Show Te- Te ADVENTURERS' ADVENTURERS CLUB HEADLINES FROM THE LIVES OF PEOPLE LIKE Down the River Road I HELLO LIELLO ELLO EVERYBODY 1 Heres Here's a yarn that packs thrills enough to last through a n whole night At least it did for Cor Mrs Dorothy Murphy the Bronx N N. N Y Many years ago Dorothy was living on ona ona onn a n farm in the Chestnut Ridge section near the little town of Dover Plains N. N Y She set out to drive to the railroad station three miles away and before she got back shed she'd had enough adventures to last a lifetime That was in February 1914 Dorothy was just 18 16 years old Her aunt had been spending two weeks with the family and it was she whom Dorothy drove to the train on that cold February evening Automobiles weren't so common then What Dorothy drove was a surrey drawn by an old half half- blind horse named Brownie The train pulled out of Dover Plains at 6 45 p. p m. m and Dorothy turned the horse around and headed for home Already Al AI ready it was dark dark dark-a a moonless starless night The way back lay along a n steep rough unfenced country road that climbed for nearly three miles before it reached Chestnut Ridge On one side of it lay thick woods covering an upward upward up up- ward slope of the ground and on the other was a steep de de- For part of the distance that declivity straightened out Into a tall cliff And there was nothing to prevent a carriage from going over it 11 It It approached too close to Its edge That was Dorothys Dorothy's first thrill thrill the the prospect of driving over that road in tn the dark She hadn't thought darkness would fall tall so soon that night and she was scared still stiff of that cliff As she drove along and the darkness dark ness deepened she couldn't see her hand before her face and she gave Brownie a free rein hoping that his instincts would keep him on the road Dorothy Felt the Wheels Slipping Over the Edge They were going along the top of that cliff and all was going well And then all aU of a sudden Dorothy felt feU the wheels slipping over o the he edge Poor Ioor half-blind half old Brownie had bad failed her lie He Ii I ci I Her Oer arms were aching and her head was swimming She heard beard Brownie wander off olf had gone too close to the he edge edgel The surrey gave a sudden lurch and Dorothy was thrown out Into space apace I Says Dorothy I clutched at the air as It slid past me like a drowning man clutches at straws My ly hands grabbed some bushes growing out from the side of the cliff and I hung on for all I was worth And there I was between earth and air and with nothing to save me from death on the rocks below but my pr pres pre precarious carious carlous hold on those shrubs Dorothy says that time has no meaning under such circumstances The minutes seemed like years Her lIer arms were aching and her head was swimming She could hear Brownie and the surrey wandering offin oft off in the darkness Evidently the old horse had pulled the surrey back on the road after she had been thrown out For a terrible moment she clung to the bushes and then her fingers encountered a branch of a small tree growing along the side of the cliff She caught it with one hand then hand then the other and other and drew herself herself her her- self up over the cliff to safety safely She lay on the ground for a while sick and weak Then having recovered a little she got up and stumbled to the road Brownie and the surrey were nowhere In sight Dorothy started walking toward home You'd think shed she'd had enough adventuring for forone forone one night night but but the big thrill hadn't even started She had only walked a afew afew afew few steps when she heard a sound that froze her blood in her veins veins the the baying and yelping of dogs Wild Dog Pack Pursues Terrified Dorothy Dogs dont don't sound so dangerous dangerous but but Dorothy knew better A short time before she had seen the body of a II boy who had been killed and partially eaten by these same dogs They were wild animals descendants animals descendants of or dogs who had bad run away from their masters masters masters mas mas- to live in the woods and had reverted to type Every once in a while In those days packs of that sort appeared In the woods In various places throughout the country And they still do in wild outlying regions A single dog would run at the sight of a man but In fn a pack and Inthe in inthe inthe the middle of the winter when they were half haft starved they would attack almost anyone Dorothy knew all too well what would happen If this pack caught up with her She turned stumbling into the woods and ran until she found a tree It was a tree with a low fork of its branches one branches one she could climb She began pulling her elf up into it The yelping of the pack was coming nearer and nearer She he wasn't a minute too soon She had hardly clambered into the lower ver branches when they were on the spot yelping and snarling at the bottom bodom of the tree And there I was she says perched In the tree while the maddened hunger-maddened brutes howled and snarled below I 1 still turn sick and cold all over when I think of that moment The worst part of It was that I was wal afraid Id I'd grow weak or faint or so 10 numb from the cold that Id I'd fall out I knew what would happen then With the First Streaks of Dawn the Dogs Left Hour after hour Dorothy clung to that tree wondering why her folks didn't miss her and come looking for her Wondering why they didn't realize something was wrong when the horse and buggy came home without her She didn't know that old Brownie turning completely around in his struggles to haul the surrey back on the road had wandered wandered wan wan- dered back to town and was spending the night in an open horse shed Her tier folks thought Dorothy had decided to spend the night with relatives in town as she often did so they didn't worry And all that night she crouched in the tree racked by the cold and harried by terrible fears As the first streaks of tray ray appeared in the sky the dogs docs slunk of oft off through the woods and when she thought It was safe she came down and crawled to the road She couldn't walk but a farmer driving to the milk depot found her In the road and brought her ber home Dorothy says she's written this story for us other adventurers to read but she adds Usually I dont don't think of It if lf I can help it 11 it Released by br Western New Newspaper Union |