Part 11 (2/2)

All that i was realized in the awful destruction of this boat Scores sank despairingly under the aters; but there is reason to fear thatmen, helpless wo the passengers were a young gentleman and lady, who first became acquainted with each other on board The lady was accompanied by her father Upon an intimacy of a few hours an attachment seeers rushed to the deck, after the bursting forth of the flames, the lady discovered her new acquaintance on a distant part of the deck, forced her way to him, and implored him to save her The only alternative left them was to jump overboard, or to subentle for the young and fair being, who hada short distance from the boat As soon as the plank was secured, the lady leaped into the water and was buoyed up by her clothes, until the gentleman was enabled to float the plank to her For a short tie was safe; but soon his hopes were blasted--one of the fallen timbers struck the lady on the head, her for was perceptible, and she disappeared froentle the number picked up by the Clinton

There was a fine race-horse on board, who, soon after the alarm, broke froh the crowd of passengers, prostrating all in his way; and then, rendered frantic by terror and pain, he reared and plunged into the devouring fire, and there ended his agony

One of the persons saved, in describing the scene, says:--”The air was filled with shrieks of agony and despair The boldest turned pale I shall never forget the wail of terror that went up froether on the forward deck Wives clung to their husbands, mothers frantically pressed their babes to their boso ray hairs strea out his bony hands, prayed to God in the language of his father-land

”But if the scene foras terrible, that aft was appalling, for there the flareatest fury Some madly rushed into the fire; others, with a yell like a demon,headlong into the waves The officers of the boat, and the creere generally cool, and sprang to lower the boats, but these were every one successively swaardless of the execrations of the sailors, and of every thing but their own safety

”I tried to act coolly--I kept near the captain, who see was above all praise The boat was veering toward the shore, but the maddened flames now enveloped the wheel-house, and in a moment the machinery stopped The last hope had left us--a wilder shriek rose upon the air At this ineer, the one at the ti as it would work, was seen cliallows-head, a blackall around hio, for it was now oneupward, came to the top, one moment felt madly around hi on board, for the boat now broached around and rolled upon the swelling waves, a ave one spring, just as the flah the deck where I stood--one moment more and I should have been in the flarasping y”

One of the not least interesting facts connected with the catastrophe, was that the helmsman was found burnt to a cinder at his post He had not deserted it even in the last extreers the wheel His name was Luther Fuller Honor to his e, na those saved He exhibited a degree of self-possession and fortitude rarely surpassed Thoughon his head, and his hands were scorched by the fla for at least two hours and a half to the chain leading from the stern to the rudder

CONFLICT WITH AN INDIAN

David Morgan had settled upon the Monongahela during the early part of the revolutionary war, and at this time had ventured to occupy a cabin at the distance of severalsent his younger children out to a field at a considerable distance from the house, he became uneasy about the He was ar upon the fence and giving some directions as to their work, he observed two Indians upon the other side of the field gazing earnestly upon the party He instantly called to the children to make their escape, while he should atteainst him, as in addition to other circue, and, of course, unable to contend with his ene The house wastwo hundred yards the start, and being effectually covered by their father, were soon so far in front, that the Indians turned their attention entirely to the old man He ran for several hundred yards with an activity which astonished hi before he could reach his home, he fairly turned at bay, and prepared for a strenuous resistance

The woods through which they were running were very thin, and consisted almost entirely of small trees, behind which, it was difficult to obtain proper shelter

Morgan had just passed a large walnut, and, in order to resist with advantage, it becaain it The Indians were startled at the sudden advance of the fugitive, and halted as, where they anxiously strove to shelter thean, as an excellent h of the person of one of the a shot His enemy instantly fell, e of Morgan's e from the shelter, and advanced rapidly upon hi no tiained rapidly upon him, and, ithin twenty steps, fired, but with so unsteady an ai passed over his shoulder

He now again stood at bay, clubbing his rifle for a blohile the Indian, dropping his eun, brandished his toan struck with the butt of his gun, and the Indian hurled his tomahawk at one and the same moment Both blows took effect; and both of the combatants were at once wounded and disarainst the Indian's skull, and the edge of the to first cut off two of the fingers of Morgan's left hand The Indian then atterappled hile ensued, in which the oldhi his knee on the breast of his ene loudly, as is usual with the barbarians upon any turn of fortune, he again felt for his knife, in order to ter lately stolen a woman's apron, and tied it around his waist, his knife was sothe handle

