The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1875-03-25

had rained blue devils all the way to
Faring. Oh, vas headstrong pieoe!
was set upon showing Eben that there
were attractions in Wateredge. ~
1t was showing lazily the morning we
started.
.Take plenty of wraps, children" i'm
plored Aunt Lakeland. II know you
will get blocked up by storm"
"Nonsense," said I. "This 10 only q
spit, and it's as mild as new cider"
And, true enough, it soas only only .
spit; it ceased showing altogether before
we had gotten five miles from Lakeland,
and when We were fifteen miles on our
journey old Lightning lost q shoe. We
had expected to reach Faring by five In
the afternoon at latest, and at noon we
stopped at q wayside farmhouse and
got dinner, and Eben tried to hire another
horse, for the road was rough, and pres
emily Lightning would be lame; but the
farmer had driven q span into Faring
that morning and wouldn't return till
the next day. So we logged on again.
Eben. however, knew Of place of the
high. road where he thought he'd be able
10 get our horse shod, but by the time it
was done it seemed almost dusk, and
when I got into the sleigh again the cold
out me like q knife. You know how
short the December afternoons are, and
it must have been growing colder and
colder every minute, only we hadn't
thou sht about it. People in the back
woods get used to it, only this was some
thing hadn't bargained for; and just as
was wishing myself back in Aunt Lack
lands snuggery Eben refined up and
said he must have taken the wrong turn.
It was pitch.dark by this time; we
couldn't have seen our horse il he hadn't
been black, or if the ground hadn't been
covered with snow, and the cold pinched
me at every pore. =.
"Oh, dear!'' l cried; chow much
trouble I've given you, Eben" And
what do YOU think he answered.?
"Nothing is trouble that do for you,
Lefty" -,-. .......,.. >.
1t was as good as q hot soap. stone, if
you'll pardon the comparison; it stirred
the blood 10 my fingers ends, till l was
all of a glow. Well, we got back upon
the highway, as we thought, but it
proved a mistake, and we turned to the
right, and we turned to the left, but Far
ing seemed 10 be playing hide-and-seek
with us.
This beats everything" said Eben.
II thought knew every inch of the road.
and every road in the country"
observation-disclosures differently
BY DAYLIGHT gasped' my teeth chatter
SYou are freezing to death, Lefty"
said he. "What blockhead l ami" and
lust then a shaft broke, and there we
were! Lost ON dreary country road, At
nine o'clock of bitter, staress night.
As luck would have it, we had come to
grief only few yards from log-hut,
which stood out darkly against the snow:
"The inmates must have gone to bed, y
said Eben, "but we will rouse Them"
and he knocked upon the rude door,
Which swung open at lis touch. we had
happened on a road made tor their own
convenience by the lumbermen, and the
hut was the remnant of last year 8
camp, deserted and comfortless as last
years nest.
1T is shelter, at least" said Eben.
&c will build fire, Lefty, and stop your
chattering, "And he built fire, Heaven
only knows how, with nothing but the
ma: ches he carried in his pocket to light
his steps; and he sat me down before
the grateful blaze swathed in the buffalo
robes; and q halfburned pine-knot
in the hut served him for lantern, while
he blanketed and led poor old Lightning
to the howell where the lumbermen had
housed their cattle and left an armtul OF
straw. and he made the bolt fast with a
piece OF wood.
Lefty" said he, "I'm afraid we shall
have to stay here till daylight. / think
we have taken some back-country
road which has led US away from
Earring; and the shaft is in splin-
tiers. and there's not an inch of rope or
ANYTHING about the premises, and was
too big a fool to bring anything OF the
kind. don't know where l am any
more than if I'd been born blind. l
don't know how became so bewildered.
We might ride a-pillion, perhaps, but
you'd freeze to death; here l can keep
YOU from perishing, at least"
..Oh. let US stay here; it is quite Gem
Portable in comparison" l said, and l
am afraid to 20 out again into the great
dark night. What a precious thing day
light isl Aren't you coming near the flre!
Aren't YOU cold, Eben? Oh! what's that?
Somebody's dog?" as the door of the hut
trembled and pair of sharp eyes looked
in. ..
"Only a WOLF" laughed Eben. Don't
be troubled: he's too wise to come IN ;
he's afraid of the fire"
ooh, but yoss'u have to 60 out after
wood to keep the fire alivel Oh, Eocn!
if it hadn't been for meP
"Never fear, the pine knot Will Keep
him at respectful distance; and II that
fails, why, here's my pistol. l never
travel to Faring without it."
"Inever regarded a pistol as a bless
ing before" said I.
But oh, what a night it was! 1couldnt
think OF anything but DR.. Kane in the
arctic regions. Though our wood nre
snapped briskly, and Eben heated rock
to put at my feet, and the buftalo-robes
were warm as wool, yet there was q
dreadful sense Of isolation and danger
out there in the woods, with the vino
roaring through the trees like a thing
possessed, and boughs cracking, ana
sometimes the howl of q wolf making
ones heart stand still for an instant.
Perhaps you dou't know what camp in
the woods is like? Well, in the first
place, there's no floor but the bare
ground, with spruce boughs laid over it
for carpeting; it is built of half-hewn
logs, and it has q window or two, with
wooden shutters, and there's hole in one
end OF the roof for the smoke to pass
through. Sometimes they build rough
chimney of stones; but this hut was
without that mod.rn convenience, and
there were knot holes in the shutters. aud
the door had no fastening, and sometimes
the wind blew it wide open and gave one
a glimpse of the black, frosty night out
side, with now and then the CLINT of q
star on the ragged edge of q cloud, and
the fir trees standing out darkly and TAX
ing all manner of shapes.
1t seemed to me that Ebenswas always
stirring about, gathering fire-wood, or
attending to my comfort in some way.
/ couldn't persuade him that there were
enough buffalo-robes for us both; and
once, while he was outside gathering
fuel, put my head out the door, and it
was so cold it froze the tears on my eye
lids. Sometimes Eben would presume
to take my hand In his, to make sure /
was warm, and tuck the wraps about me
more snugly; and he tried to distract