Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1878-10-04


The warmth, and love, and bliss,
The meaning Of that kiss.
When kingdoms stood between did he remember
All who eau say for him? For her we know
The kings kiss was her crown.
For her We know No agony o. woe,
o other smile or frown,
Could make her heart forswear
That summer morning there.
Beneath the forest trees Of Fontainbleau.
Periis of the Prairie.
HOW BRITISH OFFICER WAS LOST on TIL
MANITOBA PLAINS.
winnepsg Manitoba Ter, Correspondence Chica g
Times.
There WAS found upon the plains in the
early spring the body of man who has beer
missing since February last. This unfortu
nate person was an officer of the company
and had started in the depth of winter, along
with four others, to visit q distant post.
Their means of conveyance were horse-sleds
instead of the ordinary vehicles of the coun-
try-snow shoes and dog-sledges. The gen.
tleman WAS first-class traveller, and accus-
toned from boyhood to such work. He knew
the country well, and for man of his strong
constitution, the severity of the winters cold
had, too, few terrors. At the crossing OF the
White Mud river he volunteered, as the party
with which he travelled had run short of pro-
visions, and their sleds, in consequence of
the deep snow, travelled heavily, to push for
ward alone, with the intention of sending
back assistance TO the fort. He followed the
track correctly until nightfall, when he lost
his way. probably in an attempt to find a
a shorter route. The following morning he
resumed his journey, but in the wrong direc-
ton, and, after another night spent on the
plain,
RUNNING ABOUT N CIRCLE
to preserve warmth, the third days travel
1 H., ,f tla fA,t o,,l
aud very far distant from the track. Here
hope seems to have deserted him, and after
having hung a portion of his clothing en-
tree to attract the attention of any rasserby,
he lay down and was frozen TO death. When
his dead body was recovered he lay with one
hand on his heart, the other CONTAINING
compass.
The half breeds who found his body read
by his trucks in the snow the whole history
OF this fierce fight for life it with the
same ease that you read the account from the
page before you, There Was not footprint
or mark anywhere hut formed link in the
chain of evidence. They knew from the va
ried hardness of the snow about the mans
tracks Just how long before they had been
made from the length of the stride, when
he was walking deliberately and when ex-
citedly, and adduced therefrom the state of
mind he was in at the time. They knew he
had not taken proper precautlon to sustain
his failing strength, because the leather OF
his mittens and moccGsin toes, which he
might have eaten, was untouched. 1t was
easily comprehended by these experienced
plain dwellers, too, that the poor victim, on
realizing himself as lost, must have grown
so excited as to
LOSE HIS PRESENCE OF MIND,
or he would have known his necessary gene.
raj position with reference to the river, and
have acted otherwise than he did With his
practical knowledge of the use Of q compass
and of the country over which he travelled,
he could have brought himself to any point
he chose. But the dread terror OF being
lost deprived him of reason i'll three days.
The time required to produce this effect
varies with different mental constitutions.
| recall travelling across the prairies some
years since with highly educated German,
but of extremely delicate physical organiza-
ton and unaccustomed TO prairie travel. We
journeyed by doG-sledge, and usually turn
ed some distance off the main track into the
timber to camp. After dinner one day, be-
fore the dogs were harnessed to the sledges.
the German, saving he would walk ahead a
short distance, started off alone. When he
reached the main track. however. instead of
going ahead, he unwittingly took the back
track Having fingered some time about the |
camp fire before starting, | journeyed on for |
somewhat over an hour before deciding de- |
finltely that my companion had taken the !
wrong direction. | at once ordered the |
drivers to face about. After nearly two hours |
travel We espied our man at Il distance of |
halt a mile from the road, in the deep snow.
standing still He made no effort TO ap-
proach US when motioned to do so. Not |
wishing to run the dogs into the deep snow. |
| remained on the trail with them, while one |
of the drivers went after him on snOw-shoes. |
He returned leading the unfortunate man by |
the hand,
IN A BEwILDERED WAY,
and saw at once from the vacant express
sion of his face that his intellect was shaken.
