Part 17 (2/2)
After this, a vessel was dispatched to the wreck of the Medusa, to carry away the ht days, she was forced to return She again put to sea, but after being away five days, again ca her; and she did not reach the spot till fifty-two days after the vessel had been lost; and dreadful to relate, three miserable sufferers were found on board Sixty nanimous countrymen All these had been carried off except seventeen, some of ere drunk, and others refused to leave the vessel They re as their provisions lasted Twelve embarked on board a raft, for Sahara, and were never more heard of Another put to sea on a hen-coop, and sunk immediately Four reue, perished The other three lived in separate corners of the wreck, and never met but to run at each other with drawn _knives_ They were put on board the vessel, with all that could be saved from the wreck of the Medusa
The vessel was no sooner seen returning to St Louis, than every heart beat high with joy, in the hope of recovering some property The men and officers of the Medusa ju had been saved ”Yes,” was the reply, ”but it is all ours now;” and the naked Frenchmen, whose calamities had found pity from the Moors of the desert, were now deliberately plundered by their own countryht days The clothes, furniture, and necessary articles of life belonging to the men and officers of the Medusa, were publicly sold before their faces Such of the French as were able, proceeded to the camp at Daceard, and the sick reovernor had pro five ers--to the British
HUNTING THE MOOSE
The habits of the moose, in his , andanecdote from the ”Random Sketches of a Kentuckian:”
Who ever saw Bravo without loving hilossy skin, flecked here and there with blue; his wide-spread thighs, clean shoulders, broad back, and low-drooping chest, bespoke hi for flew before hientle reader, and I will tell you an adventure which willin Noverounds On this occasion, I was followed by a fine-looking hound, which had been presented to me a few days before by a fellow-sports that a ood one, I had tied up the eager Bravo, and was attended by the strange dog alone A brisk canter of half an hour broughtthe rein, I sloound th I had ascended about half hen the hound began to exhibit signs of uneasiness, and, at the sa out from some underbrush near by, and rushed like a ind up the slope
A word, and the hound was crouching at my feet, andeye, watched the course of the affrighted anie, full one hundred and fifty yards, every liainst the clear, blue sky, the stag paused, and looked proudly down upon us After alead upon its errand A single bound, and the antlereddown a ball, I ascended the slope; outs of blood' which stained the withered leaves where he had stood One h on his trail, and the gallant Cherokee bore his rider like lightning after them
”Away--away! for hours we did thus hasten on, without once being at fault, or checking our headlong speed The chase had led usup a creek, on one side of which arose a precipitous hill, soth, which I knew the wounded animal would never ascend
”Half a mile further on, another hill reared its bleak and barren head on the opposite side of the rivulet Once fairly in the gorge, there was no exit save at the upper end of the ravine Here, then, Ia nearer cut over the ridge, that saved at least a , Cherokee boreto the pass I had scarcely arrived, when, black with sweat, the stag caly, totally reckless of our presence
Again I poured forth the 'leaden er of death,' as meteor-like he flashed by us One bound, and the noble ani fro one knee upon his shoulder, and a hand upon his antlers, I drewknife; but scarcely had its keen point touched his neck, when, with a sudden bound, he threw me from his body, and my knife was hurled from my hand In hunters' parlance, I had only 'creased hier, but it was too late With one bound, he was uponme with his sharp feet and horns I seized hiain possession of le drew us further frohtened at the unusual scene, haddown upon the coe road I had taken placed us far in advance of the hound, whose bay I could not now hear The struggles of the furious animal had become dreadful, and everydeep intoless and less firht us near a deep ditch, washed by the fall rains, and into this I endeavored to force th was unequal to the effort; e approached to the very brink, he leaped over the drain I relinquishedthus to escape hi himself upon me, inflicted nuain seize hi my arms around his antlers, I drew his head close to reat effort, enabled to prevent his doing me any serious injury But I felt that this could not last long; every muscle and fiber of my fra bear up under such exertion Faltering a silent prayer to Heaven, I prepared to meet my fate
”At this s of the hound; the stag, too, heard the sound, and, springing from the ditch, dreith hi to him
Yet that blessed sound came nearer and nearer! Oh hoildly beat e fro forith a short, quick bark, as his eye rested on his ga, who turned upon the new ene, that, dastard-like, fled before the infuriated aniain threw hi my arms around his antlers, but not until he had inflicted several deep and dangerous wounds uponto the very bone
”Blinded by the flowing blood, exhausted and despairing, I cursed the coward dog, who stood near, baying furiously, yet refusing to seize his gahts of death were bitter To die thus in the wild forest, alone, with none to help! Thoughts of hoh my brain At that mohboring hill, caallant Bravo! I should have known his voice a a thousand I pealed forth in one faint shout, 'On Bravo, on!' The nextdown the declivity, scattering the dried autumnal leaves like a ind in his path 'No pause he knew,' but, fixing his fangs in the stag's throat, he at once cole
”I fell back completely exhausted Blinded with blood, I only knew that a terrible struggle was going on In a few moments, all was still, and I felt the war, as he licked ore, I saw my late adversary dead at my feet, and Bravo, 'my own Bravo,' as the heroine of aover nawed it in two, and, following his s, arrived in time to rescue him from a horrible death
”I have recovered fro at my feet Who does not love Bravo? I am sure I do, and the rascal knows it--don't you, Bravo? Come here, sir!”
