University of Virginia Library

17. CHAPTER XVII.

The roar of the river, alternating with peals of
thunder, which were now loud and frequent,
awoke many an anxious pang in Roland's bosom,
as he lifted his half unconscious kinswoman from
the earth, and bore her to the canoe; but his
anxiety was much more increased, when he came
to survey the little vessel itself, which was scarce
twelve feet in length, and seemed ill fitted to sustain
the weight of even half the party. It was,
besides, of the clumsiest and worst possible figure,
a mere log, in fact, roughly hollowed out, without
any attempt having been made to point its extremities;
so that it looked less like a canoe than an
ox-trough; which latter purpose it was perhaps
designed chiefly to serve, and intended to be used
for the former only when an occasional rise of
the waters might make a canoe necessary to the
convenience of the maker. Such a vessel, managed
by a skilful hand, might indeed bear the two
females, with honest Ralph, through the foaming
rapids below; but Roland felt, that to burthen it
with others would be to insure the destruction of
all. He resolved, therefore, that no others should
enter it; and, having deposited Telie Doe in it by
the side of Edith, he directed Dodge and Emperor,
to mount their horses, and trust to their

strength and courage for a safe escape. To Emperor,
whatever distaste he might have for the adventure,
this was an order, like all others, to be
obeyed without murmuring; and, fortunately,
Pardon Dodge's humanity, or his discretion, was
so strongly fortified by his confidence in the
swimming virtues of his steed, that he very readily
agreed to try his fortune on horseback.

“Any thing to git round them everlasting varmint,—though
it a'n't no sich great circumstance
to fight 'em, neither, where one 's a kinder got
one's hand in,” he cried, with quite a joyous
voice; and added, as if to encourage the others,—
“it's my idea, that, if such an old crazy boat can
swim the river, a hoss can do it a mortal heap
better.”

“'Tarnal death to me,” said Ralph Stackpole,
“them 's got the grit that 'll go down old Salt on
horseback! But it 's all for the good of anngelliferous
madam: and, so, if thar's any hard rubbing,
or drowning, or any thing of that synonimous natur',
to happen, it ar'n't a thing to be holped no
how. But hand in the guns and speechifiers, and
make ready for a go; for, 'tarnal death to me, the
abbregynes ar' making a rush for the cabin!”

There was indeed little time left for deliberation.
While Ralph was yet speaking, a dozen or
more flaming brands were suddenly seen flung
into the air, as if against the broken roof of the
cabin, through which they fell into the interior;
and, with a tremendous whoop, the savages, thus
lighting the way to the assault, rushed against
their fancied prey. The next moment, there was
heard a yell of disappointed rage and wonder,
followed by a rush of men into the ravine.

“Now, sodger,” cried Ralph, “stick close to

the trough; and if you ever seed etarnity at midnight,
you 'll see a small sample now!”

With that, he pushed the canoe into the stream,
and Roland urging his terrified steed with voice
and spur, and leading his cousin's equally alarmed
palfry, leaped in after him, calling to Dodge and
Emperor to follow. But how they followed, or
whether they followed at all, it was not easy at
that moment to determine; for a bright flash of
lightning, glaring over the river, vanished suddenly,
leaving all in double darkness, and the impetuous
rush of the current whirled him he knew
not whither; while the crash of the thunder that
followed, prevented his hearing any other noise,
save the increasing and never absent roar of the
waters. Another flash illuminated the scene, and
during its short-lived radiance he perceived himself
flying, as it almost seemed, through the water,
borne along by a furious current betwixt what
appeared to him two lofty walls of crag and forest,
towards those obstructions in the channel, which,
in times of flood, converted the whole river into a
boiling caldron. They were masses of rock,
among which had lodged rafts of drift timber,
forming a dam or barrier on either side of the
river, from which the descending floods were
whirled into a central channel, ample enough in
the dry season to discharge the waters in quiet, but
through which they were now driven with all the
hurry and rage of a torrent. The scene, viewed
in the momentary glare of the lightning, was
indeed terrific: the dark and rugged walls on
either side, the ramparts of timber of every shape
and size, from the little willow sapling to the full
grown sycamore, piled high above the rocks, and
the rushing gulf betwixt them, made up a spectacle
sufficient to appal the stoutest heart; and Roland

gasped for breath, as he beheld the little
canoe whirl into the narrow chasm, and then
vanish, even before the light was over, as if swallowed
up in its boiling vortex.

