The Argosy — page 337: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

314 STQORILES..FROM . LE-ExS pies. — ees AN EVENTFUL JOURNEY TO ROME. By KrELEY HALSWELLE, R.I., A.R.S.A. Le was my third visit to Italy, and the journey proved a very eventful one. We were snowed up on the top of Mont Cenis for eighteen hours in Refuge No. 2. Fancy spending our Christmas Day upon the summit of the Alps, huddled together in a wooden shed, blocked in with deep snow; nothing to eat, the thermometer below zero, very little fuel, and every prospect of remaining there for an indefinite period. But not to anticipate. My wife and I left London on the even- ing of the 23rd of December, 1869, accompanied by Mr. Goodall, and our adventures began in leaving Dover by the Calais boat. I had noticed in Oxford Circus, that afternoon, bits of paper and the debris of the gutters eddying in circles at the corners of the streets. Former experience had taught me that this was an in- fallible sign of boisterous weather in the Channel. However, a young middy, one of our fellow-passengers in the train, assured us that in his opinion it would be simply a fresh breeze, rather pleasant than otherwise. But on arriving at Dover we found the night so terribly rough that we had great difficulty in embarking, even under the shelter of the pier, and on getting outside, the sea was terrific. After struggling across, we were obliged to beat about off Calais for two hours, unable to make the harbour from the fury of the sea; and at length, when the captain did venture to enter, the steamer struck the pier with great violence. The first thing we heard was the sudden shock followed by a deluge upon deck, which, pouring down the cabin stairs, spread over the floor of the saloon, already covered with some inches of water. A sudden panic was the result : men prostrate a moment before rushed blindly ‘‘en masse” to gain the deck. I was knocked down and trampled upon, and for some minutes the greatest excitement and confusion prevailed. At length we got ashore safely, but drenched to the skin and very cold and miserable. The French boat did not cross, and we heard afterwards that three ships were wrecked that night in the Channel. To pass quickly over that portion of our journey unproductive of incident, I come to our second misadventure. We arrived in Paris very late, of course, barely giving us time for a wash and breakfast CORMIELICO_ KS. (Ee) m