The experienced drivers shook their heads |
knowingly, with the remark that he would |
come around all right after time. 1t was |
not until late next day. however, that he re-
covered the use of his faculties sufficiently to |
give any description of what had befAllen |
hin. He said that on realizing that he was |
lost, he had suffered hibernate paroxysms of |
terror and despair, until at last reason left |
him and he recollected no more.
Another incident. which occurred during |
the summer buffalo hunts, may serve 10 il |
lustrate more thoroughly the intensity of the |
terror which overtakes the lost. We had in |
our party a very intelligent yonng English
u
but totally ignorant of plain life. He was
warned repeatedly, and perhaps unduly, of
the danger of becoming separated from the
party. During the progress of the chase,
however, be wandered of by some means,
and was unable TO find his way back. This
continued for two hours only. When We
found him again he ran from us like deer,
and it was only after an exciting chase on
horseback that We succeeded IN catching
him. He was clean DAFT and strangest OF
all, his hair. before brown black, was bleach
ed to an iron-gray.
In winter the dangers of the prairie deep
en- and become manifold. The deep SHOWS
obliterate all landmarks. To the plain dwell
er however, all the myriad features of the
prairie are but so many guide-boards point
ing out his destination He who runs may
read He has the sun by day, the moon and
the stars by night. The turning OF a blade
OF grass points him east or west the bark
of every tree north and south ; the birds OF
the air forecast the weather for him the
minutest trail or tack is visible to him. He
sees a ,wig broken, and it tells the story Of a
passing animal an upturned pebble on the
beach tells the hour when the animal drunk.
lie will distinguish the trail Of u wagon on
the prairie years after it has passed the
grass, he says. never grows the same. There
Is not a sign Of the restless wind that is un-
intelligible to him. He will take straight
course in one direction over the plains where
no landmarks can be seen, on days when the
sun is not visible, nor breath OF air stir
ring. The half-breed or Indian never gets
lost If he be caught in storm upon the
plain, his escape becomes simply question
of physical endurance. Of 4 lower order of
culture and of n solitary habit he is scarce
ly susceptible to the mental torture that pros
trates white man. As an illustration OF
this fact, let me tell you
THE STORY OF HALF-BREED.
This hybrid individual was by occupation
q voyageur in summer and trapper and
hunter in the winter season. HIS mental
calibre very ordinary. being unable to
read or write, and his habit apatnetic living
much alone Some of his ponies having
strayed off upon the prairie during the WIN
ter months, he went in quest of them. The
prairie the Iative heath to him, which he
had trod from infancy with the same assur-
ance that ordinary mortals walk the pave
ment He had no fear of being lost ; every
depression in the snow-clad earth, every
stunted shrub was landmark TO guide him
on mis- way. Yet, after an absence of half
day, a storm arose which obscured the land
scape. and, despite his prairie craft, he found
himself lost He accepted the situation, and
knowing that any efforts to eKtricate himself
until after the subsistence of the storm would
only prove fruitess, set about making pre-
paration for his safety from freezing. lie
attached himself to a clump Of cottonwood
trees landmark, and walked in circle
about it. Night came on and still he walked.
Day followed, and night again found him
still walking and the storm unabated. At
length his moccRsins wore off his feet lie
took the long 'militaires' from his hands
and tied them on in lieu of shoes Then he
walked on through the third, fourth and
fifth days and nights, supporting life by
chewing his leather hunting shirt. The sixth
morning found his feet frozen, and striking
the beaten path like bits of wood his hands
were IN a like condition, and his face but
little better. During that day, however, some
wandering Indians discovered him in an ap-
dying condition. They took him to
a neighboring fort. and after a surgeon had
bereft him of portions OF both hands and
feet, and taken piece from his face, he got
we'll