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Win. DI. POUTER., Editor. I
VQL. 62.
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From ttle Atlantic Monthly.l
LOVE AN! SKATES
IN TWO PARTS
PART II
CHAPTER VII
[coscr.unEl).]
CHAPTER X
FORI;pODINGS
4IIIIMATioN ! Jubilation now, instead
of Consternation, in the office of Mr, Ben
jamin Brunitnage in Wall Street.
President Brunimage had cgnvoked his
Directors tdhear the First Semi-Annual
Report of the new Superintendant and
Dictator of Dunderbunk.
And there they sat around the green
table, no longer forlorn and dreading a
.failure, but all chuckling with satisfaction
over their prosperity.
They were a happy and hilarious-fam
ily now,—so hilarious that the President
was obliged to be always rapping to Or
derr with his paper-knife.
Every one of these gen - demen was
proud of himself as a Director of so suc
cessful a Company. The Dumlerbunk
advertisement might now consider itself
as permanent in the newspapers, and the
Treasurer had very unnecessarily insert
ed the notice of a.dividend, which every
body knew of already.
When Mr. Churm was not by, they all
claimed the honor of havin g discovered
Wade, or at least of having been the first
to appreciate- him.
They all invited him to dinner,—the
others at their houses, Sam Gwelp at his
club.
They had not yet begun to wax nit and
kick. They still remembered the panic
of last summer. They passed a unani
mous vote of the most complimentary
confidence in Wade, approved of his sys
tem, forced upon him an increase of sala
ry, and began to talk of " launching out"
and doubling their capital. In short,
they behaved as Directors do when all is
serene.
Churm and Wade had a hearty laugh
over the absurdities of the Board and all
their vague propositions.
" Dunderbunk.." said Churm, " was a
company started on a sentimental basis,
as many others are "
" Mr, Brummage fell in love with pig
iron ?"
" Precisely. He had been a dry-goods
jobber, risen from a retailer t 3 umewhere
in the country. He felt a certain lack of
dignity in his work. He wanted to deal
in something more masculine than lace
and ribbons. He read a sentimental ar
ticle on Iron in the -'-Journal of•Corn
meree': how Iron held the world togeth
er; how it was nerve and sinew ; how it
was ductile and malleable and other things
that sounded big; how without iron civ
ilization would stop, and New Zealanaers
hunt rats among the ruins of London ;
hoiv anybody would make two tons of
Iron grow were one grew before was a
benefactor to the human race greater than
Alexander, Otesar, or Napoleon ; and so
on,—you know the eloquent style. Brum
mage'ssoul was fired.- -Ite determined
to be greater than the three heroes named.
He was oozing with unoccupied capital.
He went about among the other rich job
bers, with the newspaper article in his
hand, and fired their souls They deter
mined to be great Iron-Kings,---magnifi
cent thought I They, wanted to read in
the newspapers, 'Hall the iron rails made
at the Dunderbunk Works in the last
six months were put together in a straight
line, they would r,,ach twice round our
terraqueous globe and seventy-three miles
two-rails over.' So on that poetic foam-.
dation they started the concern."
Wade laughed. " But how did you
happen to be with them?"
" Oh ! my friend Darner sold them the
land for the-shop and:- took- stock in pay
ment. I came into the Board as his ex
ecutor. Did I never tell you so before ?"
" No,"
Well, then, beinformed that it was
in Alias Damer's behalf that you knocked
down Friend Tarbox, and so got your
skates for saving her property. It's quite
a romance already, Richard, my' boy! and
I suppose you feel immensely bored that
you had to come down and meet us old
•baps, instead of tumbling at her feet on
the ice again to-day."
" A tumble onthis wet day would_ be
n cold bath to romance."
The Gulf Stream had dent up a warm
spoil -sport rain that morning. It did not
stop, but poured furiously the whOle day.
From Cohoes to „Spuyten Duyvil, on
both sides of the river, all the skaters
swore,at the .weather, as profane persons
no doubt did when the windovitii of heav,
en were opened- in - Noah's time. The
skateresses did not swear, - but, .savagely
.said,," is.too bad,"—and so it was.
Wade, loaded with, the blessings of his .
Directors, took the train next-horning fox
Dunderbunk.
The weathei was still mild and drizzly,
but promised to clear. As the train rat
tled along by the river, Wade could see
that the thin ice was breaking up every
where. In mid-stream a procession o
blocks was steadily drifting along. [lit
less Zero came sliding down again pretty
soon from Boreal regions, the sheet; tha
filled the coves and clung to the shore;
would also sail away southward, and the
whole Hudson be left clear as in mid
summer.
At Yonkers a down train ranged by
the side of Wade's train, and, looking
out, he saw Mr. and Mrs. Slierrett alight-
He jumped down, rather surprised, to
speak to them.
