St. Landry democrat., 1885-06-06

noble son of the noble red man, my
friend the maybe has not improved by
civilization
Half an hours further climbing
brought me to the sacque which l had
been told to look for. 1t was hanging
by the trail from twig on which it had
caught, and not being inflated or other
wise distended, I did not mistake it Tor
monster wasp peculiar to the Rocky
Mountains.
Being now near the regions OF per
petual snow, the tropical summer which
/ had left four hours before was ex-
changed for arctic breezes. The mer-
curry had dropped from the nineties to
the near neighborhood Of the freezing
point. Through ignorance, or thought
1essness, I had set out in the morning
with no wrappings whatever, and only
nv summer walking suit-knicker-
bockers and thin coat. That sacque
silk, satin, plush or velvet, never
knew which-seemed a godsend: l
proceeded to insert thirty-elEgght-ln
chest in the dainty affair. Only those
ladies whom nature made larger than
| fashion S standard, and who must hence
wear 'close- fitting" corsets, can under
stand how the feat was accomplished.
I confess it is incomprehenslble to me,
but suppose the alternative of freezing
to death did the work. The strength OF
the material and the merit of the artist
who fashioned it are attested by the
fact that the cloth was without rent,
and there were only twenty-five COM
paratiEely small rips in the seams when
| / returned it to the fair owner on the
morrow. Of course I explained salts
factorily to the unsophisticated daring
that had found cinnamon bear dane
ing can-can in her garment, and only
succeeded in killing the bear and rescu-
ing the sacque after har-breadth
escape from being Rugged to death.
had now passed the timber line.
Fancy conical pile of exaggerated
brickbats ten miles in circumference at
the base and three miles from base to
summit, and you have an idea Of Pike S
Peak above the timber line. My
| strength was we'll nigh exhausted.
Thinking to climb Pixies Peak at the
rate of three miles per hour, my slow
rate of walking sin terra plana, l had
reckoned without my host It was nine
o'clock. There were still about two
miles to overcome before reaching the
summit. I seemed to be almost among
the stars. The wind was becoming
stronger and stronger, colder and cold
er. Clouds were gathering and WhIrl-
ing about in disorder around me. In
that rarifed atmosphere breathing was
difficult After every seyenty-fYe or
one hundred steps of progress I would
fall exhausted and out of breath, prone
in the narrow wet trail, lying there for
several minutes before gaining strength
for another effort. About ten o'clock
dense cloud wrapped me in its cold,
clammy embrace, rendering it so dark
that I lost the poor indistinct trail and
stumbled helpleSsly around over chaotic
heaps of rock, hopeless of reaching
| shelter.
/ was between two immense beds of
snow which had lain there perhaps for
ages. The temperature must have been
about zero. Yet I was worn out and
felt that I must sleep. Even had been
physically able to walk about for
warmth there was no ground for walk
ing nothing but powders, more or less
crushed and broken, thrown against
each other by power now unknown.
| The situation was desperate. / lay
down behind one boWlder after another
in the vain attempt to hide from that
searching wind, which came from every
/ where at once. slept, but not long.
After few seconds doze | would be
reused by the intense cold, which
brought not welcome numbnesss but
keen sabre thrusts of pain. Through
that dreadful night slept altogether
not more than half. an hour. The cold
exposure and rarified air caused sick
ness at the stomach and retchings that
were Intellectual from sheer weakness
| 1t was fearful experience. Sometimes
[ could hear the football of some proWl-
ing animal near by. Now there was a
| whine of q young puppy issuing from a
cavity Immediately under where lay.
/ crawled barely six feet further along
the side of the boWlder and lay down
again, too weary to move further; only
doing off to sleep again with pistol in
hand, ready to sell my life dearly il
need be. The night wore away.
At four o'clock, after six hours of as
complete misery as ever comes to pun
ish mans imprudence and teach him
wisdom, with the beginning of light /
was able TO find the trail and slowly
work my way up the remaining half
mile of the ascent to the summit.
Knocking at the door of the signal
station and watching the sun rising in
wonderful grandeur, found myself
obliged simultaneously to indulge in a
hearty vomiting. Of course the sub.
Unity of the sunrise was lessened for
me, and was much mortified at pre-
senting myself at a strangers door in
| r,1nh ,nlinrhf The sinnnl nHHnnr hour.