Thrilling Adventures by Land and Sea - James O. Brayman
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THRILLING ADVENTURES
BY
LAND AND SEA
BEING
REMARKABLE HISTORICAL FACTS, GATHERED
FROM AUTHENTIC SOURCES.
EDITED BY
JAMES O. BRAYMAN.
"Wherein I spoke of most disastrous chances,
Of moving accidents by flood and field."
PREFACE.
There is a large class of readers who seek books for the sake of the
amusement they afford. Many are not very fastidious as to the character
of those they select, and consequently the press of the present day
teems with works which are not only valueless, so far as imparting
information is concerned, but actually deleterious in their moral
tendency, and calculated to vitiate and enervate the mind. Such
publications as pander to a prurient taste find a large circulation with
a portion of society who read them for the same reason that the
inebriate seeks his bowl, or the gambler the instruments of his
vocation--for the excitement they produce. The influence of works of
this description is all bad--there is not a single redeeming feature to
commend them to the favor or toleration of the virtuous or intelligent.
It cannot be expected that minds accustomed to such reading can at once
be elevated into the higher walks of literature or the more rugged paths
of science. An intermediate step, by which they may be lifted into a
higher mental position, is required.
There is in the adventures of the daring and heroic, something that
interests all. There is a charm about them which, while it partakes of
the nature of Romance, does not exercise the same influence upon the
mind or heart. When there are noble purposes and noble ends connected
with them, they excite in the mind of the reader, noble impulses.
The object of the present compilation is to form a readable and
instructive volume--a volume of startling incident and exciting
adventure, which shall interest all minds, and by its attractions beget
thirst for reading with those who devote their leisure hours to things
hurtful to themselves and to community. We have endeavored to be
authentic, and to present matter, which, if it sometimes fail to impart
knowledge or instruction, or convey a moral lesson, will, at least, be
innoxious. But we trust we have succeeded in doing more than this--in
placing before the reading public something that is really valuable, and
that will produce valuable results.
CONTENTS.
Incident at Resaca de la Palma
True Heroism
Thrilling Incident
Incident in the War of Mexican Independence
Sketch from Life on the Ocean
Escape from Shipwreck
The Hunter's Wife
Deaf Smith, the Texan Spy
Escape from a Shark
Adventure with Pirates
A Sea-Fowling Adventure
Adventure with a Cobra di Capello
Combat of Wild Animals
Perilous Incident on a Canadian River
Leopard Hunting
Hunting the White Rhinoceros
A Leopard Hunt
Life in California
A Storm among the Icebergs
Fall of the Rossberg
The Rifleman of Chippewa
Shipwreck of the Blendenhall
Adventures of Sergeant Champe
Adventure with Pirates
Kenton, the Spy
The Dying Volunteer
Escape from a Mexican Quicksand
Charged by a Rhinoceros
Burning of the Erie
Conflict with an Indian
Fire on the Prairies
The Captain's Story
Tussle with a Wildcat
Incident in Frontier Life
Encounter with Robbers
Shipwreck of the Monticello
A Jungle Recollection
Attack of Boonesborough
Thrilling Incidents of Battle
Family Attacked by Indians
Thrilling Incident
Adventures of Dr. Bacon
A Battle with Snakes
Estill's Defeat
Incident at Niagara Falls
Skater chased by a Wolf
Our Flag on the Rocky Mountains
Running the Canon
The Rescue
Shipwreck of the Medusa
Hunting the Moose
Perilous Escape from Death
Fire in the Forest
Pirates of the Red Sea
General Jackson and Weatherford
Cruise of the Saldanha and Talbot
A Carib's Revenge
Massacre of Fort Mimms
The Freshet
The Panther's Den
Adventure with Elephant's
The Shark Sentinel
Hunting the Tiger
Indian Devil
Bear Fight
The Miners of Bois-Monzil
Ship Towed to Land by Bullocks
Destruction of a Ship by a Whale
Burning of the Kent
ILLUSTRATIONS.
Frontispiece
Attack on the Lighthouse
Before the Gale
Escape from a Shark
Tiger and Buffalo
Charge of the Buffalo
Loss of the Blendenhall
Death of Montgomery
Escape from the Rhinoceros
The Pursuit
Loss of the Monticello
Attack on Boonesborough
Death of the Widow's Daughter
Attacked by Wolves
Attack on Estill's Station
Our Flag on the Rocky Mountains
A Sail in Sight
Savages Torturing a Captive
Gen. Jackson and Weatherford
Gen. Coffee's Attack on the Indians
Hunting the Rhinoceros
Hunting the Tiger
Ship towed by Bullocks
Burning of the Kent
THRILLING ADVENTURES BY LAND AND SEA.
