The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1912-10-11

there made the road almost impassa-
BILE, even for an unencumbered pedes-
trian.
A small boat and a ladder would
have better fitted me for this expedl-
ton. lugged and toiled, though, lift
ing my machine over trees, washouts
and rifted bridges, until had pene-
'trated about mile of this c"'tul jun
gle. Then l left My mount I'D walk
ed ahead to see if conditions were
likely to improve, but found little con-
ISOLATION. l returned 10 my machine,
resolved to make the best out of the
situation that l could.
l was much worn and fatigued. The
streaming rays of the hot sun were
shining without mercy and my watch
was pointing to an hour far beyond
the time for square meals, and no re-
lief in sight. Not a cheering sound
could be heard, not even the bark of
a dog, and l had many reasons to
wonder if that was the same island
once inhabited by Robinson Crusoe.
There were scarcely any signs that
a vehicle had ever travelled that way,
and the party in Columbia who had
told me that this was the best route
mad fooled me into an awful trap. The
afternoon was fast passing away and
the prospect of spending the night
in this desolate region did not add any
to my comfort. However, I worked my
way little at the time and after more
than three hours of this gruelling mis-
cry emerged upon the other river
bank. Fortunately l found an old
darkey fishing nearby from little
boat. l hired him to put me across,
landing on the other shore about knee
deep in drifted sands. l gave him
quarter to help me push my machine
about fifty yards.
l felt very much encouraged now
for the fact that l was off the island,
but still had several rifted bridges
and deep washouts to cross. Using all
the energy 1 had in reserve, 1 manag-
ed somehow to get through, and once
more on good roads. repaired to
little village called Fort Motto, where
l obtained food and refreshments.
My next stop was st. Matthews. l
found the roads excellent on down as
far as Orangeburg, and began to spin
off the miles to the limit of my mot
oris speed, making good time in the
few hours of daylight that l still had.
At Orangeburg 1 replenished my
gasoline supply and made my final
dash for Branchville, the only town
of any size l expected to pass. After
seven more miles of good roads I
came into the sandy region. This,
of course, retarded my progress some,
but l romped on into Branchville in
pretty good shape, reaching there a
little before o'clock I was now %
miles from my destination and l had
feared that this would be the worst
part of my journey. After drawing a
map of the roads as it was given me
l set out from Branchville, ploughing
the deep sand which was now continu-
Gus, thinking 1 might reach small
village called Snloak;s, which was only
II miles distant, before nightfall Au-
tomobiles are unknown here and mo-
torcycles attract as much attention as
flying machine would, so it is not
difficult to get lost when you leave the
railroad. However, l had no trouble
for about five miles Here the road
forked. consulted my map and found
nothing to indicate another road there.
1t was left to my best judgment to
decide which one to take, and OF
course took the wrong one, and did
not find that out until had gone about
eight miles. AS my cyclometer show
ed that 1 had Travelled 13 miles from
Branchville and no "Smoak's" in
sight l concluded then that my course
was wrong. An old darkey living
near informed me that the roads were
very bad and I would have to ford
several small streams if I continued
in my course. I decided then to give
up the attempt for the present, as
was already very tired from the days
grind. A white family living in the
neighborhood assured me that l would
be welcome to spend the night.
l had travelled 1874 miles, which
was far better than l had expected
The next morning, much refr ashed,
l resumed my journey. Though the
-oo5c u,oro c+;1l -opd1r }I,,. v-o,o ,o&