The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1880-04-01

your Ill6. LOU Iutis escape. 1Ou VIII
burn if you stay Then with smile,
The mare is mine. She is the fastest
animal in the valley Of the Yellowstone.
| give her to you She left me and
quickly resumed her work. As she woye
the hair OF many Crow scalplocks into
the shirt, sat looking thankfully at her.
She never looked at me again. As | saw
a chance for my life, my heart beat so
loudly that I thought it would be heard.
[ calmed my face and waited. l ate
fairly Of supper. | smoked a pipe. All
were very kind and attentive to me.
Night was passing away. and still the In
dians fingered, looking at the man they
were 70 burn on the morrow. l leaned
back against the tent to rest myself,
when felt a hand gently pushing me
forward. Sitting whistliHg, l felt the
! point of a knife come through and strike
my neck. | did not finch; / could feel
the blood trickle down my back; could
feel the knife carefully drawn down until
it hit the ground. Still whistling, I
waited, my heart humping, my blood on
fire-waited minute to give whoever
cut the tent time to escape. Then grasp
ing my heart and nerves for an instant, I
gathered myself, and turned backward
through the opening. Instantly jumping
| to my feet, [ vaulted into the saddle that
was on the back of white horse that
stood there, and, in the midst of yells,
rife shots, of a pack Of howling dogs, we
rushed out OF the camp. 1t seemed to
me as though thousand horsemen were
in pursuit of me instantly. We galloped
up the river to bend l had seen. Dash
ing in, we forded it under fire that
made the water boil around US, and were
out Of water and on the level land to the
north OF the river before any of the Sioux
were half way across. Striking the trail
of the Bozeman Pass, [ took it, and,
knowing it, pushed boldly on, and,
though hotly pursued, my horse outlasted
theirs, and I escaped. [ never drew
rein until / dismounted to the west of
the Pass. The girl saved me. With
any other horse [ should have been re-
captured AMI burned. ! have not got the
girl. The love I got for her the mare
has instead. I returned to my post, and
made no trade in the Yellowstone that
year.
"Again. Last winter the snow was on
the ground in January, and for three
days ] had been hunting or running an
telope. The sun was very bright, and
my eyes hurt me- L saw specks floating
about. Little chains with snail links
were constantly before me. 1iy eyes
burned smartly when I returned to the
agency. Daily while hunting had seen
the low black clouds in the north that
Indicate the formation or marshalling of
the winds of the frozen north. Daily
the south wind swept them beyond the
northern horizon, but the next morning
found them looming portentiously in the
northern sky. On my return to the
agency ! found a runner had just got in
from Belly River, in British America,
with important news for Inc. It was
necessary that should go up at once. I
started the next morning. My eyes hurt
drcadfully.
81 always go to the Belly River when
the snow is on the ground, by the way
OF the Sweet Grass Hills, and there [
camp one night. One side Of the hills is
| always bare of snow, and there is spring
Of good water on the northern side of the
| hill. \ strong south wind was blowing
when [ started, but by noon I saw the
clouds to the north suddenly rise up. l
knew that the marshalling of the north
winds was completed, and they were
! eager for an assault on the soft south
wind. On came the black cloud. The
south wind still blew fercely, bat it could
! not stem the assault from the arctic re-
gion. Birds flew south before the storm.
antelope and deer were running for
! shelter. I had reached my camping
ground, and stood looking far off to the
north, seeing the landmarks disappear
one by one as the head of the blizzard
reached them and shrouded them in its
! icy breath. 4 calm. Then with mighty
rush and a loud noise the head of the
blizzard swept past me. The air was
| filed with particles of ice that cut through
almost horizontally, and seemed rs if
they would never fall. Colder, ever cold
er, grew the wind, and denser the air as
the ice particles thickened. [ sought
shelter in the rocks. Buckling the cloth
ing on the mare | turned her loose,
knowing that she would not leave ne.
Then l lay down on my blankets, and.
wrapping my beaver cloak around me, [
tried to sleep. / began thinking. and
could not sleep. The buffalo had not
come south that winter; and the wolves
were gaunt and hungry. As they follow
a horseman over the plains in the sum-
mer, so they do in winter, only more of
them-and those great, gaunt famine
breeders, the gray and black ones, 90 in
largely increased numbers. I bad had a
pack of them at my heels all day, and
now they cropped up in my thoughts.
"Finally I slept. When I awoke it vas
dark. Holding up my naked hand, / felt
the icy sweat of the blizzard strike
sharply against it. The roar of the Wind
/ still continued. | could not go TO sleep
again, and | lay waiting for dawn. ]
waited, it seemed TO me, for hours. when
1 suddenly felt my mare paw my breast.
/ spoke kindly to her, saying she had
made mistake. Soon she paved me
again, aud l arose to find that all was
dark. that I could not see the white mare,