But there was little time for fear or conjecture.
He cast the rein of the palfry from his hand,
directed Briareus's head towards the abyss, and
the next moment, sweeping in darkness and with
the speed of an arrow, betwixt the barriers, he
felt his charger swimming beneath him in comparatively
tranquil waters. Another flash illumined
hill and river, and he beheld the little canoe
dancing along in safety, scarce fifty yards in advance,
with Stackpole waving the tattered fragments
of his hat aloft, and yelling out a note of
triumph. But the lusty hurrah was unheard by
the soldier. A more dreadful sound came to his
ears from behind, in a shriek that seemed uttered
by the combined voices of men and horses, and
was heard even above the din of the torrent. But
it was as momentary as dreadful, and if a cry of
agony, it was of agony that was soon over. Its
fatal cause was soon exhibited, when Roland,
awakened by the sound from the trance, which,
during the brief moment of his passage through
the abyss, had chained his faculties, turned, by a
violent jerk, the head of his charger up the stream,
in the instinctive effort to render assistance to his
less fortunate followers. A fainter flash than before
played upon the waters, and he beheld two or
three dark masses, like the bodies of horses, hurried
by among the waves, whilst another of lesser
bulk and human form suddenly rose from the
depth of the stream at his side. This he instantly
grasped in his hand, and dragged half across his
saddle-bow, when a broken, strangling exclamation,
“Lorra-g—g—gor!” made him aware that he

had saved the life of the faithful Emperor. “Clutch
fast to the saddle,” he cried; and the negro obeying
with another ejaculation, the soldier turned
Briareus again down the stream, to look for the
canoe. But almost immediately his charger struck
the ground; and Roland, to his inexpressible joy,
found himself landed upon a projecting bank, on
which the current had already swept the canoe,
with its precious freight, unharmed.

“If that ar'n't equal to coming down a strick
of lightning,” cried Roaring Ralph, as he helped
the soldier from the water, “thar's no legs to a
jumping bull-frog! Smash away, old Salt!” he
continued, apostrophizing with great exultation
and self-admiration, the river whose terrors he
had thus so successfully defied; “ar'n't I the gentleman
for you? Roar as much as you cussed
please;—when it comes to fighting for anngelliferous
madam, I can lick you, old Salt, 'tarnal death
to me! And so, anngelliferous madam, don't you
car' a copper for the old crittur'; for thar's more
in his bark than his bite. And as for the abbregynes,
if I've fout 'em enough for your satisfaction,
we 'll jist say good-by to 'em, and leave 'em
to take the scalp off old Salt.”

The consolation thus offered by the worthy captain
of horse-thieves was lost upon Edith, who,
locked in the arms of her kinsman, and sensible
of her escape from the horrid danger that had so
long surrounded her, sensible also of the peril
from which he had just been released, wept her
terrors away upon his breast, and for a moment
almost forgot that her sufferings were not yet
over.

It was only for an instant that the young soldier
indulged his joy. He breathed a few words of
comfort and encouragement, and then turned to

inquire after Dodge, whose gallant bearing in the
hour of danger had conquered the disgust he first
felt at his cowardice, and won upon his gratitude
and respect. But the Yankee appeared not, and
the loud calls Roland made for him were echoed
only by the hoarse roar from the barriers, now
left far behind, and the thunder that yet pealed
through the sky. Nor could Emperor, when restored
a little to his wits, which had been greatly
disturbed by his own perils in the river, give any
satisfactory account of his fate. He could only
remember that the current had borne himself
against the logs, under which he had been swept,
and whirled he knew not whither, until he found
himself in the arms of his master; and Dodge,
who had rushed before him into the flood, he supposed,
had met a similar fate, but without the
happy termination that marked his own.

That the Yankee had indeed found his death
among the roaring waters, Roland could well believe,
the wonder only being how the rest had
escaped in safety. Of the five horses, three only
had reached the bank, Briareus and the palfry,
which had fortunately followed Roland down the
middle of the chasm, and the horse of the unlucky
Pardon. The others had been either drowned
among the logs, or swept down the stream.

A few moments sufficed to acquaint Roland
with these several losses; but he took little time to
lament them. The deliverance of his party was
not yet wholly effected, and every moment was to
be improved, to put it, before daylight, beyond the
reach of pursuit. The captain of horse-thieves
avouched himself able to lead the way from the
wilderness, to conduct the travellers to a safe ford
below, and thence, through the woods, to the rendezvous
of the emigrants.

“Let it be anywhere,” said Roland, “where
there is safety; and let us not delay a moment
longer. Our remaining here can avail nothing to
poor Dodge.”

With these words, he assisted his kinswoman
upon her palfry, placed Telie Doe upon the horse
of the unfortunate Yankee, and giving up his own
Briareus to the exhausted negro, prepared to resume
his ill-starred journey on foot. Then, taking
post on the rear, he gave the signal to his new
guide; and once more the travellers were buried
in the intricacies of the forest.