Minnesota weekly times. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1854-1859, 1856-09-20
A Week amos. .h. r,ea..r.--L... .. tn. Pr.ir,.

glad of it, for IL We have any conception of tn,
future, it is equal only to being lost in eternity
And lost too at night, when all il still save tn
howl Of the wolf. the stealthy tread Of the Bea
or the husz Of the Musquitoe. Thoughts Of hom'
came o'er us, and the best ten dollar bill that eve
lay in our pocket would have been freely givei
for even peep at the clean and comfortable bet
we had lcfs behind. But it was useless to repine
We could not 20 forward, nor could we 60 back
Night's hid-ous features stared Us in the face
and goblin. and bears and wolves and Indians
seemed to take delight in ohtruiing themselves
upon our vision. t'Well, old fellow" said Rob
inson Crusoe, 2i, to the driver, it's useless fo,
Us to attempt to 60 any furth r. Our Jig is W
and you might as well heave to-" So we dove
to thickes but short distance ahead, and pre-
pared for lodging ON the ground, pretty vel
assured in our own mind, that ere the mornin.
dswnsd we should end ourself minus scalp, bu,
congrstulating ourself with the reflection tha,
whoever got it, would get very poor one. For.
tunstely we had brought an AZ With as, and with
this Cru.oe felled number Of small trees, and
piling them ten feet high, applied the match and
away the flames aickered heavenwsrd, cracking a,
they fought their way through the dry limbs and
green leaves. We must confess we didn't like
those flames. It seemed to US that they would
on.y be the means of enabling tho Indians to
discover our camp, and above all other things
this We most dreaded. Our first impulse was to
smother them, but second thought convinced us
that such an act would only be exhibiting our
cowardice-(we don't like Indians and so turn.
ing to, with our companions we piled on the
young trees and laughed as the flames went leap
ing and dancing and licking the air, but we took
good care to occasionally peer over our lef,
had got into, and in order to be the first to ap-
prize our party of any coming danger. 1t was
the first time in our life that We hal ever been
compelled to sleep upon the ground, and that too,
in an Indian country un .rmed. We thuush'
what Uould become OF our cred tors If we hould
be killed. and then we whistled to appear brave.
As soon as q sufficient number of trees had
been cut to keep the fire fresh al night, ct was
now 10 O'Clock, we took from tn. w,gon il soil.
tary Buffalo robe and single blanket. The rooe
We spread down in front of the fre, and with a
buShel Of white bean, in sack for our pillow,
We crawle undsr the bl ,nket, pretty II resigned
TO our fate. Cru.oe was baking pot,roes and
enting raw pork, the while entertaining u. with
accounts of his narrow csc .pe- with the Indis.s.
the bears, and the wolves, Gust what We did'n
wish to hear,) and always ending with-ss that's
the way to tell it." The driver was hunting for
a flask of whisky, which was safely slowed away
in the beans under our head. Tom had doubled
himself into as many knots as the emergency of
the case required, and was grunting and gro aniny
with the conv .c,ion that he had the dysente ry.
The horses were rolling and tlmbling to esclp
the bites of the mosqu toes and, save the distant
chrp of some lonely ght-biri, all else was still.
Just beyond Us lay Il meadow, and Crusoe swore
10y all that was good, it was the river, AMI the
very mention of this fact brought on an unquench.
able thirst with every one of the party. 1t had
not occurred to before that water was an indis-
pensible article to our comfort, but the more We
thought of it, the more thirsty we became. Cru.os
knew there must bea spring just the other side of
us-he could really smell it.; 50 aging our ow ::
and the Drivers comp my, he ss;zel = spade and
we started, leaving Tom behind to watch the
horses, and the fire. Crusoe led of bravely, as
suring US most positively that water must be near
~, but We hunted and hunted, all in vain.-no
water could be found. Finally Crusoe, somewha,
cisgrined at his ill-success, was on his way back
10 the emp just ahead Of US, WHEN we heard him
scream and fall upon the ground. We hastene
to ascertain the Cause of his alarm, when we dis
covered him pale and trembling, and articuat-
ing" An Indian an Indian-the spade, the
spade! We called to the Driver for help, but
that individual Was making bes.line for the
camp and screaming at the top of his voice
"murder murder y" .e..tr.E I'd
Knowing that if it were really an Indian it
would be useless for Us to run, we mustered cour.
age to approach the place pointed out by Crusoe,
who contrived to keep as near to our person as
possible, and when within short distance we
seized the spade, and with all our strength
brought it down on the head of the hileou
savage. We don't like Indians.) Imagining a
grean we renewed the blows, and when all was
still, we drew the horrid scene and to our as
tonishment discovered that we had beaten out the
brains of an innocent little bush that had dared
= ?
to intercept our pathway. 1t was lucky for
Crusoe that the darkness of the night prevented
US from seeing bis countenance. If he looked as
bad as he undoubtedly felt his face must have
presented very interesting spectacle! aa
Arriving at the camp we found the driver, head
and ears under the alo-robe and in close prox
unity to Tom. Tom did not seem to be very talk
a,ive, and thinking perhaps that a little whisky
might restore the equilibrium of Crusoe, We
opened the bean bag, t'ok ou' the flask. but 10
It was empty. John insisted that the cork 60,
ont isself-he certainly heard it pop-anl that the
liquid was spilled among the beans, and ~ Tom
seemed to rest easy and did not complainof an,
further dysentery, We concluded to let further in.
vestigation drop. w 1al 7aea3 al atf Iisl vlas.
Our water expedition had considerably sobered
the hilarityl and talkasive propensities of both
John and CrusoA, and 90 we all turned in, that
is, we all centr.vsd to get very small portion oil
he bufalo-robe to lie on and little or mo bl.nkel
to corer over W.. The Ere had gone down and
the mosquitoes taking advantage of the absence
of smoke, swarmed in thousands, and in more
thrilling tones than ever came from the ghost of
Banquo, cried-'slsep no more" The concert
was opened with a slap irst on one cheek ant
then on the other, profusely inserspersed with
oashs from the Driver. We turned over just on,
hundred and ten times (having nothing to do Y,
kept county and finally, vexed beyoLd enduranc.
and annoyed beyond measure with the mosqui
toes, We crawlsd out, took the axe, and viii
whsslng, singipg and working, contrived to kee,
awake until the dswning of morning. And thi
is called "Camping outw-, p;osure that 'sdis
taucs lends enchantmens to tho view. - and on