An Ice Delay

New dangers are often added to the andertaking of a European tour by the presence of ice in the North river, says a writer in the New York HerakL If you think tbat a fanciful proposition yoi should have been with me wlien I Kent over to lloboken. It was a cold day and the river was pretty f uil of ice - a good deal fuller than it had been the day before - a fact that some of my fellow passengers learned to their surprise and agony when it was too late. Why agoay, unless tlie bout was smashedV üeeause thoy were crossing to take an ó'dtgoïng Bteamer. They were three welldressed, gentlemanly fellows -that is, they were very gentlemanly when they camo aboard with their sticks and their rugs and their umbrellas neatly strapped p, and their handbags shining like Xmas presents, with silver Lnitials. They sat down together, and one, puiling out his watch, remarked easily that they had plenty of time, and another said that it was "beastJy to be so early, don't yon know, with all the fellows that are bores, you know. hanging' around talkÜDg to you for hours," and the third said: '"Yes, and the plank was always so choked with the visitors you couldn't find your state-room without a lot of fuss," and that a steamer the hour before she sailed was the best place for pickpockets in the world, and that he never wanted to be on hand fifteen minutes before the gangplank was drawn in. Meanwhile the boat had drawn out and was putting on steam to crttsh her way through the ice. The three gentlemanly fellows had done evcrything just as thev had mcant to. and were beautifnlly satisfied with themselvee, but they did not secm t: know a great deal abcrat ice in the Xorth river. Pretty soon the boat stopped - that is. she ceased to go íorwwrd, and, as one of the passengers said. "began to chaw on the ice." The ice did not seem to mind it, nor at fint did the three ocean-bound travelers. Bnt time went on and the boat didn't, and after awhile it bcgan to strike thcm that tl:is was a batí combination, end that if it kept up long enough it might be ineonvenient. One went out of the cabin, saying he was goin.'i to find somebody to ask about things. Tiiis Napoleocic measure "did not pcreeptïbly inerease our all bnt imperceptible progress. When he carne back the three lookad v.l eaoh other very blankly. then they looked at their watehes and looked blanker. They did not ssem to find much consolation in conversation. They began tramping about uneasily. One diseovered that from a window they could see their steainer lying at her doek. They all stared at her in turn long and earnestly. Still the boat ehawed on the ice. The mutterings of profanity could be heard from their once gentlemanly lips. At last the boat forged ahead for a f ew feet, and the trio in woe looked each other in the face and smiled once more. When progress again stopped and the chawing was renewed their last estáte was worse than their first. When finally, by backings and startings aad many maneuvers that all consumed time, we got inr to the clear water, they looked ten years older than they did when we left Xew York. N ever had a trip to Europe used up more vitality in the same lcngth of time. They tried to exchange a few words about the improbability of the steamer leaving exactly on time, but their voices seemed to s-tick in their throats, and it was plain to any man with a watch in his pocket and an advertisement of the line in his paper that they were still left, even if the steamer should be a good many minutes late. When at last we got in they luid their measures arrangeï for tlie best iight they could make. They had taken all their traps and bags to some employé on the ferryboat to keep tiil called for, only putting in their poekets some small things from their contents, for earriages and haaks are not cominon around that part of lloboken, and they were wise enough to prepare for the run that they soon took. They started from the boat at very nearly full speed, in spite of cheerful warnings from their fellow passengere, newsboys and others to save their wind. A number of them folio wed ata lesser speed to see how they eaine out. A crv of "Stop thief !" was raised by an unenlightened Hobokener, but he was choked off. The three gentlemanly fellows were for the time hardened to all the slings and arrows of outrageous torture. N ot so when one of them had to come back alone. He was shorter and fatter than his companions; they flew over the wavering gangplank just as it was treinbling on the very point of retirement from public service. He didn't. He returned amid expressions of sympathy from the interested populace to hunt up the man that had all their things, and with plenty of time to consider what he'd do next.