INCIDENT AT RESACA DE LA PALMA.
Sergeant Milton gives the following account of an incident which befel
him at the Battle of Resaca de la Palma.
"At Palo Alto," says he, "I took my rank in the troop as second
sergeant, and while upon the field my horse was wounded in the jaw by a
grape-shot, which disabled him for service. While he was plunging in
agony I dismounted, and the quick eye of Captain May observed me as I
alighted from my horse. He inquired if I was hurt. I answered no--that
my horse was the sufferer. I am glad it is not yourself,' replied he;
'there is another,' (pointing at the same time to a steed without a
rider, which was standing with dilated eye, gazing at the strife,)
'mount him,' I approached the horse, and he stood still until I put my
hand upon the rein and patted his neck, when he rubbed his head
alongside of me, as if pleased that some human being was about to become
his companion in the affray.
"On the second day, at Resaca de la Palma, our troop stood anxiously
waiting for the signal to be given, and never had I looked upon men on
whose countenances were more clearly expressed a fixed determination to
win. The lips of some were pale with excitement, and their eyes wore
that fixed expression which betokens mischief; others, with shut teeth,
would quietly laugh, and catch a tighter grip of the rein, or seat
themselves with care and firmness in the saddle, while quiet words of
confidence and encouragement were passed from each to his neighbor. All
at once Captain May rode to the front of his troop--every rein and sabre
was tightly grasped. Raising himself and pointing at the battery, he
shouted, 'Men, _follow_!' There was now a clattering of hoofs and a
rattling of sabre sheaths--the fire of the enemy's guns was partly drawn
by Lieutenant Ridgely, and the next moment we were sweeping like the
wind up the ravine. I was in a squad of about nine men, who were
separated by a shower of grape from the battery, and we were in advance,
May leading. He turned his horse opposite the breastwork, in front of
the guns, and with another shout 'to follow,' leaped over them. Several
of the horses did follow, but mine, being new and not well trained,
refused; two others balked, and their riders started down the ravine to
turn the breastwork where the rest of the troop had entered. I made
another attempt to clear the guns with my horse, turning him
around--feeling all the time secure at thinking the guns discharged--I
put his head toward them and gave him spur, but he again balked; so
turning his head down the ravine, I too started to ride round the
breastwork.
"As I came down, a lancer dashed at me with lance in rest. With my sabre
I parried his thrust, only receiving a slight flesh-wound from its point
in the arm, which felt at the time like the prick of a pin. The lancer
turned and fled; at that moment a ball passed through my horse on the
left side and shattered my right side. The shot killed the horse
instantly, and he fell upon my left leg, fastening me by his weight to
the earth. There I lay, right in the midst of the action, where carnage
was riding riot, and every moment the shot, from our own and the Mexican
guns, tearing up the earth around me. I tried to raise my horse so as to
extricate my leg but I had already grown so weak with my wound that I
was unable, and from the mere attempt, I fell back exhausted. To add to
my horror, a horse, who was careering about, riderless, within a few
yards of me, received a wound, and he commenced struggling and rearing
with pain. Two or three times, he came near falling on me, but at
length, with a scream of agony and a bound, he fell dead--his body
touching my own fallen steed. What I had been in momentary dread of now
occurred--my wounded limb, which was lying across the horse, received
another ball in the ankle.
"I now felt disposed to give up; and, exhausted through pain and
excitement, a film gathered over my eyes, which I thought was the
precursor of dissolution. From this hopeless state I was aroused by a
wounded Mexican, calling out to me, '_Bueno Americano,_' and turning my
eyes toward the spot, I saw that he was holding a certificate and
calling to me. The tide of action now rolled away from me and hope again
sprung up. The Mexican uniforms began to disappear from the chapparal,
and squadrons of our troops passed in sight, apparently in pursuit.
While I was thus nursing the prospect of escape, I beheld, not far from
me, a villainous-looking ranchero, armed with an American sergeant's
short sword, dispatching a wounded American soldier, whose body he
robbed--the next he came to was a Mexican, whom he served the same way,
and thus I looked on while he murderously slew four. I drew an
undischarged pistol from my holsters, and laying myself along my horse's
neck, watched him, expecting to be the next victim; but something
frightened him from his vulture-like business, and he fled in another
direction. I need not say that had he visited me I should have taken one
more shot at the enemy, and would have died content, had I succeeded in
making such an assassin bite the dust. Two hours after, I had the
pleasure of shaking some of my comrades by the hand, who were picking up
the wounded. They lifted my Mexican friend, too, and I am pleased to say
he, as well as myself, live to fight over again the sanguine fray of
_Resaca de la Palma."_
TRUE HEROISM.