" We have just been telegraphed here,"
said Peter, gravely. " The son of a wid
ow, a friend of ours, was drowned this
morning in the soft ice of the river. lle
was'a pet of mine, poor fellow ! and the
mother depends upon me for advice We
have come down to say a kind word.
Why won't you report us to the ladies at
my house, and say we shall not be at
home until the evening train ? They do
not know the cause of our journey, ex
cept, that it is a sad one."
" Perhaps Mr. Wade will carve their
turkey for them at dinner, Peter," Fanny
suggested.
"Do, Wade! and keep their spirits up.
Dinner 's at six."
Ifere the engine whistled. Wade prom
ised to "shine substitute" at his friend's
board, and took his place again The
train galloped away.
Peter and his wife exchanged a bright
look over the fortunate incident of this
meeting, and, went on their kind way to
carry sympathy and such consolation as '
might be to',the widow.
The traid galloped northward• Until
now, the beat of its wheels, like the click
of an enormous metronome, had kept
time to jubilant measures singing in
Wade's brain. He was hurrying back,
exhilerated with success, to the presence
- )f-a - -woman whose smile was finer exhiler
ation than kny number of votes of con
fidence, passed unanimously by any num
ber of conclaves of overjoyed Directors,
and signed by l3rummage after Bruwwage,
with the signature ofa capitalist in a flurry
of delight at a ten per cent. dividend.
But into this joyous mood of Wade's
the thought of death suddenly intruded. !
l le could not keep a picture of death and
drowning out of his mind., As the train
sprangalong and . opened
.gloomy breadth
after rueadth of the leaden river, clovcd
with slow-drifting tiles of iee•blocks, he
found himself staring across the dreary
waste and forever fancying some one
sinking there, helpless and alone.
He seemed to see a brava, bright-eyed,
ruddy boy, venturing out carelessly along
the edge; of the weakened ice Sudden
ly the ice gives way, the hale figure sinks,
/ rises, Clutches desperately at a fragment,
struggles a rnowerrt , is borne along in the
; relentless flow of the chilly water, stares
in vain shoreward, and so sinks again with
a look of totully, and is gone.
whenever this inevitable picture
grew before Witdc's eyes, as the drown
! ing figure of his fancy vanished, it sud
denly changed features, and presented
the face of Mary Darner, perishing be
yond succor.
Of course he knew that this was but a
morbid vision. Yet that it came at all,
and that it so agonized him, proved the
force of his new feeling:
lie had not analyzed it before. This
thought of death became its touchstone.
Men like Wade, strong, healthy, ear
nest, concentrated, straightforward, iso
lated, judge men and women as friends
or toes at once and once for all. 'He had
recognized in Mary Dinner from the first
a heart as true, whole, noble, and healthy
as his own. A fine instinct had told him
that she was waiting for her hero, as he
was for his heroine.
So he suddenly loved her. And yet
not suddenly; for all his life, and all his
lesser forgotten or discarded passions, had
been training hint for this master one.
Jle suddenly and strongly loved her;
and yet it had only been a beautiful be
wilderment of uncomprehended delight,
until this haunting vision of her fair face
sinking amid the hungry ifeset him.
Then lie perceived what lost to
him, it she were lost.
The thought of Death placed itself be
tween him and Love. If the love had
been merely a pretty remembrance of a'
charming woman, lie might have distnis
sed his fancied drowning scene with a lit
tle emotion of regret. Now the fancy
was an agony.
Ile had too much power over himself
to entertain it long. But the grisley
thought came uninvited, returned unde
sired, and no resolute Avaunt, oven back
ed by that magic wand, a cigar, availed to,
banish it wholly.,
The sky cleared cold, at eleven o'clock.
A sharp wind drew through the High
lands. As the train rattled round the
curve below the tunnel through Skerrett's
Point, Wade maid see his skating course'
of Christmas-day with the ladies. Firm
ice glazed smooth by the sudden chill af
ter the ruin, filledllic Cove and stretched
beyond the Feint into. the,river.
It was treacherous stuff, beautiful to
the eyes of a skater, but sure to be weak,
and likely to break up any Moment and
join the delibbrate headlong drift of the
masses in mid-current.
• Wade almost dreaded lest his vision
should suddenly realize itself, and he
should see 'his enthusiastic companion of
the other day piling 'gracefully along to
certain death.
Nothing living, however; was in sight,
except here and•Aliere a crow, :skipping
about in the floating ice. " •
The lover was greatly relloveC,,..lle
could - now forewarn the lady against' the
. perillicrlard - imagined. The train in / a
morianat .dropped .Danderbunk.
fle; hi rrieoo the Fonidiy: and wrote
note to Nis. Darner.
" Mr..Wadevrenents. his compliments
to Mrs. Darner, and has the honor to im
form her that Mr. Skereett has nominated
'him carver to the ladies *day in••theit
host's"plane., '-
Pa 0,1112 WOR, TEM g 2 ,AINO EVX amaza.
