THE FLOOD-LOCKED GAOL.

Wairoa Bell, Volume V, Issue 199, 26 May 1893, Page 7

THE FLOOD-LOCKED GAOL .

‘ I never saw a man yet./ said my friend, < who hadn’t, at some period of his life, had one or more very narrow escapes from death. ‘An inch farther this way/ or ‘an inch farther that way/ and death would have been certain. Miracles of preservation form part of the experience of all ; and, when we consider how slight a cause often leads to fatal results, it is no wonder that the theory of miraculous interposition is so universally cherished. I have had a good many narrow escapes in my day, but 1 think the smallest chance I ever had of preserving my life occurred last summer. It’s the only time that I really gave up hope, and prepared to die. ‘ Charley Boole and myself were spending a few weeks in Conway, New Hampshire, stopping with Jonathan Dow, and amusing ourselves as opportunity offered. Our chief source of amusement, however, was in trout fishing upon Swift River This is, as its name indicates, a wild dash ing stream, taking its rise among the mountains, and emptying itself into the Saco not far from cur hotel. One morning Charley and I set out. for a day’s sport. We rode up about six miles, and having left our team in charge of a farmer who lived near the river, we walked up some four miles further, intending to fish down to this point. When we reached the place where we were to commence fishing, 1 waded across, thus taking one side of the stream, while my companion took the other.

- We had been fishing an hour or so, when 1 discovered that huge clouds were rolling up over the mountains with every prospect of a shower. Rut 1 was too busy to think of rain then. The trout were biting freely, and 1 brought them ashore almost as fast as I could take, cave of them, At last the raiu came, sweeping down like a cloud from the dark slopes of old Mote, and I was forced to find shelter. Charley had gone up into the woods on his side, but I found a snug place close at hand. Not a dozen yards from where I stood when the rain began to pour down was a large rock projecting from the bank, beneath which was a cover as good as a house ; and under it I crept. ‘ The river’s bank was high and steep here, presenting an almost perpendicular surface of hard, coarse marl and gravel. The rock which served mo for a roof seemed to bs a projection from a ledge, as the bottom upon which I sat was of solid rock, extending for some distance above and below me. As I gazed round I imagined that this place had been fashioned on purpose for a shelter. The overhanging rock was so low that no rain could beat in upon me, and then there was a sort of rocky barrier all about me, which prevented the little muddy' streams that began to run down the bank from pouring in upon my seat. This barrier had been formed in part by the wearing away of the surface within, where a furious eddy probably worked in seasons of freshet, and partly by other rocks which bad been deposited there by the spring-time torrents. ‘ The rain poured down with increasing fury, and at the end of half an hour I began to think of leaving my shelter and finding some place where X could cross the river, for I know that if it held out much longer all chances of crossing would be gone, as the stream always swelled rapidly when it rained on the mountains. I was pondering on the subject of crawling oat, and had just made up my mind to do io, when I heard a low rumbling- sound over my head. I looked up and saw the rock above me in motion. I dare not attempt to spring out, for 1 might be caught by the falling mass, so I started quickly to the extreme back of the retreat, and as I did so the ponderous roof came down wit-li a dull heavy crash. It had rested near its centre, upon the rock which formed the rear wall of the corner, but the projecting part was by far the thickest and heaviest. That portion of the bank which had held it in its former place had become loosened by' the streams which ran down its surface, and the ground had thus given up its hold, and let the rock follow its own inclination of gravity. ■As soon as I found that the rock had stopped, and was likely to fall no further, I began to think again of getting out ; and when I had fairly lecovered my senses, which had become somewhat scattered by'

the catastrophe, I crawled forward ; but—there was a worse fate than fright in store forme- I was'shut in ! Not an aperture could X find large enough, to put my head through ! The barrier which had kept back the muddy streams from the bank from pouring in upon me now served as a wall, and the heavy roof rested upon it so evenly that all loopholes of escape were stopped, I tried to move those rocks which were detached from the ledge, but X might as well have put my strength against a mountain, I soon convinced myself that no power of mine could set me free from my prison, and I then began to cry out for help. I hoped that my companion might hear me, though it was hoping against hope for the river was roaring with a sound that completely drowned my voice as it left my lips. But the sum of terror was not yet complete. As X lay upon my hard bed, almost exhaus ed, the water began to pour in upon me through a chink at the upper side of the cover. At first I thought it was from the bank, but I soon found out my mistake. It came from the river 1 The stream was rising rapidly ! The rain was falling in torrents, aud I knew that ere long the swelling tide must increase fourfold. I had seen the river fill its banks in six hours, rising as many feet in that time. My place of retreat was not a foot above the level of low water, and I had not over three feet of room from the bottom to the top. The water must have risen nearly two feet already', else it could not have come in over the barrier. Another foot and I should be lost !