PERILOUS ESCAPE FROM DEATH
In the narrative of Moses Van Ca incident related He was taken prisoner by the Seneca Indians, just after Sullivan's expedition in the Revolution, on the confines of the white settlements in one of the border counties of Pennsylvania He was h the wilderness, and reached the headquarters of the savages near Fort Niagara Here he was recognized as having, a year or two previously, escaped, with two others, frouard, five of whom he slew in their sleep with his own hand
[Illustration]
On this discovery beingHe saw at once that his fate was to be decided on the principles of Indian vengeance, and, being bound, had but little hope of escape He, however, put on the appearance of as much unconcern as possible The Indians withdrew by themselves to decide in what manner they should despatch their unhappy victies covered with a de wood; another selected a spot, and soon a fire was kindled Van Ca hest pitch of agony; yet he, with much effort, appeared calm and collected At last, when the preparations were coan to unloose the cords hich he was bound To this he submitted But the moment he was fully loosed, he dashed the two Indians aside--felling one upon the earth with a blow of his fist--and darted off toward the fort, where he hoped to receive protection froleamed in the air behind him--rifle balls whistled around--but onward still he flew One unariant spring, he struck him in the breast with his feet, and bore hiain started for the woods, and, as he was running for life--with the fire and faggot behind hi death of torture--he soon outstripped all his pursuers It being near night, he effected his escape, arrived at the fort, and was sent down the river to Montreal, to be out of the way of the savage Senecas, who thirsted for his blood as a recompense for that of their brethren whom he had slain
FIRE IN THE FOREST
”The summer of 1825 was unusually warm in both hemispheres, particularly in America, where its effects were fatally visible in the prevalence of epideed in different parts of Nova Scotia, especially in the eastern division of the peninsular The protracted drought of the su upon the aridity of the forests, had rendered the both the dispersion and the progress of the fires that appeared in the early part of the season, produced an unusual war New Castle; at different intervals fitful blazes and flashes were observed to issue from different parts of the woods, particularly up the northwest, at the rear of New Castle, in the vicinity of Douglasstown and Moorfields, and along the banks of the Bartibog Many persons heard the crackling of falling trees and shriveled branches, while a hoarse ru of distant thunder, and divided by pauses, like the interes of artillery, was distinct and audible On the 7th of October, the heat increased to such a degree, and beca effects About twelve o'clock, a pale, sickly ed from the forest and settled over it
”This cloud soon retreated before a large, dark one, which, occupying its place, wrapped the fir its position till about three o'clock, the heat becaly sultry There was not a breath of air; the atmosphere was overloaded; and irresistible lassitude seized the people A stupefying dullness seemed to pervade every place but the woods, which now tre noise of explosions, rapidly following each other, andtheir reports with a discordant variety of loud and boisterous sounds At this time, the whole country appeared to be encircled by a _fiery zone_, which, gradually contracting its circle by the devastation it had e into a point while any thing remained to be destroyed A little after four o'clock, an immense pillar of smoke rose, in a vertical direction, at some distance northeast of New Castle, for a while, and the sky was absolutely blackened by this huge cloud; but a light, northerly breeze springing up, it gradually distended, and then dissipated into a variety of shapeless mists About an hour after, or probably at half past five, innu from different parts of the woods, and illuminated the flames that see canopy, extending to the ut mere terrific by the vivid flashes and blazes that darted irregularly through it, now hung over New Castle and Douglass in threatening suspension, while showers of fla brands, calcined leaves, ashes, and cinders, see noise that prevailed in the woods