Part 16 (2/2)

During our n of animal life, except a small sparrow-like bird A stillness the most profound, and a terrible solitude, forced thereat features of the place Here, on the summit, where the stillness was absolute, unbroken by any sound, and solitude coion of ani on the rock, a solitary bee (_broht from the eastern valley, and lit on the knee of one of the hest peak of the Rocky mountains, for a lover of warm sunshi+ne and flowers; and we pleased ourselves with the idea that he was the first of his species to cross the mountain barrier--a solitary pioneer to foretell the advance of civilization I believe that a ht would have made us let him continue his way unharmed; but we carried out the law of this country, where all ani him immediately, put hie book, a the floe had collected on our way

RUNNING THE CANON

Col Fre account of a perilous adventure of hi to run a canon, on the river Platte They had previously passed three cataracts:

We reembarked at nine o'clock, and, in about twentyon a rocky shore at its coe was out of the question So far as we could see, the jagged rocks pointed out the course of the canon, on a winding line of seven or eight miles It was simply a narrow, dark chasher than in the previous pass, being at this end two to three hundred, and further down, as we afterward ascertained, five hundred feet in vertical height

Our previous success had ain to run the canon Every thing was secured as firreater part of our clothing, we pushed into the stream To save our chronometer fro the shore on the masses of rock, which, in places, were piled up on either side; but, after he had walked about fivelike shore disappeared, and the vertical wall came squarely down into the water He therefore waited until we caly pass lay before us We hadrope about fifty feet long; and three of thethe rocks, and, with this rope, let her slowly through the pass

In several places, high rocks lay scattered about in the channel; and, in the narrows, it required all our strength and skill to avoid staving the boat on the sharp points In one of these, the boat proved a little too broad, and stuck fast for an instant, while the water flew over us; fortunately, it was but for an instant, as our united strength forced her ih The water swept overboard only a sextant and a pair of saddle-bags I caught the sextant as it passed by s became the prey of the whirlpools We reached the place where Mr Preuss was standing, took him on board, and, with the aid of the boat, put thepile of rocks

We found this passage much worse than the previous one, and our position was rather a bad one To go back was impossible; before us, the cataract was a sheet of foam; and, shut up in the chasm by the rocks, which, in some places, seemed al, We pushed off again; but, aftera little distance, the force of the current becao the rope Lajeunesse, the thirdon, and was jerked headforeh; and down the boat shot, like an arrow, Bazil following us in the rapid current, and exerting all his strength to keep in mid channel--his head only seen occasionally like a black spot in the white foam How far ent, I do not exactly know; but we succeeded in turning the boat into an eddy below ”_'Cre Dieu,_” said Bazil Lajeunesse, as he arrived ie un demi mile_” He had owed his life to his skill as a swimmer, and I determined to take him and two others on board, and trust to skill and fortune to reach the other end in safety We placed ourselves on our knees, with the short paddles in our hands, the ain we commenced our rapid descent We cleared rock after rock, and shot past fall after fall, our little boat see to play with the cataract We becaer; and, yielding to the excite Singing, or rather shouting, we dashed along, and were, I believe, in the midst of the chorus, when the boat struck a concealed rock immediately at the foot of a fall, which whirled her over in an instant Three ofwas to assist them, and save some of our effects; but a sharp concussion or two convinced ht me into an eddy, and I landed on a pile of rocks on the left side Looking around, I saw that Mr Preuss had gained the shore on the sa and swiainst the wall, lay the boat, botto Descoteaux, whorasped by the hair, and who could not swim

For a hundred yards below, the current was covered with floating books and boxes, bales and blankets, and scattered articles of clothing; and so strong and boiling was the stream, that even our heavy instruments, which were all in cases, kept on the surface, and the sextant, circle, and the long, black box of the telescope, were in view at once For a moment, I felt somewhat disheartened All our books--alisters of astronomical and barometrical observations--had been lost in a rets; and I i fro ourselves understood as well as possible by signs, (for nothing could be heard in the roar of the waters,) we co on board, the only article that had been saved wasto with drowning tenacity The men continued down the river on the left bank Mr Preuss and myself descended on the side ere on; and Lajeunesse, with a paddle in his hand, jumped on the boat alone, and continued down the canon She was now light, and cleared every bad place with much less difficulty In a short time he was joined by Lambert and the search was continued for about a mile and a half, which was as far as the boat could proceed in the pass

