OF the
slab. The bottom Of the dock slipped
sharply downward, and he saw that
before the tide could rise high enough
10 float the entire mass and remove
the pressure from his body, his face
would be covered and he would as
suredly be drowned.
The young navigator had a strong,
active body and a clear brain. He