"Mr. Wade hopes that Miss Damer
will excuse him from his engagement to
skate with her this afternoon. The ice
is dangerous, and Miss Darner should on
no account venture upon it."
Perry Purtett was the - bearer of this
billet. He swaggered into Peter Sker
rett's ball, and dreadfully alarmed the
fresh-imported Englishman who answered
the bell, by ordering him in a severe
tone,—
" Hurry up now, White Cravat, with
that answer I I'm wanted down to the
Works. Sam don't bile when I'm off:
and the fly.whe'd will never buzz another
turn, unless I'm there to tell it to move
on."
Mrs. Damer's gracious reply informed
Wade "that she would be chanced to see
him at dinner, etc., and would riot fail to
transmit his kind warning to Miss Darner,
when she returned from her drive to make
But when Miss Darner returned in .the
afternoon, 'her mother was taking a gen
tle nap over the violet, indigo, blue, green,
yellow, orange, -red stripes of a gorgeous
Afghan she was knitting. The daughter
heard nothing of the billet. The - house
was lonely without Fanny Skerrett.
Wade did not come at the appointed hour
Mary was not willing to say to herself
how much she regretted his absence.
Had he-forgw,ten his-appointment "I-
No,— that was a thought not to be tol
erated.
" A gentleman does not forget," she
thought. And she had a thorough • con
fidence, besides, that this gentleman was
very willimr ' to remember.
'She reada little, fitfully, sang fitfully,
moved about the house uneasily; and at
last, when it grew late, and she was bored
and Wade did not arrive,she pronounced to
herself that he had been detained in town.
This point settled, she took her skates,
put on her pretty Amazonian hat with its
alert feather, and went down to waste her
beauty and grace on. the -ice,- unattended
and aiunc.
CIIAPTEII XI
CAP'N BusTEß's SKIFF
It was a busy afternoon at the Pund
erbunk Foundry.
The Superintendent—had come tack
with his pocket full of orders. Every
body, from_ the . Czar of Russia to the
Pret:ideniThl the Guano Republic, was
in the market for machinery. Crisis was
gone by. Prosperity was come, The
world was all ready to move, and only
waited for a Ircsli supply of wheel:,
cranks, side-levers, walkimr-heaves, and
other such muscular creatures of 'iron, to
push and tu,.2; and swing and rtgt,gye and
set Progre;.l ~going.
Dunderbunk was to have its full share
in supp/yine: the demand. g.jt was well
understood by this time that the iron
Wade made was as staunch as the man
who made it. Puoderbunk, therefore,
Ile_ad and Hands, must despatch.
So it was a busy afternoon at the in
dustrious Foundry. The men bestirred
themselves. The ftirnaces rumbled. The
engine thumped. The drums in the fin
ishing-shop hummed merrily their lively
song of labor. The four trip hammers
—two bull = headed, two calf- headed
champed, like carniverous maws, upon
red bars of iron, and over their banquet
they roared the big-toned music of the
trip-hammer chorus,—
" Nov then! hit 11;m1"
Strike while the Iron's hot. Idie 6dee t. Art's long
By this massive refrain, ringing. in at
intervals above the ceaseless buzz, mur
mur, and clang throughout the buildin g s,
every man's work was mightily nerved
and inspired. Everybody liked to hear
the sturdy song of these grim vocalists;
and whenever they struck in, each solo
or duo or quatuor of men, playing Anvil
Chorus, quickened thee, and all the ac
tion and rumor of the busy opera went
on more cheerily and lustily. So work
kept astir like play.
An hour before sunset, Bill Tarbox
stepped into Wade's office. Even oily
and begrimed, Bill Could he recognized
as a favored lover. He looked more a
man than ever befbre,
'• I forgot to went ion," says tthe ft:ro
man, " that Cap'n Ambustor was in this
morning, to see you. He spys, that, if the
river's elem. enough for him to get away
from our dock, he 'll go down to the City
to-morrow, and — offers to take freight
cheap. We might put that new walking
beam, we've just rough-finished for the
"Union," aboard of him."
" he is sure to go to-morrow.
It will not do to delay. The owners com
plained to me yesterday that the 'Union'
was in a bad way for want of its new ma
chinery. Tell your brother-in-law to come
here, Bill."
Tarbox looked 'sheepishly pleased, and
summoned Perry Purtett.
" Run down, Perry," said 'Wade, " to
the Awbuster; and ask Captain Isaac to
step up here a moment. Tell him I have
some freight to send by him."
Perry moved through the the Foundry
with his usual jaunty step, left his dignity
at the door, and ran off to the dock.
The weather had grown fitful. Heavy
clouds whirled over, trailing snow flurries.
Rarely the "s un found a cleft in the black
canopy to shoot a ray through and remind
the world that he was . stillin his place and
ready to shino when he was wanted.
