San Marcos free press. [volume] (San Marcos, Tex.) 1877-1892, 1878-03-02
A FRONTIER INCIDENT.

ter morning WITHIN oO miles OF home.
1t was beautiful winter weather, frosty
nights and sunny days, and the prairie
roads were as smooth and hard as a
pavement. His plan was to reach home
that night. 1t was a long stretch for
one days travel; but with good horse
he was sure he could make it, He was
the more anxious to get home because
the fine weather Of the'last three weeks
could not be expected to continue much
longer, and travel on the prairie IN a
winter Storm is neither pleasant nor
SAFE In the woods and among The
mountains one is sheltered by trees and
hills; button the prairie the wind sweeps
without obstruction for hundreds Of
miles; and a,..northwesternis a terrible
thing to be exposed to. orThere is no
hiding from it and no escaping it. 1t
seems to search all around a man, TAX
ing the heat from him and penetrating
cl0aks and blankets and wraps asif they
were paper, We frequently read 9f peo-
pie being frozen 70 death. in these prai-
RE storms, This is not because the cold
is 50 intense, but because the exposure Is
SO great. ,,i h,oo.., a, y, ,,,,, L,,
For this reason our friend was especi-
ally anxious to reach his home that day,
as there were signs of q change and 1t
might be his last fine day. The chief
ground Of anxiety was that an 'Indian
reservation lay between Him and his
home, Of about 80 miles extent. On
this there was neither house nor shell
ter. He rode moderately the first part
of the day, so as'not to weary his horse
at the outset; and, at noon he took a
good long rest andJgave his horse a
good dinner from small sack strapped
on behind his saddle He was now
within, the reservation. = There was
neither field nor fence nor human habi-
tation.,q A deserted cornfield now and
then, an abandoned hut, or half-hid-
den Indian trail and the half-blind road
on which he Travelled were all that gave
sign that human feet had ever trod
those solitudes before.j Nearly 80 miles
of just such country lay between him
and the settlement: The day was I'M
seasonably warm, not a cloud in the sky
and scarcely abreath of air in motion.
The unnatural warmth and almost op-
pressive stiffness of'the day were them
selves symptoms of a coming storm.
u After his horse was thoroughly re-
freshed, he put on the saddle andmount-
ed for his long ride. He rode on rapid
ly for a couple of hours, when he no.
ticed that the wind was rising and blow
ing from the north. 1t was soon so
chilly that he had to put on his over
coat; and it was not long before he was
compelled to unstrap his blankets and
wrap them about him. Still it grew
colder. The sky was soon overcast with
clouds, o few flakes of snow began to
fall. The wind grew fiercer and fiercer,
and the snow and sleet stung like shot
as it struck the face. Coats and shawls
and wrappings seemed like loose sheets
abont man. The snow grew more and
more dense, and was fast filling up the
trails and tracks and making all the
prairie look alike Our friend pressed
on as fast as his horse could go. It was
impossible to distinguish the road, and
the only guide was the direction of the
wind. The poor horse was becoming
bewildered, and could make but slow
progress through the snow and tall
prairie grass. The snow was drifting
so that every thing was filled up level;
and every now and then they
would plunge into some hole or
gully, and horse and rider. were
almost buried. IL was growing dusk,
the thick clouds and the drifting snow
bringing on night even before its time.
1t seemed madness to attempt to get
through. It could not be less than ten
miles to the nearest house, and there
were ten chances to one that he would
miss the way. To stay out on the prairie
was to freeze to death. Ascending one
of the prairie swells, he saw, some two
miles to the right, strip of wood, which
skirted stream. To reach this and
trust to its shelter seemed to be the only
hope. But even this was no easy nat
ter. From the high ground where he
was he could but just see the tops of the
trees: and when he descended he
would lose sight of it all, and
see it no more till he reached
it. There was not the sign of