I spoke a few words
of good cheer, and then looked around for some place of refuge. Just
where we stood there was nothing but fire and desolation, and it was
necessary to go further away. Well, some distance out, about half-way
across the river, I saw a little island, with rocky sides, and trees
on the top. It looked safe and cool and inviting. I determined to try
to get there. Some deals were in the water by the bank, which had
probably floated down from some saw-mill. I took half a dozen of
these, flung two or three more on top of them, and then told the lady
my plan. It was to float out to the island by means of this raft. I
offered to put her on it and let her float; but she refused,
preferring to be in the water.
"The river was pretty wide here, and the water was shallow, so that we
were able to wade for a long distance, pushing the raft before us. At
length it became deep, and then the lady held on while I floated and
tried to direct the raft toward the island. I had managed while wading
to guide the raft up the stream, so that when we got into deep water
the current carried us toward the island. At length we reached it
without much difficulty, and then, utterly worn out, I fell down on
the grass, and either fainted away or fell asleep.
"When I revived I had several very queer sensations. The first thing
that I noticed was that I hadn't any whiskers."
"What! no whiskers?"
"No--all gone; and my eyebrows and mustache, and every wisp of hair
from my head.
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