Knoxville journal. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1874-1986, 1875-03-25
rembled and pair of sharp eyes looked

trembled and pair of sharp eyes looked
Only wolf, laughed Eben. Don't
De troubled: he's too wise to come in /;
he's afraid of the fire."
oh, but you'H have to go out after
wood to keep the fire alivel Oh, Ebenl
If 1t hadn't been for men
| Never fear, the pine knot will keep
him at respectful distance; and if that
tails, why, here's NV pistol. 7 never
travel to Faring without it,"
never regarded a pistol as bless
ing before" said 1.
But oh, what night il wasl Icouldn't
think OF anything but DR.. Kane in the
arctic regions. Though our wood fire
snapped briskly, and Eben heated rock
TO put at my feet, and the buffalo-robes
| were warm as wool, yet there was a
dreadful sense of isolation and danger
| out there in the woods, with the wind
roaring through the trees like thing
possessed, and boughs cracking, and
sometimes the howl Of wolf making
| ones heart stand still for an instant
Perhaps you don'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 halEhewn
logs, and 1t has a 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 modern convenience, and
| there were knot-holes in the shutters and
| the door had no fastening, and sometimes
| the wind blew ii wide open and gave one
| a glimpse of the black, frosty night out
side, with now and then the CLINT of
star on the ragged edge of a cloud, and
the fir trees standing out darkly and TAX
ing all manner of shapes.
1t seemed to me that Eben was 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 oft the door, and it
was so cold ii froze the tears on my eye
lids. Sometimes Eben would presume
| to lake my hand In his, to make sure
| was warm, and tuck the wraps about me
| more snugly; and he tried to distract
my mind by telling me stories of the
| wood-choppers and life on boom of
logs; and once or twice he tried To sing,
| and he whistled like all the birds Ia the
forest, just TO seem cheerful; and at last
fell into doze, and walked, shivering,
with start, to find the gray dawn creep.
| ing in through the chinks and knot-holes,
and To hear strange voice outside call
igg, Good morning to you, sir. Gee,
Bright! How's this for cold snap, eh?"
IL was teamster, toiling up from the
mill village to haul logs; and so soon as
he knew our strait he turned about,
| took out his oxen, and put them up In
| the hovei, harnessed old Lightning into
his team, and drove us into Faring more
dead than alive.
"A pretty cold snap" echoed the land
lord of the Sunbeam Tavern, az we en-
tered; "a pretty cold snap, take IL.
Halloal what's the matter~
Eben had slipped from his seat upon
the floor in dead faint You may ruess
! was pretty well frightened, as ! de.
served to be.
"lt's all my fsult-all my faultr'
cried, forgetting the by-standers and the
strange doctors.
PHYS sakcw said the landlady, ais
the cold snap your faultr are YOU to
blame for the weather, missg I'm afraid
the cold has drove you out of your poor
head. You'd better have something hot,
dear"
But you know how IL was. My ears
were a trifie frost bitten, and they had TO
amputate Eben's foot, and all because
had. been vain and headstrong about GO
ing home, and had refused TO speak the
truth down in the maple grove, and &C
cept backwoodsman and a farmer for
my lover.
OF course l married Eben, but didn't
| deserve 70; and as for him, he says that
the cold snap insured him his greatest
blessing Baaar.