While the plague raged violently at Marseilles, every link of affection
was broken, the father turned from the child, the child from the father;
cowardice and ingratitude no longer excited indignation. Misery is at
its height when it thus destroys every generous feeling, thus dissolves
every tie of humanity! the city became a desert, grass grew in the
streets; a funeral met you at every step.
The physicians assembled in a body at the Hotel de Ville, to hold a
consultation on the fearful disease, for which no remedy had yet been
discovered. After a long deliberation, they decided unanimously, that
the malady had a peculiar and mysterious character, which opening a
corpse alone might develope--an operation it was impossible to attempt,
since the operator must infallibly become a victim in a few hours,
beyond the power of human art to save him, as the violence of the attack
would preclude their administering the customary remedies. A dead pause
succeeded this fatal declaration. Suddenly, a surgeon named Guyon, in
the prime of life, and of great celebrity in his profession, rose and
said firmly, "Be it so: I devote myself for the safety of my country.
Before this numerous assembly I swear, in the name of humanity and
religion, that to-morrow, at the break of day, I will dissect a corpse,
and write down as I proceed, what I observe." He left the assembly
instantly. They admired him, lamented his fate, and doubted whether he
would persist in his design. The intrepid Guyon, animated by all the
sublime energy which patriotism can inspire, acted up to his word. He
had never married, he was rich, and he immediately made a will; he
confessed, and in the middle of the night received the sacraments. A man
had died of the plague in his house within four and twenty hours.
Guyon, at daybreak, shut himself up in the same room; he took with him
an inkstand, paper, and a little crucifix. Full of enthusiasm, and
kneeling before the corpse, he wrote,--"Mouldering remains of an
immortal soul, not only can I gaze on thee without horror, but even with
joy and gratitude. Thou wilt open to me the gates of a glorious
eternity. In discovering to me the secret cause of the terrible disease
which destroys my native city, thou wilt enable me to point out some
salutary remedy--thou wilt render my sacrifice useful. Oh God! thou wilt
bless the action thou hast thyself inspired." He began--he finished the
dreadful operation, and recorded in detail his surgical observations. He
left the room, threw the papers into a vase of vinegar, and afterward
sought the lazaretto, where he died in twelve hours--a death ten
thousand times more glorious than the warrior's, who, to save his
country, rushes on the enemy's ranks,--since he advances with hope, at
least, sustained, admired, and seconded by a whole army.
A THRILLING INCIDENT.
An incident occurred at the Key Biscayne lighthouse, during the Florida
war, which is perhaps worth recording. The lighthouse, was kept by a man
named Thompson. His only companion was an old negro man; they both lived
in a small hut near the lighthouse. One evening about dark they
discovered a party of some fifteen or twenty Indians creeping upon them,
upon which they immediately retreated into the lighthouse, carrying with
them a keg of gunpowder, with the guns and ammunition. From the windows
of the lighthouse Thompson fired upon them several times, but the moment
he would show himself at the window, the glasses would be instantly
riddled by the rifle balls, and he had no alternative but to lie close.
The Indians meanwhile getting out of patience, at not being able to
force the door, which Thompson had secured, collected piles of wood,
which, being placed against the door and set fire to, in process of time
not only burnt through the door, but also set fire to the stair-case
conducting to the lantern, into which Thompson and the negro were
compelled to retreat. From this, too, they were finally driven by the
encroaching flames, and were forced outside on the parapet wall, which
was not more than three feet wide.
[Illustration: ATTACK ON THE LIGHTHOUSE.]
The flames now began to ascend as from a chimney, some fifteen or twenty
feet above the lighthouse. These men had to lie in this situation, some
seventy feet above the ground, with a blazing furnace roasting them on
one side, and the Indians on the other, embracing every occasion, as
soon as any part of the body was exposed to pop at them. The negro
incautiously exposing himself, was killed, while Thompson received
several balls in his feet, which he had projected beyond the wall.
Nearly roasted to death, and in a fit of desperation, Thompson seized
the keg of gunpowder, which he had still preserved from the hands of the
enemy, threw it into the blazing lighthouse, hoping to end his own
sufferings and destroy the savages. In a few moments it exploded, but
the walls were too strong to be shaken, and the explosion took place out
of the lighthouse, as though it had been fired from a gun.
The effect of the concussion was to throw down the blazing materials
level with the ground, so as to produce a subsidence of the flames, and
then Thompson was permitted to remain exempt from their influence.
Before day the Indians were off, and Thompson being left alone, was
compelled to throw off the body of the negro, while strength was left
him, and before it putrefied.