In came the torrent, dashing and whirling about me, and in ten minutes the water within was level with the water without, There was only about twelve inches now between the water and the rock overhead. X was upon my knees, and with the top of my head against the solid roof, the flood reached to within two inches of my chin, X could look out through one of the apertures, and see the foaming, hissing torrent as it clashed on, bearing trees, and bushes, and logs upon its murky bosom ; and X feit my life rushing on with it. I screamed with all my power—screamed till I was hoarse—and then I madly braced myself against the ponderous rock that had fallen down upon me. I strained every nerve and every muscle- —I tore my clothing from my back—l bruised my flesh—but ail to no purpose. 1 was shut in, as though by a solid rock, and Prometheus himself was not more securely' bound.

When this paroxysm was past X began to reflect. The water was now up to my chin, and its rise was increasing in rapidity'. Thousands of new brooklets were finding their way' to the river, and I knew that in a few minutes more the flood would reach to the roof ! I felt that I must die ! It was a hard thought, but I could not escape it. Tiie thunder roared and rumbled over the mountain tops, but the lightning would not strike for me. Anything would have been preferable to the lingering death before me, Finally the water reached my lips, and I turned my face upward : but the respite was short. The water gathered about my ears, and a thousand torrents seemed clashing upon my brain, X’he roar was intense beyond conception. Thera was a roar as of ten thousand thunders upon the sensitive membrane t f the ear, and X grew dizzy with the sound. But when the flood reached to my lips I started back to life. In a few moments more all would be over. I cannot tell you all the thoughts that flashed through my mind then, I can only tell you the final thought. It was of one I loved with all my soul, and of the two little prattling beings who might soon be fatherless. I know that I had cried aloud in my agony—pronouncing the names of my' wife and children —and that I had asked God to keep and bless them X had [tressed my hand upon my bursting heart, and was just ready to sink back into my watery grave, when there came a shock that made the solid rock tremble, I felt the ponderous mass above me in motion, and in a moment more it was swayed from its position, and I leaped up. The furious torrent hurled me against the rock ; but this sudden diversion in my favour recalled all my scattered energies, and I cast about me for support. X found that, the rock which bud served me for a | roof and for a prison bar, and against which •.he current now held me, had been hurled | over upon its side, and was there stationary. I managed to climb to the top of it, and I from thence I peached the bank, and

clambered up ; and as soon as 1 gained a place of safety, I sank down utterly exhausted. ‘ When I revived the rain had ceased falling, and the dark clouds were rolling away to the eastward ; but the torrent below me was roaring and dashing as madly as ever. And I was able to see now to what I must have owed my escape. When the projecting rock under which I had sought shelter lost its hold on the bank, it must have swayed down the stream so far that it was very' nearly balanced upon the rocks that formed the lower wall, or barrier of my prison- As the water reached ft, which it of course did when my last breathing space was gone, one of those huge logs, which came sweeping down by hundreds, must have been hurled against it with a force sufficient to topple it oyer. Those who have seen large logs borne upon the bosom of a mountain torrent, know with what marvellous force they strike anything that comes in their way, I was lame and sore, but I was able to walk, and finally I started for the hotel, I had a hard road to travel through the woods and wild pastures, but I reached home at length, just as the sun was going down and | found Charley, with two or three others, npon the point of starting off in search of me. He had known nothing of my danger, and aware that I could not cross the river after it began to rise, he had supposed I would walk home upon the other side at my leisure : so he felt no concern until the day began to wear away without my' return. However, I was safe, and under the kind care of my good host and his estimable lady I soon regained my strength, and was able to go up Swift River after trout again.’