Christmas Penny Readings: Original Sketches for the SeasonFenn, George Manville
General
Christmas Penny Readings: Original Sketches for the Season
Fenn, George Manville
Christmas stories; Fiction; Poetry; Short stories
I might well tremble as I gazed upon that huge current--a torrent which
had risen fifty feet in a few hours, sweeping all before it, and I
trembled again as I thought of those I sought. I rose to my feet and
tottered for a few paces, but was soon fain to sit down beneath a tree,
and there in the great wild I stayed, faint and weary, hour after hour,
listless and but little troubled, as I sat within sound of the rushing
waters.
It was towards night when all at once I roused up and stared around me,
for it seemed that I heard voices. I listened and all was silent; but
again the sound came, again heard above the roaring of the torrent, and
then I tried to give the well-known call of the Australian woods, when
to my inexpressible joy it was answered, and five minutes after I was
surrounded by a party, half squatters, half blacks, who had been upon
the track for the murderers of Mr Anderson.
I learned afterwards that the blacks had followed our trail till the
storm was coming, when they immediately hurried back, and the whole
party had a very narrow escape, but though they had struck the gully
again and again, they had seen no traces of those they sought, and but
for my hearing them, they would have passed me on their return.
They turned back once more upon learning my history; and, guided by the
blacks, kept as close to the brink of the rift as was possible; while,
after refreshment and rest, I struggled on with them, hoping against
hope that the two poor girls might yet be alive. I knew that if they
had escaped they could not be far off; and so the sequel proved.
The search was about concluded; and, sick at heart, I listened to the
talked-of return.
"Poor things! they must have been swept away," said one of the
squatters, when he started, and ran towards the gully edge, for a long,
wild cry for help arose apparently from beneath our feet.
One of the blacks then let himself over the edge, and climbed down, to
return directly after with the announcement that Miss Anderson was
below.
A rope of handkerchiefs and straps was soon improvised, with which the
black again descended; and in a few minutes the poor, fainting girl was
drawn up from the shelf of rock upon which she had been for hours
resting; and, after regaining her strength somewhat, she related how
that, when the storm set in, the men had hurriedly dismounted; and,
securing their horses at the bottom, climbed with the two poor girls to
the shelf where she was found--a place well sheltered by the overhanging
rock; and, of course, at the same time thoroughly hidden from those who
passed above.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account