Morgan, in the ilist, and perfectly at hoe of the aardness of the Indian, and got one of the fingers of his right hand between his teeth

The Indian tugged and roared in vain, struggling to extricate it Morgan held hi for the knife Each seized it at the saan by the handle, but with a very slight hold

[Illustration: THE LAST SHOT]

The Indian, having the firan to draw the knife further out of its sheath, when Morgan, suddenly giving his finger a furious bite, twitched the knife dexterously through his hand, cutting it severely

Both now sprung to their feet, Morgan brandishi+ng his adversary's knife, and still holding his finger between his teeth In vain the poor Indian struggled to get away, rearing, plunging, and bolting, like an unbroken colt The teeth of the whitehis savage foe a stab in the side The Indian received it without falling, the knife having struck his ribs; but a second blow, aie fell Morgan thrust the knife, handle and all, into the body, directed it upward, and, starting to his feet, made the best of his way ho account of one of those fearfully sublime spectacles--a fire on the prairie--is from the ”_Wild Western Scenes_” by JB Jones

The hunters have been out and are overtaken by night, and are lost in the darkness

Ere long, a change came over the scene About two-thirds of the distance around the verge of the horizon a faint light appeared, reses overhead, and the rays of the e of the thick vapor But the stars could be seen, and the only appearance of clouds was iht In a very few minutes the terrible truth flashed upon the ed to an approaching fla upward, while the fire beneath ilare to them The wind blew more fiercely, and the fire approached from almost every quarter with the swiftness of a race-horse The darkened vault above becaradually illuburnt alive! It was madness to proceed in a direction thatin one unbroken line froht, and in front of thereatest distance between thehtened deer or elk leaped past, and the hounds no longer noticed them, but remained close to the horses The flaht increased in brilliance, and objects were distinguishable far over the prairie A red glare could be seen on the sides of the deer as they bounded over the tall dry grass, which was soon to be no longer a refuge for the man heard a low continued roar, that increased everyin the direction whence they supposed it proceeded, they observed an i mass, the nature of which they could not divine, but it threatened to annihilate every thing that opposed it While gazing at this additional source of danger, the horses, blinded by the surrounding light, plunged into a deep ditch that the rain had washed in the rich soil Neither men nor horses, fortunately, were injured; and, after several ineffectual efforts to extricate the of the fire Ringwood and Johined fearfully on the verge of the ditch for an instant, and then sprang in and crouched tre at the feet of theirless than an immense herd of buffaloes driven forward by the flames The horses bowed their heads as if a thunderbolt were passing The fire and the heavens were hid frohty waters When the last ani over the chasm, Glenn thanked the propitious accident that thus providentially prevented hi crushed to atoht by a like means be rescued from the fiery ordeal that awaited him It now occurred to hirass in the chas in, would prove fatal when the fla the trench, he found the depth diminished, but the fire was not three hundred paces distant His heart sank within hi to his former position, with a resolution to relealance in a contrary direction from that they had recently pursued, he beheld the identical mound he had ascended before dark, and froht had fortunately prevented a distant separation They now led their horses forth, and,without delay, whipped forward for life or death Could the summit of the mound be attained, they were in safety--for there the soil was not encuetation--and they spurred their aniht to see thetoward the mound with the velocity of the wind, while the diminutive pony miraculously followed in the wake like an inseparable shadow The careering flaained the summit and Glenn looked back, the fire had reached the base!

Fortunately, that portion of the plain over which the scathing element had spent its fury, was the direction the party should pursue in retracing their way horass had been soon consumed, and the earth noore a blackened appearance, and was as setation had never covered the surface As the party rode briskly along, (and the pony now kept in advance,) the horses' hoofs rattled as loudly on the baked ground as if it were a plank floor The reflection of the fire in the distance still threw a lurid glare over the extended heath As the sreat distance, and occasionally a half-roasted deer or elk was seen plunging about, driven to madness by its tortures And frequently they found the dead bodies of sht