The Idaho world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1864-1918, 1873-08-14
IT 9dApezS NLER.

OOgS anu .SuOG uA0 0Au wy HuASe~oo
litdacsbinadn the void. /! Brown man,
sailors mostly, with earrings in their
ears, and their shirt-bosoms open; clan
nish people, silent and respectful. Then
there were other companies below, not
unlike our owhAa hundred men or
more on this little mountain stream.
Trees above us in eternal green, chap
arral along the fierce. and steep old
mapntainside; that pitched almost per-
pendicularly on each side Of the stream
upon us,efrom which whistled the par
fridge through the day and called the
gray coyote at night. No other sounds
than these, but the. rafting. Of the
stohes:i6 lie c1ttdh Oh the toni and the
pick and shovel on the rocks. No doc
tors, no law, no lawyers, no thieves.
Forty miles, the nearest trading post.
All things were brought from there
across . wall Of everlasting snow, upon
our backs-bread, and bacon, and
beans, aud bacon and bread, the whole
year Nhtoukh.f; At last the dreaded
scufvy came. Men suddenly y, fell III,
lost the use of their limbs; fell helpless
on our hands. No help; nothing would
do them good but change of place and
change Of diet. We could not carry
them out across the snow. This was
dreadful. You could not have seen
these strong, brave men stricken there,
dying day by day, without hope, and
been silent. Sad! fearful!
There were six of them, and the
worst case in the six was that Of the
man with the leather nose all brought
together, all lying looking helplessly,
sadly into each others faces, thinking
of other faces, other scenes in other
lands. At last an old sailor suggested,
as last resort, remedy. He had
seen ships crew saved in some land
: in the tropics. We would try that.
It was to place the men, stripped nude
as nature, up to the chin in the earth
and1leave them there through the night;
till the loose and warm rich soil should
draw the poison from their bodies.
There was reason in this Besides,
we had some evidence that it would
save our men, for once when party
Of Indians attacked us we won the
fight, and, following them little way,
we found a wounded Indian buried up
to the eyes in the earth They had
done this in the hope of saving him. to
try and heal his wound; and they are
good physicians. nA.n r .e~
We dug six pits in the shadow of
pine, in the warm, alluvial soil, and
th&e ssstM san vent down, we stood
th Ehanp 10 &c chin, and filed the
It was lovely moonlight night,
balmy and peaceful as paradise. Not
a,soAld save the doleful howl of a wolf
ii the crags above was to be heard.
Even in this condition the grim Russian
was the center of interest. But he was
as sileptas helpless. His head inclined
ID one side and rested on the loose,
warm soil beside him. His hand was
half hidden in the earth.
Oregon Jake was there, assisting as
well as he might, in his awkward and
loose way, in the singular experiment
; and effort to save the lives of the stricken
fBH he was not gifted with any gray,
ity II bearing; and the'grotesque pic
ture before him, with all it's sadness,
had its comical feature.
He went up to Ginger and began to
taRs is,he looked now and then at the
Russian over his shoulder. He half
laughed as he did so.
The buried man heard him, lifted his
head with an effort, and cried out in a
ghostly, graveyard voice:
"khock him down, Ginger; knock
him down. i1asg bis .fsaY,x
Ginget, true to his helpless friend,
Knocked him down on the spot. fs1
Again the feeble head of the helpless
man set4sd oyer The soft soil. He
closed his eyes with the most perfect
satisfaction and then smiled till his
1hfte teeth looked likanlie entire roof
to miniature cemetery.
AftSfj1VhQ0- tie tired miners began
to retire, and, with a silent prayer for
the success Of; the experiment, leftit to
time. The. ipyalids were cheerful and
now with little hope chatted gayly
etspgb togethet, bat lAokedsrange be-
yond description-the six shaggy heads
Just bursting through the earth, like