New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1879-02-05

u Il
powder horn, Mr.. Van Dyke came IN
and handed her 9 letter, saying: 4.
9 This was in the office tor you, and
I Thought Iwould bring it along over.
at Twas coming. Don't want to sell
your furs this morning, chr 81.
81 am obliged to you, Mr.. Van Dyke,
for bringing the letter, but you cant
have any Of my furs. >
Well, you might let me. have that
black fox, anyhow, as personal favor.
/ want to send it to my brother. I've
taken fancy to it. 1t amt worth
more than five dollars, but i II give you
ten. y
Polly had captured q black or silver
gray fox few days before, the only
one she had ever seen, for it is very
rare indeed that such a fox is taken so
far south. She had no idea of its val
ne, but ten dollars seemed to her a
large price, and she was at first inclined
to yield; but, remembering she was
dealing with q scoundrel, she said,
Mr. Van Dyke, I believe that l told
you that you couldn't have any Of my
peltries.' .
Well, Miss Strader, you'll be sorry
some day that you didn't oblige me-"
he said, as he left the door.
Then Polly opened the letter; all her
hopes were dashed to the ground. 1t
was from Harry. He was very i'll at
st. Paul, and begged Polly to come to
him, otherwise he thought he would
die.
WE'LL" said Polly, .'if we must
give up all hopes of buying the farm,
or even forty acres, I suppose veil
have to. It'll take agood part Of what
l have to get Harry home. and it, II
take more than a week to go and come,
and New Year isn't far off. Every
piece is precious. But we must save
Harry's life, for the poor fellow will
get well if we once get him home"
And so, without regarding her moth
er's warning that there was storm
brewing, she started out in her canoe
to go down the lake to get team with
which to 60 for Harry. Her own was
an OK team, and to go in the stage was
costly; and beside Harry couldn't
stand the day ard right riding in the
stage, for the distance was one hundred
and forty miles. She hired team for
a trip to st. Paul. She couldn't get it
till the Monday following, and so she
wrote q letter to Harry, telling him
that she was coming, and then started
to paddle around the shore and look at
her traps. When she had got to
place which she and Harry had called
Harbor, on the opposite side of the
lake, she found dead deer, partly
eaten by wolves, and knowing the
wolves would return after dark, she
set several traps for them. Then she
fastened back to her canoe, for it was
now late, and there could be no doubt
that the November storms, with which
the winter almost always begins in that
climate, were now at hand.
But before she could set foot in her
canoe the storm came, and in an in
slant the air was so filled with snow
that an object twenty feet away was in
visible. 1t took but a moment for
Polly to appreciate her situation. To
was out of the question. The wind was
coming up, and it would be alike i'm
possible to coast around the shore.
Beside, it was great distance, and ice
would begin to form before she could
get half way. There was no families
living on that side of the lake. Her
only course was to stay where she was.
Her spirit sank for a moment, but she
dashed away the tears that came up
from her desolate heart, and set about
making the best of it. She found
large log lying in the ravine. Drag
ging her canoe from the water she laid
it upside down parallel with the log,
about three feet away from it. She
then cut brush and laid across them, to
form roof. Creeping under the shell
ter, she was soon buried beneath two
feet of snow, and 50 felt sure of not
freezing. There is no better protection
from cold than snow.
II was a lonely place. She could
hear her heart beat. But when the
wolves commenced to gather for their
midnight repast, and when they set up
their frightened bowls, she could feel
the hair rise up on her head. She
would have been brave enough if she
could have fought with the wolves, but
to lie there and listen to their unearthly
yelling, not knowing how soon the
hungry pack would find her, was more
than she could endure. And then she
thought of poor Harry, and of the land
sale, and she wished for the skins of
the wild beasts that were so near her.
For though the wolf skin is of little or
no value for the ordinary purposes to
which furs are applied. it is in consid-
cradle demand for lap robes. And re-
membering that she was on the leeward
side Of the wolves, she dug away the
snow at one end of her burrow, and
looked out. Then, growing holder, she
crept to clump Of little bushes near
by, through which she could plainly see
them. For by this time it had ceased
showing, and the moon was shining,
though the wind blew.
She leveled the gun at them two or
three times before she could get .our-
age enough to fire. At the first sh OF
she killed one, and the pack scattered
a little; but the smell Of the fresh blood
of the dead wolf brought them back
again. Several times she fired with
like success; but one of the wolves, in
moving around, caught sight Of her.
When wolf sees any living object he
Immediately endeavors to get to the
leeward of it, in order to tell by the
scent what it is. A wolf depends on
his nose in such matters, and not alto
gcther upon his eyes. This one, when
he caught sight of Polly, commenced
to make a circle in order to get where
his nose would inform him what kind
of an animal she was. Crowding the
ball down quickly, she fired lust in
time to keep the wolf from finding her
out and calling The rest Of the pack with
his howl. The wolf rolled over in the
snow.
Another one came near running right
on her, but she fired in time to save
herself. But this last fri.-ht alarmed
her SO that she cid not fire again until
she had climbed a tree. From, this
point she kept up a fire on them till