Year: 1865

name ne gave to the oVal-shaped opening


in the head of the boiler) through which


the smith entered to make his repairs


I fell with my arm so far thrust into the
aperture that I received a pretty smart


blow in the face as it came in contact


with the head of the boiler, and did


not hesitate to drag my body after it,
the moment 1 recovered from this stun
ming effect and ascertained my where
abouts. In a word, I crept into the
boiler, resolved to pass the night there.
The place was dry and sheltered. Had
my bed been softer, I would have had all
that man could desire as it was, slept,
aud slept soundly.


q should mention, though, that before
closing my eyes, I several times shifted
my position. I had gone first to the
further end of the boiler, then again I
had crawled back to the man hole and
put my hand out, to see if it was still
open. The warmest place was at the
further end, and there I finally esiab-
lished myself, and that I knew from the
first It was foolish in me to think that
the opening through which 1 had just
entered could be closed without my hear
inc it. and that too when no one was astir
but myself But the blow on my face
had made me a little nervous, perhaps,
and besides, I never could bear to be
shut up in any pIace-it always gives a
wild like feeling about the head. YIN
may laugh, stranger, but I believe I
should sufocate in an empty church, If I
once felt that I was SO shut up in it that
I could not get out. I have met men
before now just ike me, or worse, rather
much worse-men that it made SORT Of
furious to be tied down TO anything, yet
so soft like and contradictory in their
natures that you might lead them any
where so long as they did net feel the
string. Stranger, it takes all sorts OF
people to make a world; and we may
have a good many Of the worst kind Of
white men here out West. But l have
seen folks on this river-quiet looking
chaps, too, as ever you see-whO we're SO
teetotally carankter- anIterous that they d
shoot the doctor who'd tell them they
couldn't live when ailing, and make a die
of it just out of spite, when told they
mas! get well. Yes, fellows as fond Of
the good things Of earth as you or I. yet
who'd rush like mad over the gang plank
of life, if once brought to believe they
had to stay in it whether they wanted to
leave it or not. Thunder and bees IF
such a fellow as that had heard the cocks
crow as I did, awakened to frd darkness
about Eim-darkness so thick that you
might cut it with a knife-heard other
sounds, too, to tell him that it was morn
ing, and scrambling to tumble for that
man-hole, found 1t, too, black-clOsed-
black and even as the rest Of the iron
coffin around him-cIosed, with not a
riyet hole to let Gods light and air in
why-why, he'd a swooned right down
on the spot, as did, and amt ashamed
to own it to no white man"


The big drops actually stood upon the
poor fellows brow as he now paused for
a moment in the recital of his terrible
story. He passed his hand over his
rough features, and resumed it with less
agitation of manner.


How long 1 may have remained
there senseless [ don't know. The doc
tors have since told me that it must have
been a sort Of ft-more like an apo
plezy than swoon, for the attack finally
passed off in a sleep. Yes, slept
know that, for I dreamed-dreamed a
heap o thing afore I woke. There is
but one dream, however, that l have ever
been able to recall with distinctness, and
that must have come On shortly before I
recovered nay consciousness. Ny resting
place through ths night had been, as I
have told you, at the far end of the
boiler. Well, I now dreamed that the
man-hole was still open, and what seems
curious, rather than laughable, if you
take it in connection with other things,
I fancied that my legs had been so
stretched in the long walk had taken
the evening before, that they nowreached
the whole length of the boiler, and ex-
tended through the opening.


"At first Gin my dreaming refections)
it was a comfortable thought that no one
could now shut up the man-hole without
awakening me. But soon it seemed as if
my feet, which were on the outside, were
becoming drenched in the storm which
had originally driven me to seek this
shelter. I felt the chilling rain upon my
extremities. They grew colder, and their
numbness gradually extended to other
parts of my body. It seemed, however,
that it was only the under side of my
person that was thus strangely visited. I
laid upon my back, and it must have been
a species Of nightmare that afflicted me,
for knew at last that I was dreaming,