Master Perry bad a furlong to go
before_ he reached the dock. Ere crossed
the stream, kept unfrozen' by the warm
influences of the Foundry. He ran
through a little dell hedged on each side
by dull green cedars. It was severely
cold now, and our youngfriond condescen
ded to prance and jump over the ice
skimmed puddles to keep his blood in
motion: • •
The little rusty, pudgy steamboat lay
at the, down-stream side of the Foundry
wharf. Her name was so long and her
paddle-box so short, 'that the painter be
ginning-with ambitious large letters, had
ceen compelled to abbreviate the last syl
lable, Her title read thus :
• L AMBUSTer.
Certainly a formidable inscription for a
steamboat 1 • •
- MARC II 28, T 862,
When she hove in sight, :Perry halted,
resumed his stately demeanor, and 'd m -
barked as if he wore a Doge entering a
Bucentaur to wed a sea.
There was nobody on de l akc - t6 witness
the arrival and salute the — iii`i;:qiit'fico.
Perry looked in at the Cap'n's office
Ile beheld a three-legged stool, a hacked
desk, an inky steel pen, ati, inkless ink
stand; but no Cap'n ArnbuSter.
l'erry inspected the Cap'it's state-room.
There was a craeleed looking-glass, into
which he looked ; a hair-bruSh suspended
by the glass, which he used; a lair of
blankets in a berth, which. he had no
present use for; and a smell of musty
boots, which nobody with a nose could
help smelling. Still no Captain Anibus
ter, nor any of his crew.
*Search in the unsavoey kitchen reveal
ed no cook, coiled up in a corner, suffering
nightw,res for the last greasy dinner he
had brewed in his frying-pan: There were
no deck hands bundled into their hunks.
Perry rapped on the chain-box and inquir
ed if anybody was within, and nobody an
swering, he had to ventriloquize a negative.
The engine-room, too, was vacant, and
quite as unsavory as the other dens on
board. Perry patronized the engine by
a pull or two at the valves, and continued
his tour of.inspeetion.
The Ambuster's skiff, lying on -her for
ward-deck, seemed to - arriusrt turn tift - stly. -
" Jolly " says Perry. And so it was a
jolly boat in the literal, not the technical
sense.
"The three wise men of Gotham went.
to sea in a bowl; and here 's the identi
cal craft," says Perry.
Ile gave the chubbJ little machine a
push with his foot. It rolled and wal
lowe•1 abdut grotes, f uely. When was
still again, it looked so comic, lying con
tentedly on its fat side like a pudgy baby,
that Perry had a roar of laughter, which,
like other laughter to one's self, did not
sound very merry, particularly as the
north wind 'MIAS howling ominously, and
the broken ice on its downward way was
whispering and moaning and talking on
in -a: most mysterious and inarticulate
manner.
'• Thcl:e sheets of ice would crunch up
this skid• as pig,s punkin," thinks
And with this thought in TM - flea4 he
out on the river, and. fancied the
foolish little vessel cast loose and buffet
ing helplessly about in the ice.
He had been so busy until now, in
prying about the steamboat and waking
up his mind that Captain and wen had
all ;,•uric 011 for a comfortable supper on
shore, t h at Ills eye, ral not wandered to
ward the atf • .xun. f l 6. 'C'lO
Now his glitnci. began to follow the
course of the icy current. Ile wondered
whore all this supply of cakes came from,
and how many of them would escape the
stems of ferry-boats below and ig-2t safe
to sea.
All at once, as he looked lazily along
the lazy tiles of ice, his eyes cilught a
black object drifting on a fragment in a
wide way of open water opposite Sker :
rett's Point, a mile distant
'Perry's heart sopped beating. Ile ut
tered a little gasping' cry. He sprang
ashore, not at all like a Doge quitting a
Ilueentaur. Ile tore back to the Foun
dry, dashing through the puddles, and,
never stopping to pick up his cap, burst
in upon Wade and Bill Tarbox in the of
flee,
The boy was splashed from bead to foot
with red mud. His light hair, blown
wildly about, made his ashy face seem pa
ler. lie stood panting.
Ella dumb terror bt•ought back to
Wade's mind all the bad omens of the
morning,
" Speak " said he, seizing Perry fierce
ly by the shoulder.
The uproar of the Works seemed to
hush for an instant, while the lad stam
mered faintly,—
" There's somebody carried off in the
ice by Skerett's Point. It looks like a
woman. And there's nobody to help,"
CHAPTER XII
IN THE ICE
" Help ! help 1" shouted the four trip
hammers, bursting in like a magnified
echo of the boy's last word.
" Help ! help " all the humming wheels
and drums repeated more plaintively.
Wade made for the river.
This was the moment all his Manhood
had been training and saving for. Fot
this he had kept sound and brave from
his youth up.
As he ran, he felt that the only chaneb
of instant help was in that queer little
bowl-shaped skiff of the " Ambuster."
He hod never been conscious that he
observed it; but, the image had lain la
tent in his mimd, biding its time. It
might tie ten, twenty:.. precious moments
betbre another boat could be found. This
one was ea the spot to do its duty at
once.
,‘ Somebody carried off,—perhaps a
woman," Wade thought..'
she would not neglect my warning! Who
ever it is, we must save her from this
dreadful death 1"
lie sprang on, board the little steam
boat. She was swaying uneasily at her
moorings, as the ice crowded along and
hammered against _ her stem. Wade star
ed from her deck down the river, with
all his life at his eyes.
Moro than a mile away, below the heal
lock-crested point, was the dark object
Perry had seen, still stirring along the.
edges of the .floating ice. A broad. ave
nue of leaden-green• water wrinkled by
the cold wind separated the field where
this figure was moving from the shore,—
The dark object audits foOting - of gray ice
were.drifting deliberately , farther away.
For-one instant-Wade thought that the
terrible-dread in his heart would paralyze
( But in that one mothont,, while his
Mood'stopped flowing and his nerves fail
ed, Tarbox- overtook him and was
there by his side. •
4rought your cap," says Bill, "And
our two'come/i'
Wii ) de put on his cap mechanically.—
This little action calmed him
" Bill," said he, " I'm afraid it is a
woman,--a dear friend of mine,—a 'very
dear friend."
Bill, a lover, understood the tone.
" We'll take care of her between us,"
he said.
The two turned at once to the little
tub of a boat.
Oars ? Yes,—slung under the thwarts,
pair of short sculls, worn and split,
but with work in them still. There they
hung ready,—and a rusty boat-hook, be
sides.
" Find the thole-pins, Bill, while I cut
a plug for her bottom out of this broom
stick," Wade said.
This was done in a moment. Bill
threw in the coats
" Now, together !"
They lifted the skiff to the gangway.
Wade jumped down on the ice and re
ceived her carefully. They ran her along,
as far as they could go, and launched her
in the sludge.
"Take the sculls, Bill. I'll work the
boat hook in the bow."
Nothing more was said. They thrust
out with their crazy little craft into the
thick of the ice-flood. Bill, amidships,
dug with his sculls in among the huddled
cakes. It was clumsy pulling. Now this
oar and now that would be thrown out.
e could never get a full stroke.
Wadeiniiie o w could do better. Ile
'amtned the blocks aside with his boat
hook. Ile dragged the skiff forward.—
Ile steered through the little open ways
of water.
Sometimes they came to a broad sheet
of solid ice Then it was " Out with her,
Bill !" and they were both out an, sliding
their bowl so quick over, that they had
not time to go through the rotten surface.
This was drowning business; but neither
could be spared to drown yet.
In the leads of clear water, the oars
man got brave pulls and sent the boat on
mightily. Then again in the thick [Mr
tidge.Of brash ice they lost headway, or
were baffled and stopped among the cakes.
Slow work, slow. and, painful ; and—fur
many minutes they seemed In gain noth
ing upon the steady flow of the merciless
current.
A frail craft for such a voyage, - this
queer little half-pumpkin ! A frail and
leaky shell. She bent and cracked from
stem to stern among the nipping . masses
Water oozed in through her dry seams.
Any moment a rougher touch or a sharp
er edge might cut her through. But that
was a risk they had excepted They did
not take time to think of it, nor to )isten
to the erunehing and eraellin , 4 of the
hungrylce around. They urged straight
on, steadily, eagerly, coolly, spending and
saving strength.
/Nut one inutnentto lose! The shatter
ing of broad sheets of ice around them
was a warning of what might happen to
the frail support of their chase One
thrust of the boat-hook sometimes cleft a
cake that to the eye seemed stout enough
to bear a heavier weight than a woman's.
mot one moment to spare ! The dark
figure, now drifted tar below, the hemlocks
of the Point no longer stirred. It seemed
to have sunk upon the ice and to be rest
ing there weary and helpless, on one side
a wide way of lurid water, on the other a
half mile of moving desolati,l.n.
Far to go, and no time to waste
" Give way, Bill ! Give way !"
" Ay, ay !"
Both spoke in low tones, hardly louder
than the whisper of the ice around them.
By this time hundreds from the Foun
dry and the village were swarming upon
the wharf and the steamboat.
"A hundred tar-barrels wouldn't git
up my steam in any time to do good,"
say's Cap'n Atnbuster. "If them two
id my skiff don't overhaul the man, he's
gone,"
" You're sure it's a man ?" says Smith
Wheelwright.
" Take a squint through my glass.—
dreffully afeasd it's a gat; but suthin"s
got into my eye, so I can't see,."
Suthin' had got into the old fellow's
eye,--suthin' saline and acrid,—namely,
a tear.