Here the walls were about five hundred feet high, and the fragments of rocks from above had choked the river into a hollow pass, but one or two feet above the surface Through this, and the interstices of the rock, the water found its way Favored beyond our expectations, all our registers had been recovered, with the exception of one of my journals, which contained the notes and incidents of travel, and topographical descriptions, a number of scattered astronomical observations, principally ister west of Laramie Fortunately, our other journals contained duplicates of the most important barometrical observations In addition to these, we saved the circle; and these, with a few blankets, constituted every thing that had been rescued froirl has been captured at her father's hut, when all thewolves She is seized by the Indians, and borne swiftly away to the encaes She is then placed in a ”land canoe” and hurried rapidly forward toward their villages Anizes one whose life she had been instrunizes her, and pro narrative commences:

At a late and soleht before, suddenly ceased his snoring, which had been heard without interth of time; and when Mary instinctively cast her eyes toward hiently and slowly raise his head He enjoined silence by placing his hand upon hishimself from his comrades, he crept quietly away, and soon vanished entirely fro beech Mary expected he would soon return and assist her to escape Although she are of the hardshi+ps and perils that would attend her flight, yet the thought of again h to nerve her for the undertaking, and she waited with anxious i of her rescuer But he can in his conduct but that of effecting her escape, and yet he neither came for her, nor beckoned her away She had reposed confidence in his proe as he was, rarely forfeited his word; but when gratitude inspired a pledge, she could not believe that he would use deceit The fire was now burning quite low, and its waning light scarce cast a beam upon the branches overhead It was evidently not far fro, and every hope of present escape entirely fled fro to despair, she saw the Indian returning in a stealthy pace, bearing solided to her side, and motioned to her to leave the snow-canoe, and also to take with her all her robes hich she had been enveloped She did his bidding, and then he carefully deposited the burden he bore in the place she had just occupied A portion of the object becoein soe herself to his guidance, she was led noiselessly through the bushes about a hundred paces distant froe fallen tree that had yielded to some furious storm, when her conductor paused He pointed to a spot where a curve caused the huge trunk to rise about a foot from the surface of the snow, under which was a round hole cut through the drifted snon to the earth, and in which were deposited several buffalo robes, and so arranged that a person could repose within, without co in contact with the frozen element around Mary looked down, and then at her companion to ascertain his intentions He spoke to her in a low tone, enough of which she comprehended to understand that he desired her to descend into the pit without delay She obeyed, and when he had carefully folded the robes and divers furs about her body, he stepped a few paces to one side, and gently lifting up a round lid of snow-crust, placed it over the aperture It had been so smoothly cut, and fitted with such precision when replaced, that no one would have been able to discover that an incision had been lish, and set off on a run in a northern direction for the purpose of joining the whites

With the first light ofto their feet, and hastily despatching a slight repast, they set out on their journey with renewed ani, the chief called to Mary, and again offered so returned, or ined enveloped her, he supposed she was sleeping, and directed the party to select the ht as much as possible enjoy her repose

The Indian who had planned and executed the escape of Mary, with the well-devised cunning for which the race is proverbial, had told his companions that he would rise before day and pursue the same direction in advance of theht's meal Thus his absence created no suspicion, and the party continued their precipitate retreat

But, about noon, after casting lances back at the supposed for peacefully in the snow-canoe, the chief, with much exciteled with an apprehension that she was dead, abruptly ordered the party to halt He sprang to the canoe, and convulsively tearing away the skins, discovered only the roll of snow! He at first coe, and then burst into a fit of irrepressible laughter But the rest raved and staeance Immediately they were aware of the treachery of the absent Indian, and resolved with one voice that his blood should be an atonement for the act

The snoas quickly thrown out, and the war-party adjusted their weapons, with the expectation of encountering the whites; and then whirling about they retraced their steps far ht was setting in, they carove where they had encaerly forward, seemed to think it not iht be lying in a their return in search of theconcealed it under so and watchful posture Ere long the chief attained the i tree, and with an arron to its head, crept within a few paces of the spot where he had lain the preceding night His party werein the sa no sound whatever, he rose up slowly, and with an ”ugh” of disappointment, strode carelessly across the silent and untenanted place of encaes in being thus disappointed They hoped to wreak their vengeance on the whites, and resolved to recapture the maiden Where they expected to find them, the scene was silent and desolate And they now sauntered about under the trees in the partial light of thein the most horrid manner, the one who had thus baffled them Some struck their tomahawks into the trunks of trees, while others brandished their knives, and uttered direful threats The young chief stood in silence, with his arht that fell upon his face exhibited aboth firmness and deterained, and his followers ever and anon regarded his thoughtful attitude with the confidence that his decision would hasten the acco he renified, and no one dared to address hi chief called one of the oldest of the party, as standing a few paces distant absorbed in thought, to his side, and after a short conference the old savage prostrated himself on the snow, and endeavored, like a hound, to scent the tracks of his recreant brother

