L&* Cteli
A WEEKLY JOURNAL OF THE FABM, HOME AND GARDEN.
Vol. VIII.
INDIANAPOLIS, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 27, 1873.
No. 17.
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A BROKEN BRIDGE. '-
A THIILLING STORY.  :>■< '    ;
•\7.   ;' *   • .Concluded.... ■■•'.';'.•'-.   ,„> ',
3tall I had time to think. ' What were my
thoughts! A helpless sense of crnplty/of the*
horrible unfeelihgness and malignity of this
hurtling wind, of these raging waters. .A sad;
mortification, too, and sense .Of* injustice,,' that
I should lose my life for nothing; a pleasant
ramble turned to such an evil end; -'Of'.the""
past I tliought nothing; it was nothing, to me
now—a tale that was told; that .was all. . Ofthe. future, nothing either,1 except a' •&-__. and
awful wonder; But pkunly,Vividly before,my-
eyes 1 -saw, the figure of my wife", sitting at
work\by the .fire, waiting and watching ifor
me—for me, who never should come. That
was the bitterness of it. And yet wither
was not unconscious of a certain vague sense.
of the ludicrous—-of .scor^ of myseu, that I
should be thus, stuck up astride a beam, like
some lad at play, a sport for the buffeting of,
the elements., .With this, too, an unspesjka-;
ble rage, a kind of crushed defiance, a.revolt
against the doom which was. imminent, a revolt which left itself hopeless ^and useless from
its beginning. While all this storm,of conflicting thoughts was whirling .through my
brain, the turmoil outside was .diminishing.
The wind had hushed for awhile, and across
my face' there came, for a' moment, a sort of
ruddy glow, the last beams of the sun settling
rapidly into the sea. .'The Vapors divided for
a moment, the huge dark mass of a mountain*
frowned down upon me for a moment only-
then tbe clouds encompassed me once more
—the glow died away—the awful gloomy gray
of night began to gaither in upon me like a net.
' Should I drop into the sea, and end it all ?
To die in the: dark"would be more horrible
than anything else.': Even on the;;quietest,,
most-resigned death-bed, the loss of light js.
the most disquieting trouble to the departing
soul. Light ftaojo light I is the last cry of the
spirit, in extremity. • 'And now it seemed as
though nature had determined to spare me no
pang of all the gathering horrors of my doom.
Darkness and despair were settling flown upon my soul. ' Then came the storm once more
with a rush of gathered rain, a howl, a shout,
a roar of; triumph, as the shrill wind trumpeted past, precursor of a more furious blast. I
could bear no more. A'sapless, nerveless form
I was, swept from the beam like a, withered
leaf from abranch, and I fell-^-catching at
some cross-beams as I fell, but losing my hold
in a moment and dropping hopelessly down.
Once more consciousness returned. - A vague
silvery light was diffused about me, above
were stars shining, huge halksof timber glimmered overhead. I was stretched upon a bed
of wet sand, lying on my back, looking up into the sky.. I was not dead, then. Nol Was
I;maimed, crushed ? I drew up one limb after another, fearing lest a sudden shout of
agony should betray some grievous hurt. -But
no-1 nil was sound in limb; and as I raised
myself and looked about,! felt that, except
for dizziness and a wonderful ringing that was
ceaselessly going on in my head, I.was' un-.
hurt. And I was saved?" That was as might
happen. WJien.I rose and stood upon my. feet,
I looked around me,and found that I.had fal-;
len upon a little island, a narrow spit of sand
that;Lad formed in the eddy caused ;by the
pile of the bridge. On each side of it ran a
strong and rapid current. All this, I saw.by
the light of,the moon, sometimesjbright, some-,
times obscured, aa she parted her .way among
the fast driving clouds. Distinctly across the
waters shone the lights of the Uttle tosrn. It
had its gas lamps, which sparkled brilliantly,
in the night; and from out of the black rocks
which showed_ against the sky-line, here and
there the soft. light of fi candle in^a cottage-.
window gleamed like a fairy lamp. On tho
other side of the estuary thero were no lights;
bnt the straining eye ought discern the gloom
of high hills, that seemed, indeed, only like
darksome chasms in the sky; but as I watched, I saw a tiny star that was gliding among
the rocks. Now seen, now lost, I followed it
with' longing eyes; and listening intently;-!-
heard the clatter of horses' hoofs, and the
murmur of wheels rising and falling, as the
road wound in and out among tho rocks further or nearer. It was some carriage rolling
rapidly towards home—towards my home,and
here was I castaway. I shouted, but my voice
seemed lost in tho great space. The wind carried, it up the river, blew it away into stifled
.fragments. It was useless to cry. No one
would hear me. How long should I have to
live? Was there any chance that I might
yet escape? I could not swim; the channel
on either side was, therefore, an impassable
barrier. Even had I been an excellent swimmer, I doubt if, in my enfeebled state, I conld
have won the further bank of the channel,
where the current was running tho least swiftly. How long would my island remain uncovered by the sea ? Six or eight feet above
my head tangled masses of sea-weed hanging
in the interstices of the wood-work showed
the highest reach of the tide. The ebb bad
commenced an honr before I left Abermaw.
Allowing an hour for my subsequent adventures, the ebb would still have three hours to
run; then' another three-hours'-flood would
elapse before the tide would once more reach
Tne. I remembered that I had a flask of metal in my pocket which still contained a dram
of brandy, and that I had a few fragments of
biscuit in my pocket, remaining of some that
my wife .had packed up for my use" a couple
of days before. I drank the brandy and
puinched the biscuits, and felt again hopeful.
Six hours! Why, in that time belp might
come. Death was no longer imminent.r But
I was entirely wrong. The strong southwesterly gales had piled up tho waters -about- the
mouth of the estuary, so that the ebb was
checked, and the flood" increased/and the tide
ran out" only some threo hours., I must have
been longer lying on the sand, too, than I had
calculated, for, as I watched the waters hurrying down on each side of me, Inoticed that
the current seeAed to slacken all of a sudden;
then it stopped, so that a fragment of bleached wood that was floating downward .oame to
a H-et.tl-ienmpyesd slojfly oncemorftupwards.