Part 16 (1/2)
INCIDENT AT NIAGARA FALLS
On Saturday, the 13th of July, 1850, as a boy, ten years old, was rowing his father over to their ho so much intoxicated as not to be able to assist anyoff shore, so frustrated the efforts of his tiny arot into the current, and finally into the rapids, within a very few rods of the Falls! On went the frail shell, careering and plunging as the allant little oars billows, and actually got the canoe, by his perseveringso close to Iris Island, as to have her driven by a providential wave in between the little islands called the Sisters Here the father and his dauntless boy were in still greater danger for an instant; for there is a fall between the two islands, over which had they gone, no earthly power could have withheld their final passage to the terrific precipice, which forms the Horse-shoe Fall But the sudden dash of a wave capsized the canoe, and left the two struggling in the water Being near a rock, and shallow, the boy lost no tied him up to a place of safety, where the crowd of anxious citizens awaited to lend assistance
The poor boy on reaching the shore in safety, instantly fainted, while his miserable father was sufficiently sobered by the perils he had passed through The canoe was dashed to pieces on the rocks ere it reached its final leap
A SKATER CHASED BY A WOLF
A thrilling incident in As at Donaldson Manor” In the winter of 1844, the relater went out one evening to skate, on the Kennebec, in Maine, byascended that river nearly two miles, turned into a little stream to explore its course
”Fir and herowth,” he says, ”met overhead and formed an archway, radiant with frostwork All was dark within; but I was young and fearless; and, as I peered into an unbroken forest that reared itself on the borders of the streah the silent woods, and I stood listening to the echo that reverberated again and again, until all was hushed Suddenly a sound arose--it seemed to me to come from beneath the ice; it sounded low and tremulous at first, until it ended in a loild yell I was appalled Never before had such a noise ht it more than mortal; so fierce, and ah from the tread of some brute animal, and the blood rushed back to my forehead with a bound that made my skin burn, and I felt relieved that I had to contend with things earthly and not spiritual; ies returned, and I looked around me for some means of escape As I turned my head to the shore, I could see two dark objects dashi+ng through the underbrush, at a pace nearly double in speed to my own By this rapidity, and the short yells they occasionally gave, I knew at once that these were the ray wolf
”I had never iven of the their acquaintance Their untath, which seems part of their nature, render thehted traveler
”There was no tiht; so I bent my head and dashed ht flakes of snow spun from the iron skates, and I was some distance froitive I did not look back; I did not feel afraid, or sorry, or even glad; one thought of ho ain, and then every energy of body and mind was exerted for escape
I was perfectly at hoood skates, never thinking that at one time they would be my only means of safety Every half minute, an alternate yelp from my ferocious followers, told me too certain that they were in close pursuit Nearer and nearer they ca on the ice nearer still, until I could feel their breath, and hear their sniffling scent
”Every nerve and muscle in my fra the shore seeht, and my brain turned with my own breathless speed, yet still they seemed to hiss forth their breath with a sound truly horrible, when an involuntary motion on my part, turned me out of my course The wolves, close behind, unable to stop, and as unable to turn on the s on far ahead; their tongues were lolling out, their white tusks glaring froy breasts were fleeced with foalared, and they hoith fury
”The thought flashed on my mind, that, by theseaside whenever they came too near; for they, by the formation of their feet, are unable to run on the ice, except in a straight line
”At one tionists came so near, that they threw the white foa to seizeof a fox-trap!
”Had my skates failed for one instant, had I tripped on a stick, or caughtwould never have been told
”I thought over all the chances; I knehere they would take hold ofit would be before I died; and then there would be a search for the body that would already have its tomb!
for, oh! how fast man's mind traces out all the dread colors of death's picture, only those who have been so near the griinal can tell
”But I soon came opposite the house, and, my hounds,--I knew their deep voices,--roused by the noise, bayed furiously from the kennels I heard their chains rattle; hoished they would break them! and then I would have protectors that would be peer to the fiercest denizens of the forest The wolves, taking the hint conveyed by the dogs, stopped in their mad career, and, after a moment's consideration, turned and fled
I watched the hill; then, taking off s which ined than described But, even yet, I never see a broad sheet of ice in thebreath, and those fearful things that followed me closely down the frozen Kennebec”
OUR FLAG ON THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS
We find the following incident of placing the Ahest point of the Rocky Mountains, in ”Col Freet our mules up to a little bench about a hundred feet above the lakes, where there was a patch of good grass, and turned theh ride to this place, they had exhibited a wonderful surefootedness Parts of the defile were filled with angular, sharp fraght or ten feet cube; and a fro a false step, and giving us no occasion to dis divested ourselves of every unnecessary encumbrance, we commenced the ascent This time, like experienced travelers, we did not press ourselves, but cliinning to fail At intervals, we readied places where a nuushed from the rocks, and, about 1800 feet above the lakes, caress was uninterrupted cli Hitherto, I had worn a pair of thick ht, thin pair, which I had brought for the purpose, as now the use of our toes became necessary to a further advance I availed ainst the wall like a buttress, and which the wind and the solar radiation, joined to the steepness of the smooth rock, had kept almost entirely free from snow Up this, I , at the outset, had spared ht disposition to headache, I felt no remains of yesterday's illness, In a few ing, and there was no other way of sur around one side of it, which was the face of a vertical precipice of several hundred feet
Putting hands and feet in the crevices between the blocks, I succeeded in getting over it, and, when I reached the top, foundto the, and in a short ti upon the summit, and another step would have precipitated me into an ie of this field was a sheer icy precipice; and then, with a gradual fall, the field sloped off for about a e I stood on a narrow crest, about three feet in width, with an inclination of about 20 N, 51 E
As soon as I had gratified the first feelings of curiosity, I descended, and each man ascended in his turn; for I would only allow one at a time to mount the unstable and precarious slab, which, it seemed, a breath would hurl into the abyss below Wea ra to wave in the breeze, where flag never waved before
[Illustration: OUR FLAG ON THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS]