Part 14 (1/2)

It was now, by my computation, the month of Novean to consider withto travel on the roads; and, after revolving in my mind all the disasters that had befallen ether, for two reasons: the first of which was, that on the highways I was constantly liable to meet persons, or to be overtaken by them; and a second, no less powerful, was, that as I did not knohat roads to pursue, I was oftener traveling on the wrong route than on the right one

Setting my face once h slow pace, for four or five nights, when I was again delayed by dark weather, and forced to reain becaht by a broad and rapid river, that appeared so fore until after exaht, however, I crossed it by swiaining the north side of this river, which I believed to be the Catawba, I considered ain steered towards the North

CHAPTER XVIII

The month of November is, in all years, a season of clouds and vapors; but at the tiood weather vanished early in the month, and all the clouds of the universe seeht after crossing the Catawba, I did not see the north-star for the space of three weeks; and during all this tih I seldom remained two days in the same place, butthe observation of the people of the country, whose attention ht have been attracted by the continual appearance of the smoke of my fires in one place

There had, as yet, been no hard frost, and the leaves were still on the oak trees, at the close of this cloudy weather; but the northhich dispelled the ht down nearly all the leaves of the forest, except those of the evergreen trees; and the nights now became clear, and the air keen with frost Hitherto the oak woods had afforded roves of young pines to retire to at dawn Heretofore I had found a plentiful subsistence in every corn-field and potato-lot, that fell in an to find sorown, destitute of the corn, and containing nothing but the stalks The potatoes had all been taken out of the lots where they grew, except in some few instances where they had been buried in the field; and the means of subsistence became every day more difficult to be obtained; but as I had fine weather, I made the best use of those hours in which I dared to travel, and was constantly ht

The toil that I underwent for the first half of the s for want of food were great I was obliged to carry with me a stock of corn, sufficient to supply me for two or three days, for it frequently happened that Itime In the course of this period I crossed innureater portion of which were of snitude; and in all of them the water had becoh to find boats or canoes tied at the side of the streams, and when this happened, I alwaysat the time; but this did not occur often, and I believe that in these teeks I swam over nine rivers, or streams, so deep that I could not ford theh which I waded was far greater, but I cannot now fix the nu near the house of a planter, I saw several dry hides hanging on poles under a shed One of these hides I appropriated toit into moccasins, to supply the place ofthe dry hide with a stick it wasit intoone, and carrying the others on s which appeared to be wild, having no marks on their ears, ca me, that I knocked it doith a stone, and succeeded in killing it This pig was very fat, and would have weighed thirty if not forty pounds Feeling now greatly exhausted with the fatigues that I had lately undergone, and being in a very great forest, far removed from white inhabitants, I resolved to realeit up in the shade, after cutting it into pieces

Fortune, so adverse to me heretofore, seemed to have beenthe day on which I killed the pig, a storm of hail, snow, and sleet, came on, and continued fifteen or sixteen hours The snow lay on the ground four inches in depth, and the whole country was covered with a crust alh to bear a man In this state of the weather I could not travel, and my stock of pork was invaluable toon the branches of the trees, and was as well preserved as if it had been buried in snow; but on the fourth day after the snow fell, the ate The wind blew from the South, the snow melted away, the air becahtness, and al It was manifest thatbe in a sound state If I remained here, my provisions would become putrid on my hands in a short time, and compel me to quit my residence to avoid the atmosphere of the place

I resolved to pursuebefore the fire, all reen pine leaves, and enveloping the whole in a sort of close basket, that Iain took to the woods, with the stars forthe north-star over ly variable, and I was seldoht The fields were rounds in the woods et, and often covered ater, through which I was obliged to wade--the air was dahts were frosty, very often covering the water with ice an inch in thickness Froree of cold that prevailed, I inferred, either that I was pretty far North, or that I had advanced toothe mountain country

