s of the rapids, while the others near were in shadow and
dark. The black mass of Goat Island appeared under the lightning flashes
in the northwest sky, and whenever these quick gleams pierced the gloom
the frail bridge to the island was outlined for a moment, and then
vanished as if it had been swept away, and there could only be seen
sparks of light in the houses on the Canadian shore, which seemed very
near. In this unknown, which was rather felt than seen, there was a
sense of power and of mystery which overcame the mind; and in the black
night the roar, the cruel haste of the rapids, tossing white gleams and
hurrying to the fatal plunge, begat a sort of terror in the spectators.
It was a power implacable, vengeful, not to be measured. They strolled
down to Prospect Park. The gate was closed; it had been the scene of an
awful tragedy but a few minutes before. They did not know it, but they
knew that the air shuddered, and as they skirted the grounds along
the way to the foot-bridge the roar grew in their stunned ears. There,
projected out into the night, were the cables of steel holding the frail
platform over the abyss of night and terror. Beyond was Canada. There
was light enough in the sky to reveal, but not to dissipate, the
appalling insecurity. What an impious thing it seemed to them, this
trembling structure across the chasm! They advanced upon it. There were
gleams on the mill cascades below, and on the mass of the American Fall.
Below, down in the gloom, were patches of foam, slowly circling around
in the eddy--no haste now, just sullen and black satisfaction in the
awful tragedy of the fall. The whole was vague, fearful. Always the
roar, the shuddering of the air. I think that a man placed on this
bridge at night, and ignorant of the cause of the aerial agitation and
the wild uproar, could almost lose his reason in the panic of the scene.
They walked on; they set foot on Her Majesty's dominions; they entered
the Clifton House--quite American, you know, with its new bar and
office. A subdued air about everybody here also, and the same quaking,
shivering, and impending sense of irresponsible force. Even "two
fingers," said the artist, standing at the bar, had little effect in
allaying the impression of the terror out there. When they returned
the moon was coming up, rising and struggling and making its way slowly
through ragged masses of colored clouds. The river could be plainly seen
now, smooth, deep, treach