The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1859-10-19

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appearance ofhuman beings. Some horsemen
we're approaching him, driving laden horses be-
fore them. His weapons were at hand, and,
with these reasy, he awaited their advance.
| AS they came nearer, he saw that they were
Indians of friendly tribe, returning from a
beaver hunt. Within gunshot ltey stopped;
and one of them addressed him in English
They accented his invitation to enter the tent;
and, sitting there by his side, they entreated
him, long and earnestly, to abandon the goods,
to give up the vain hope of help from the
Mission. and to save his life by casting his lot
with theirs.
"The wolves" said the man who had first
spok,n in English Delaware Indian the
wolves will give You no rest, day or night and
| if the men of the Pawnee tribe find you out,
YOU will be robbed, murdered and scalpcd.-
| You have no hope ofrescue. Bad horses wou d
not live te get to you; and the whites OF the
Mission will not risk good horses and their own
lives to save one man whom they will give up
| for lost. Come with us.
But Mr. Mollhausen unfortunately for him
self. put faith in the Mission. He WAS, more
over, bravely and honorably anxious to preserve
the goods, only the smaller share of which was
his own property. Firmly persuaded that his
fellow white men would not desert him, and
that they would bring him easier means of trav
cling i'm his disabled condition. than those
which the Delawarcs could offer. he stuck to
! his first resolution, and still said, Mo-
! The Indian rose te leave him.
The word of white" SAID III savage, ':is
more to you than the will ami deed OF Red
Skin. You have had your choice-may you
not deceive yourselfv'
| With these words he shook Mr.. Mollhausen
by the hand and he and his companions de-
parted They never once looked back at the
| Traveller or his tent but kept on their way rap
idly towards the South, and left him doomed
man.
For the next eight days snow storms gel
inccssantly, and threatened TO bury him al We
| in his tent Although he was IS yet spared
the pangs Of hunger. (the friendly Indians hav-
ing increased his small stock of prov .sionS 10y
the leg of an antelope his sufierngs of other
that he had to crawl on his hands and lnees
when he fetchnd his supply Of water; his head
swan; and he dared not cl,,se his eyes by ight
for fear Of the wolves Maddened by hunger,
they came nearer and nearer to him. Howl
ing and yelling. they circled round and round
the tent, closer, and closer and closer, at the
ose of every day. One night he heard the
snow outside cracking under their feet the
| next. he saw the teeth of one OF them appear
through the leather side OF his tent. lie could
only scare them away by firing ut them in the
| few hours and they left him chance of
sleep till the broad daylight drove til, III lack
| to their lairs.
He was Just strong enough on the ninth day
to make the ninth notch in the pole of the tent.
| On the tenth he was powerless. His courage
gave way and he despared, for the first time,
of rescue. He had medicinc-chest with him,
VIII: ch he had already used, containing small
bottle of laudanum and case Of quinine.-
Without forming any distinct resolution, with
out well knowing what he did, he put the laud-
anum bottle to his lips and almost emptied it.
4 deep swoon followed the drausht; he re-
membered taking it, and remembered nothing
more.
When he came to himself again, it was pitch
dark, and his tent pole was rocking in gale
of wind. Thirst. and in less degree hunger,
were his awakening sensations. lie satisfied
the first with halt.melied snow, and II second
with raw buffalo meat When his fire (Which
had iwindIed to few glimmering sparks) was
relighted. he roasted the meat, aud recklessl y
devoured three days rations at u meal. BY
the morning he was so much better (purtly
through the rest which the ludanum ha CIV
en- his mind, partly through the sustenance
which the excess of iood had afforded tn his
| body) that the preservation OF his lie became
once mnre Il matter OF some interest to him
H e tottered out, leaning OH his rifle, to get a
little exercise In few ,davs he contrived to
walk as far us the top of low hill, from which
he could look forth, all round, over the lone
some prospect.
BY this time the prov isions were at an end,
and the last faint hope of rescue from the Mis-
sion had died out of his M nd 1t was ques-
ton now whether the man should dev"ur the
wolves or the wolves the man. The man had
his rifle his ammunition, and his sstcady rcsoiu-
ton to fight it cut with solitude. old nd star
vation TO the very last-and the wolves drop-
red under his bullets and fed III with
their dr. sinewy flesh. He took the best part
of the meat only, and left the rest Every
mornin" the carcass abandoned over nio ht was
missing. ! he wolves that were living Gevour, q
| tn the last moscl the wolves at were Goi q.
He grew accustomed to his wreith he'd and re-
voltirg food, and to every hardship Of his for
lorn stuation-excert the solitude of it. I he
unutterable oppression of his Ow., ] nel.ness
hung upon his mind. heavier and heavier
weight with each succeeding day. A Savage
shy ness at the idea of meeting with any living
human creatures began to take possession OF
! him. There were moments when he under
went the mcst fearful of all mortal trials--the
conscious struggle to keep control of his own
senses At such times, he sang. and whistled,
and extended his walks to tho utmost limits
that his strength would allow and so, by ain
force. as it were, held his own tottering reason
still in its lace.
1hus, the woful 'time-the dreary, lonely,
hopeless hours-wore on till he had cut the
sixteenth notch in the tent-pole. This Was a
memorable day in the history of the Crusoe OF
The snowy desert.
lie had walked out to the top of the little
hill to watch the suns WAY downward in the
wntry western heaven, and he was YEARLY
looking about him, as usual, vixen he saw two
human figures, specks as yet in the Instance
approaching from the far North. The warn
ing OF the Delaware Indian came back to his
memory, and reminded him that those two men
were approaching from the district of the muir
! deruus Pawnecs.
!. A moments consideration decided him to
await the coming of these strangers in place
of ambush which commanded view OF; his