The explosion was heard on board a revenue cutter at some distance,
which immediately proceeded to the spot to ascertain what had occurred,
when they found the lighthouse burnt, and the keeper above, on top of
it. Various expedients were resorted to, to get him down; and finally a
kite was made, and raised with strong twine, and so manoeuvered as to
bring the line within his reach, to which a rope of good size was next
attached, and hauled up by Thompson. Finally, a block, which being
fastened to the lighthouse, and having a rope to it, enabled the crew to
haul up a couple of men, by whose aid Thompson was safely landed on
terra firma.
The Indians had attempted to reach him by means of the lightning rod, to
which they had attached thongs of buckskin, but could not succeed in
getting more than half way up.
AN INCIDENT
IN THE WAR OF MEXICAN INDEPENDENCE.
The following thrilling narrative is from a translation in Sharpe's
Magazine. A captain in the Mexican insurgent army is giving an account
of a meditated night attack upon a hacienda situated in the Cordilleras,
and occupied by a large force of Spanish soldiers. After a variety of
details, he continues:
"Having arrived at the hacienda unperceived, thanks for the obscurity of
a moonless night, we came to a halt under some large trees, at some
distance from the building, and I rode forward from my troop, in order
to reconnoitre the place. The hacienda, so far as I could see in gliding
across, formed a huge, massive parallelogram, strengthened by enormous
buttresses of hewn stone. Along this chasm, the walls of the hacienda
almost formed the continuation of another perpendicular one, chiselled
by nature herself in the rocks, to the bottom of which the eye could not
penetrate, for the mists, which incessantly boiled up from below, did
not allow it to measure their awful depth. This place was known, in the
country, by the name of 'the Voladero.'"
"I had explored all sides of the building except this, when I know not
what scruple of military honor incited me to continue my ride along the
ravine which protected the rear of the hacienda. Between the walls and
the precipice, there was a narrow pathway about six feet wide; by day,
the passage would have been dangerous; but, by night, it was a perilous
enterprize. The walls of the farm took an extensive sweep, the path
crept round their entire basement, and to follow it to the end, in the
darkness, only two paces from the edge of a perpendicular chasm, was no
very easy task, even for as practiced a horseman as myself.
Nevertheless, I did not hesitate, but boldly urged my horse between the
walls of the farm-house and the abyss of the Voladero. I had got over
half the distance without accident, when, all of a sudden, my horse
neighed aloud. This neigh made me shudder. I had just reached a pass
where the ground was but just wide enough for the four legs of a horse,
and it was impossible to retrace my steps."
"'Hallo!' I exclaimed aloud, at the risk of betraying myself, which was
even less dangerous than encountering a horseman in front of me on such
a road. 'There is a Christian passing along the ravine! Keep back,'"
"It was too late. At that moment, a man on horseback passed round one
of the buttresses which here and there obstructed this accursed pathway
He advanced toward me. I trembled in my saddle; my forehead bathed in a
cold sweat."
"'For the love of God! can you not return?' I exclaimed, terrified at
the fearful situation in which we both were placed."
"'Impossible!' replied the horseman."
"I recommended my soul to God. To turn our horses round for want of
room, to back them along the path we had traversed, or even to dismount
from them--these were three impossibilities, which placed us both in
presence of a fearful doom. Between two horsemen so placed upon this
fearful path, had they been father and son, one of them must inevitably
have become the prey of the abyss. But a few seconds had passed, and we
were already face to face--the unknown and myself. Our horses were head
to head, and their nostrils, dilated with terror, mingled together their
fiery breathing. Both of us halted in a dead silence. Above was the
smooth and lofty wall of the hacienda; on the other side, but three feet
distant from the wall, opened the horrible gulf. Was it an enemy I had
before my eyes? The love of my country, which boiled, at that period, in
my young bosom, led me to hope it was."
"'Are you for Mexico and the Insurgents?' I exclaimed in a moment of
excitement, ready to spring upon the unknown horseman, if he answered me
in the negative."
"'_Mexico e Insurgente_--that is my password, replied the cavalier. 'I
am the Colonel Garduno.'"
"'I am the Captain Castanos.'"
"Our acquaintance was of long standing; and, but for mutual agitation,
we should have had no need to exchange our names. The colonel had left
us two days since, at the head of the detachment, which we supposed to
be either prisoners, or cut off, for he had not been seen to return
to the camp."
"'Well, colonel,' I exclaimed, 'I am sorry you are not a Spaniard; for,
you perceive, that one of us must yield the pathway to the other."