" It' s a Woman," says Wheelwright,—
and suthin' of the same kind blinded him
also.
Almost sunset now. But the air was
suddenly filled With perplexing snow-dust
from a heavy squall A white curtain
dropped between the anxious watchers on
the wharf and the boatmen.
The same white curtain hid the dark
floating object from its pursuers There
was nothing in sight to steer by, now.
Wade steered by his last glimpse,—by
the current,—by the rush of the roaring
wind, =by instinct.
low merciful that in such a moment
a man is spared the agony of thought!
His agony goes into action, intense as life.
It was bitterly cold. A awash of ice
water filled the bottom of the skiff. She
was low enough down without that. They
could not stop to bail, and the miniature
icebergs they passed began to look signifi
cantly over the gunwale. Which would
come to the point of foundering first, the
boat or the little floe it aimed for?
'Bitterly cold ! The snow hardly melt
ed upon Tarbox's bare hands. His fin
gers stiffened to the oars; but there was
life in them still, and still he did his worx,
and never turned to see how the - steers
man was doing his.
A flight of gews came sailing with the
snow-squall. - They alighted all about on
the hummocks, and curiously watched the
two won battling to save life. One black
impish bird, more malignant or more sym
pathetic than his fellows, ventured to
poise on the skiff's stern I
Bill hissed off this .third
,Jet the crow rose on its toes, Jet the boat
slide away from under him, antiollowed
croaking dismal good wishes.
The Just sunbeams were now cutting
in everywhero. The thick snow-flurry
was liken luminous cloud. ,Suddenly it
drew aside. .
The industrious- skiff
,had- , steered so
well and made suui headway, that there,
inedred. yards away, anfe still, not gone,
thank God 1 was the woman they sought.
A dusky mass flutig together on a wane
ing rood of ice,—Wade could see nothing
more.
Weary or benumbed, or sick with pure
forlornness and despair. ehe had drooped
down and showed no sign of life.
The great wind shook the river. Her
waning rood of ice narrowed, foot by
foot, like an unthrifty man's heritage.
Inch by inch its edges wore away, until
the little space that half-sustained the
dark heap was no bigger than a coffin-lid.
llelp, now !--now, men, if you are to
save ! Thrust, RichardTrad with
your boathookPull, Bill, tin your
oars snap! Out with your last frenzies
of vigor ! For the little raft of ice, even
that has crumbled' beneath its burden,
and she sinks,—sinks, with succor close
close at hand !
Sinks ! No,—she rises and floats
113111
She clasps something that holds her
head just above water.. .But the unman
nerly ice has buffeted Ikei hat off. The
fragments toss it about,—that pretty
Amazonian hat, with its alert feather, all
drooped and draggled. lier fair hair and
pure forehead are uncovered for an aston
ished sunbeam to alight upon.
"It is try love, toy life, Bill ! Give
way, once more !"
enough! Steady! Sit where
tyou are,,. Bill, araLtrim_bottt.,-wlvi-le--1
her out. We cannot risk capsizing.''
He raised her carefully, tenderly, with
his strong arms.
A bit of wood bad buoyed her up for
that last moment. It was a broken oar
with a deep fresh gash• in.
Wade knew his mark,—the cut of his
own skate-iron. This busy oar was still
resolved to play its part in the drama.
The round little skiff just bore the
third person without sinking.
Wilde laid Mary Danier against the
thwart. She would not let go her buoy.
He unclasped her stiffened hands. This
friendly
-touch found its way to her heart.
She opened her eyes and knew him.
"The ice shall not carry off her. hat to
Leighton. same mother, down stream i "-says
Bill Tarbox, catching it.
All these proceedings Cap'n Ambus
ter s spy-glass announced to Dundeibunk
"Therre h'istin' her up. They've
slumped her into the skiff. They're put
tin' for shore. Hooray l"
Pity a spy-glass cannot shoot cheers a
luile and a half!
Perry I'urtett instantly led a stampede
of half Dunderbunk along the railroad
track to learn who it was and all about it.
All about it was, that Miss Darner was
safe and not dangerously frozen,----and
that \Vade and Tarbox had carried her
up the hit to her mother at Peter Sher
rett's
Missing, the heroes in chief, Dunder
bunk made a hero of Cap'n Ambuster's
skiff. It was transported back on the
shoulders of the crowd in triumphal pro
cession. Perry Purtett carried round the
bat for a contribution to new paint it, new
rib it, new gunwale it, give it new sculls
and a new boat-book,—indeed, to make a
new vessel of the brave little bowl.
"I'm afeard," says Cap'n ,Anibuster,
'that, when I git a harnsome new skiff,
I shall want a harnsome new steamboat,
and then the boat will go to cruisin'
round for a harnsome new earn.'
And now for the end of this story.
Healthy love-stories always end in hap
py
_inarri;iges.