To satisfy myself as far as possible of my situation, one fair day, when the sky was very clear, I climbed to the top of a pine tree that stood on the suion aroundbut a vast continuation of plantations, intervened by forests; on the South, the faint beams of a winter sun shed a soft lustre over the woods, which were dotted at res that they had roves, that nature had planted in the direction of the reat distance, I saw a tract of low and flat country, which in reat river, and beyond this, at the farthest stretch of vision, the eye was lost in the blue transparent vault, where the extremity of the arch of the world touches the abode of perpetual winter--Turning ard, the view passed beyond the region of pine trees, which was followed afar off by naked and leafless oaks, hickories, and walnuts; and still beyond these rose high in air, elevated tracts of country, clad in the white livery of snow, and bearing the impress of mid-winter

It was now apparent that I had borne too far ard, and ithin a few days' travel of thefroht to shape my course, for the future, nearly due East, until I should at least be out of theto my calendar, it was the day before Christmas that I ascended the pine-tree; and I believe I was at that time in the north-western part of North Carolina, not far froht I traveled from dark until, as I supposed, about three or four o'clock in the ht in an easterly direction This road I traveled until daylight, and enca pines and holly-trees

This was Christ on fat pork, without salt, and substituted parched corn for bread In the evening, the weather becaht ca in the road, at soan to snow, and at break of day the snow lay more than a foot deep This compelled me to seek winter quarters; and fortunately, at about half a mile fro rock that formed a dry covert, with a southern prospect

Under this rock I took refuge, and kindling a fire of dry sticks, considered myself happy to possess a few pounds of allon of corn that I carried in , until it was full two feet deep aroundmyself to discovery byplace until the third day, when I ventured to go back to the road, which I found broken by the passage of nuons, sleds and horses, and so ht, the snow affording good light

Accordingly at night I again advanced on ed to do, for one, and not more than a pound of ht, and after thestar rose; came to a river; which I think must have been the Yadkin It appeared to be about two hundred yards wide, and the water ran with great rapidity in it

Waiting until the eastern horizon was tinged with the first rays of the ht, I entered the river at the ford, and waded until the water was nearly three feet deep, when it felt as if it was cutting the flesh fro doard, forced e failed me, and I returned to the shore; but found the pain that already torreatly increased, when I was out of the water, and exposed to the action of the open air Returning to the river, I plunged into the current to relieve nawed every part offorward as fast as the weight of the water, that pressed me doard, would per to the surface, I exerted ain the opposite shore by swi in the shortest space of tis, they were cut and bruised by cakes of solid ice, or weighed down by floating ealed snow

It is i sustained in such an element as that which encompassed me; and I had not been afloat five minutes before I felt chilled in all my members, and in less than the double of that time, my limbs felt numbed, and my hands became stiff, and almost powerless

When at the distance of thirty feet from the shore, my body was struck by a violent current, produced by a projecting rock above me, and driven with resistless violence down the stream Wholly unable to contend with the fury of the waves, and penetrated by the coldness of death, in avee, when I perceived the long hanging branch of a large tree, sweeping to and fro, and undulating backward and forward, as its extre current of the river, just belowthe effort of despair, seized one of its liht of my body, the branch yielded to the power of the water, which rushi+ng against my person, swept ainst the shore, where clinging to sorew near the bank, the li with elastic force to its forain dipped its slender branches in theonce more on dry land, I found gling with the floating ice--The roups fro the shore of the river and the hoar frost glistened in sparkling radiance upon the polished surface of the smooth snow, as it whitened all the plain before h the woods

There were three alternatives before me, one of which I knew must quickly be adopted The one was to obtain a fire, by which I could dry and warm my stiffened lio to the first house, if I could reach one, and surrender , rather than walking forward, until I gained the cover of a wood, at a short distance from the river, I turned into it, and found that a field bordered the ithin less than twenty rods of the road

Within a few yards of this fence I stopped, and taking out my fire apparatus, to my unspeakable joy found them dry and in perfect safety

With the aid of athered from the fence, a s added frohs of a white oak tree, that had fallen before the frost of the last autumn had commenced, I soon had fire of sufficient intensity to consume dry wood, hich I supplied it, partly from the fence and partly fro raked away the snow from about the fire, by the ti before the coals--warlow of returning life onceanimation to my frozen limbs