"Our horses had the bridle on their necks, and I put my hands to the
holsters of my saddle to draw out my pistols."
"'I see it so plainly,' returned the colonel, with alarming coolness,
'that I should already have blown out the brains of your horse, but for
the fear lest mine, in a moment of terror, should precipitate me with
yourself, to the bottom of the abyss.'"
"I remarked, in fact, that the colonel already held his pistols in his
hands. We both maintained almost profound silence. Our horses felt the
danger like ourselves, and remained as immovable as if their feet were
nailed to the ground. My excitement had entirely subsided. 'What are we
going to do?' I demanded of the colonel."
"'Draw lots which of the two shall leap into the ravine.'"
"It was, in truth, the sole means of resolving the difficulty. 'There
are, nevertheless, some precautions to take,' said the Colonel."
"'He who shall be condemned by the lot, shall retire backward. It will
be but a feeble chance of escape for him, I admit; but, in short, there
is a chance, and especially one in favor of the winner,'"
"'You cling not to life, then?' I cried out, terrified at the
_sang-froid_ with which this proposition was put to me."
"'I cling to life more than yourself,' sharply replied the colonel, 'for
I have a mortal outrage to avenge. But the time is fast slipping away.
Are you ready to proceed to draw the last lottery at which one of us
will ever exist?"
"How were we to proceed to this drawing by lot? By means of the wet
finger, like infants; or by head and tail, like the school boys? Both
ways were impracticable. Our hands imprudently stretched out over the
heads of our frightened horses, might cause them to give a fatal start.
Should we toss up a piece of coin, the night was too dark to enable us
to distinguish which side fell upward. The colonel bethought him of an
expedient, of which I never should have dreamed."
"'Listen to me, captain,' said the colonel, to whom I had communicated
my perplexities. 'I have another way. The terror which our horses feel,
makes them draw every moment a burning breath. The first of us two whose
horse shall neigh,--"
"'Wins!' I exclaimed, hastily."
"'Not so; shall be looser. I know that you are a countryman, and, as
such, you can do whatever you please with your horse. As to myself, who,
but last year, wore a gown of a theological student, I fear your
equestrian prowess. You may be able to make your horse neigh: to hinder
him from doing so, is a very different matter.'"
"We waited in deep and anxious silence until the voice of one of our
horses should break forth. The silence lasted for a minute--for an age!
It was my horse who neighed the first. The colonel gave no external
manifestation of his joy; but, no doubt, he thanked God to the very
bottom of his heart."
"'You will allow me a minute to make my peace with heaven?' I said, with
falling voice."
"'Will five minutes be sufficient?'"
"'It will,' I replied."
"The colonel pulled out his watch. I addressed toward the heavens,
brilliant with stars, which I thought I was looking to for the last
time, an intense and burning prayer."
"'It is time,' said the colonel."
"I answered nothing, and, with a firm hand, gathered up the bridle of my
horse, and drew it within my fingers, which were agitated by a
nervous tremor."
"'Yet one moment more,' I said to the colonel, for I have need of all my
coolness to carry into execution the fearful manoeuver which I am about
to commence."
"'Granted,' replied Garduno."
"My education, as I have told you, had been in the country. My
childhood, and part of my earliest youth, had almost been passed on
horseback. I may say, without flattering myself, that if there was any
one in the world capable of executing this equestrian feat, it was
myself. I rallied myself with an almost supernatural effort, and
succeeded in recovering my entire self-possession, in the very face of
death. Taking it at the worst, I had already braved it too often to be
any longer alarmed at it. From that instant, I dared to hope afresh."
"As soon as my horse felt, for the first time since my rencounter with
the colonel, the bit compressing his mouth, I perceived that he trembled
beneath me. I strengthened myself firmly on my stirrups, to make the
terrified animal understand that his master no longer trembled. I held
him up with bridle and the hams, as every good horseman does in a
dangerous passage, and, with the bridle, the body, and the spur,
together, succeeded in backing him a few paces. His head was already a
greater distance from that of the horse of the colonel, who encouraged
me all he could with his voice. This done, I let the poor, trembling
brute, who obeyed me in spite of his terror, repose for a few moments,
and then recommenced the same manoeuver. All on a sudden, I felt his
hind legs give way under me. A horrible shudder ran through my whole
frame. I closed my eyes, as if about to roll to the bottom of the abyss,
and I gave to my body a violent impulse on the side next to the
hacienda, the surface of which offered not a single projection, not a
tuft of weeds to check my descent. This sudden movement joined to the
desperate struggles of my horse, was the salvation of my life. He had
sprung up again on his legs, which seemed ready to fall from under him,
so desperately did I feel them tremble."