So ends this story, begun as to its love
portion by the little romance of a tumble,
and continued by the bigger romance of
a rescue
Of course there were incidents enough
to fill a volume, obstacles enough to fill a
volume, and development of character
enough to fill a tome thick as "Webster's
Unabridged," before the happy end of the
beginning of the IVade-Darner joint his
tory.
But we can safely take for granted that
the lover being true and manly, and the
lady true and womanly, and both pos
sessed of the high moral qualities neces
sary to artistic skating, they will go on
understanding each other better; until
they aro as one, as two can be.
Masculine reader, attend to the moral
of this tale :
Skate well, be a hero, bravely deserve
the fair, prove your deserts by your deeds,
find your "perfect woman nobly planned
to warm, to comfort, and command,"
catch her when found, and you are
blest.
Reader of the gentler sex, likewise at
tend :
All the essential blessings of lite ac
company a true heart and a good com
plexion. Skate vigorously; then your
heart will beat true, your cheeks will
bloom, your appointed lover will see your
beautiful soul shining through your beau
tiful face,. he will tell you so, and after
sufficient circumlocution he will Pop, you
will accept, ari, your lives will glide
sweetly as skating on virgin ice to silver
music,
VSOM MANASBAS.
FXPLONATIONE REUEL CAMPS--TLIE
FtiTitiRICATIoNS AT CENTNEVILLE—TDE
MANASSAS BATTLE FIELD.
The correspondent of the Philadelphia In
quirer gives an interesting account of lie ex
ploration of the Rebel camps at Centreville
and Manassas : ~ .
Tun FoRTIMATIONe AT CENTRUYiLLII.
The fortifications look,' at a distance, for
midable, extending from a point half tx mile
north of Centreville away off to the south as
far as the eyepan reach: Nile , rode up to
them and found them Merely .dirt trenolme
and sand forts. They have evidently been
laid out by an engineer who understood his
business, but him teen construetad. by men
who merely. *ranted to put in LIM time: 'Tbore'
has never been a single 'heavy gun mounted
in them._ Embrasures hove' been Made and
'logs of wood run out in all of-them. . All
were so arranged, however , that field artillery
could be used in thorn. The floors on v whioh
they could have stood word beinlook boards,
one inch thick,. and would' not have lasted
through a single discharge, but would breve
let the guns down into the sand, •
Some of those on •the left have wicker-work
round the embraeures, which has apparently
rah dolt° by some old negro basket -maker.
'n twirot, them wore raw hides staked down
and satid bags arognd the emboeUree,
,but
Still 60 per monism in advance
t $2 00 if not paid in advance
these were intended to rake a ttorming party
should we have marched up in front ThO
ditches around thorn are nicely arranged, so
that our troops could have marched down and
I up the aides readily to make a bayonet charge:
No timber has ever been placed in front to
obstruct a passage, nor were tho sides dug
perpendicular but at an angle.
Five of these forts command the road to
Centreville by which McDowell came in July.
They extend over a line of a mile and half,
and are all connected by rifle pits dug deep
enough to allow artillery to move along be
hind them without being seen in front, under`
the protection of sand banks from four td
twelve feet thick.
No preeautiotr appears to have been taken
to prevent a flank movement in the rear of
Centreville in anything like such a formidable(
manner as the front. The ground to the
north is covered with a dense woods and stun
ted pines. A few dirt banks near Centreville ;
behind which artillery could have been shot•
tered, were the only guards on their left.
A piece of dense woods, about a mile and a
half from Centreville, would have afforded us
protection from which, with siege guns, we
could have shelled them out in a few hours.—
There were a few places where they had had
masked batteries in this piece of woods; and
they have had a regiment in winter quarters
here; but they were only on picket, and
could have Jteen easily diiven into the Centre
ville forts.
In the- rear of Centreville was a cavalry
camp, and the only shelter for the horses was
seine cedar trees, which had been planted -so
as to protect them from the cold bleak winds
I that, come whistling down from the Bull Itun
niMintains. flow effective it was can he
judged from the fact that in d field, but half a
mile to the rear, lie the carcasses of over a
hundred horses, some of them very fine ones,
while further down were innumerable horse
graveyards, but none of thorn have been bu
ried. Overhead an immense drove of vul
tures was hovering, and the buzzards were
evidently anticipating a rich feast, and ap
peared to be angry at the delay.
To the left of Centreville was a large nunt
ber of fine cabins, made of logs, plastered
with mud and roofed roughly with
. shingles ;
they were in regular rows, and none had been
fired. The - grounds around them were quite
clean, and we should judge that these had
been evacuated by the troops who went home
on furloughs—to re-enlist—none of whom re
turned. These huts are betTer made than
those of our own army on the Potomac, and
are now filled by our troops, who are highly
delighted with them.