At first hea wide circuit round the preround occasionally, andthe bushes, he paused abruptly, and announced to the party that he had found the precise direction taken by the maid and her deliverer Instantly they all clustered round hi the most intense interest Some smelt the surface of the snow, and others exaer than pins, were picked up and closely scrutinized They well knew that anyone passing through the frozen and clustered bushes ress was slow, but unerring The course they pursued was the direction taken by Mary and her rescuer It was not long before they arrived within a few feet of the place of the maiden's concealment But now they were at fault There were no bushes immediately around the fallen tree They paused, the chief in the van, with their bows and arrows and tomahawks in readiness for instant use They knew that the maiden could not return to her friends on foot, or the treacherous savage be able to bear her far on his shoulder They thought that one or both hborhood, and the fallen tree, were it holloas the placethe fallen trunk a fewto realize their hopes, they uttered a terrific yell, and co up the bark in quest of so-place But their search was in vain

The fallen trunk was sound and solid throughout, and the young chief sat down on it within three paces of Mary! Others, in passing about, frequently trod on the very verge of the concealed pit

Mary akened by the yell, but knew not that the sound came from her enemies The Indian had told her that he would soon return, and her heart now fluttered with the hope that her father and her friends were at hand Yet she prudently determined not to rush from her concealment until she was better assured of the fact She did not think that the savages would ever suspect that she was hid under the snow, but yet she thought it very strange that her father did not come to her at once

Several minutes had elapsed since she had been startled by the sounds in the immediate vicinity She heard the traainst the fallen trunk She was several ti up, but was as often withheld by some mysterious impulse She endeavored to reflect calmly, but still she could not, by anyreturned and traced her thither Yet an undefinable fear still possessed her, and she endeavored with patience to await the pleasure of her friends But when the chief seated himself in her vicinity, and fell into one of his fits of abstraction, and the whole party becairl's suspense was als were all around her, and yet her situation was truly pitiable and lonely She felt assured that if the war-party had returned in pursuit of her, the means which enabled them to trace their victim to the fallen trunk would likewise have sufficed to indicate her hiding place Then why should they hesitate? The yells that awakened her were not heard distinctly, and under the circumstances she could not believe that she was surrounded by savages On the other hand, if they were her friends, why did they not relieve her? Now a sudden, but, alas! erroneous thought occurred to her

She was persuaded that they were her friends, but that the friendly Indian was not with them--he had perhaps directed theht not her friends, at thatfor her? Would not one word suffice to dispel their solicitude, and restore the lost one to their arhtly, so that her precise location ht not instantly be ascertained, she uttered in a soft voice the word ”FATHER!” The chief sprang from his seat, and the party was instantly in co branches, and some shot their arrows in the snow, but fortunately not in the direction of Mary while others ran about in every direction, exae trees in the vicinity The chief was amazed and utterly confounded He drew not forth an arrow, nor brandished a tomahawk While he thus stood, and the rest of the party were ain repeated the word ”FATHER!” As suddenly as if by enchante was paralyzed Each stood as devoid of anined, as if naught existed there but the cheerless forest trees Slowly at length, the tomahaas returned to the belt, and the arrow to the quiver No longer was a desire to spill blood manifested The dusky children of the forest attributed to the ency They believed it was a voice frorounds Humbly they bowed their heads, and whispered devotions to the Great Spirit The young chief alone stood erect He gazed at the roundtears ran down his stained cheek Ies to leave him, and when they withdrew he resumed his seat on the fallen trunk, and reclined his brow upon his hand One of the long feathers that decked his head waved forward, after he had been seated thus a few minutes, and when his eye rested upon it he started up wildly, and tearing it away, trampled it under his feet At that instant the sa chief fell upon his knees, and, while he panted convulsively, said, in English, ”Father! Mother! I'm your poor William--you loved me much--where are you? Oh tell me--I will come to you--I want to see you!”

He then fell prostrate and groaned piteously ”Father! Oh! where are you?”

”Whose voice was that?” said Mary, breaking through the slight incrustation that obscured her, and leaping from her covert