' A lino of railroad has been built in nearly
a direct line from Manassas Junction to Cen
treville, crossing Bull Run nt Blackburn's
Ford. It has been built right along the top
of the ground, and contains some pretty sharp
curves and heavy grades. The only bridge
on it, which is the one at Blackburn's Ford,
and which was merely a frame trestle work,
was fired and burned. The track remains,
however, but is in a dilapidated condition.—
The cross ties arc twice the usual width apart,
and laid in the sand and swamp without any
ballast. Three or four cars of the M. S. It.
R. are broken up and overturned by the side
of the track. No cars were left on it here,
and the last train passed over it on Sunday'
noon,
The telegraph office here was connected by
a single wire with the South, and the poles
bear evidence of its having at one time been
extended to Fairfax Court House. The wire
and insulation is now all gone, and nothing
remains to tell the tale but the bare poles.
The wagon road to Manassas has been put
in good condition by the plentiful use of planks
and logs; through the first piece of woods af
ter leaving Centreville is a piece of “corduroy
road," which is in terrible condition; the bo
dies of half a dozen horses who had broken
their legs were scattered along the side, e. tes
timony against these wretched inventions.
The road is in as good condition as it will
be at• any time for months; it has been wi
dened for teams to pass; or two to go abreast.
The turnpike road to Warrenton is in no fine
condition as it ever was; the fields are in good
order for moving artillery, and the side roads,
or those of tut little use, ore very good. The
roads are all good after we leave the old lines
around Washington, and have been so for
some time.
MAIVASSAR JUNCTION
About noon Generals McClellan and McDow•
ell, with their staffs, and two thousand coral•
ry for an escort, came up and took the road
to Manessos. We fell in with them and fol
lowed on down to Manassas, All along to
the left of the road was one continuos string
of huts, tents and forts, all empty now.—not
a human being or animal showed themselves
--not a sound subs the clatter of the horses'
hoofs, the shrill tones of the bugles, or the
loud orders of the officers.
At Blackburn's Ford we saw the old battle
field of July 18th. The Butler Ilouse, which
was between the two forces and had been rid
dled with shot and shell, has been repaired.
It was here 13enuregard was dining, and made
such a narrow escape at the time. The tree
tops bear the evidence - of the way the shot
and shells flew around. Large limbs were
cut off, and tree lops twisted in a hundred
directions, as though struck by lightning..--
The woods in which the New York Twelfth,
the First and Second Michigan and the Mae•
saohusetts First went down, has all been cut
away, and we can now see where the Rebels
had their artillery, upon the bank of Bull
Run, behind a breastwork of logs and dirt,
Tho Washington Artillery, of New Orleans,
and three South Carolina regiments, have
been encamped near the Butler House for the
winter, but started away some time ago.. The
artillery left a quantily of harness, &o. None
of their tents wore destroyed. Further down
are the tents of a whole division, all pitched,
as though the occupants had gone home to
recruit stud re-enlist, but had not yet return
ed..
The plains of Afanassas are really what
their name implies. The time was when there
were ohjects which obstructed the range of
vision, but they are all gone now;,, for miles
around cm have an unbroken view. Oa the
hills around are the camps still left; and a,
column of smoke away off to the right indi•
anted that Manatisas was on fire. Our, cav
alry. had_ gone there_ during Monday night,
and found the rear of the enemy still there ;
but they were firing the remaining prov a t,y,
A Captain, by whose side we rode, t."'al us of
'piles of new
. Beoesh clothes, sivbrds, flags,
&a.: galloping ahead of the r-, e ,„ we reac h e d
the Junction.
_ Thp,Sight hero cannot I A 'portrayed; tli%
large machine shops, t i de stat i on h ouses. 4h A
Commissary and
gunrtermaster store-houses,
all' in ashes. Ou the track stolid the vtooki
of a locomotive, and not far down the 49reninn
of four freight oars which bad hoeu burned :.
to tha right
. five hundred barrels. of flour had,
been stove in, and two hundred ; barrels of
vinegar and molasses had b.emz, allowed to try
experiments in chemical combinations. Soma
fifty barrels of pork andleef had boon scat- '
t e r e d ar o und ja the mud,,,and.afew hundred
-yards dawn thetrack a dense olodd of smoke.
was arising from the remains 'of -a factory. ,
whioldand koori used for rendering up tallow
and bailing- bones. About a thousand good
hides were stretched in n field close by, upo4
stakes, and 'remain uninjured. •
A car upon, the track, which ran to Centre,
villa, ashort distance up,. had on It the vhole
effects of a 'printing office,, typos, oasesi all %
that is - needed in an office ; a largo lot of pa
per and a Washington press. , The forms bad
in them blanks for muster rolls and furloughs.
This oar will be a great prize for the regiment
into whose handl: it falls. An infan try regi
ment soon came in and commenced to-ransack
the tents and-remaining stores, for plundei:
- 13