Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1885-04-16


Tim; give 'em my love if you ever get
home l didn't say anything like that;
was dazed-like. and. besides. hadn' {
been sick. and l supposed felt little
stronger"
'Gust number two struck US before
we were fairly over the first one. The
cart swayed and toppled. and we both
jumped down and cut the horses loose,
just as the cart fell over, and went to
smash. and everything in it blew out of
sight quicker'n wink. The horses
i gallOped off before the wind. snortin'
and kickin. and l never saw 'em again.
1--WE sorter lay down on the snow and
caught hold of each other. but the next
whirl that came separated us. and poor
Lem was gone. the first knew. sup
pose he was killed. for he has never
been seen or heard of from that day. l
don't know why l wasn't carried off
the same way. l tell you that wind
was ing--well-awful. There
isn't any word 1 know, though, that
begins to express it,
NO. put in Mrs. Hardaway, at this
point. as though she had spoken with
out meaning it. in her absorption in
Tins narrative. mo, it's worse than
awful. rbe been there; know how it
| isl
Tins countenance lighted up. and a
noticeable increase of respect for his
auditors. 1t seemed at least to be
brought down to the level of probability
by Mrs. Hardaway's impulsive words.
''Yes, it is worse than awful" went
on Tim. after a moment, land it had a
| GOODNESS in it that seemed somehow to
take the heart right out of me. Maybe
some of you have felt good strong
earthquake shock, and you know how
sorter weakly that makes you feel.
| Well. this gave me Just such feeling
as I've had in earthquakes; and this
just didn't let up in little while, as the
first two did, it just kept right on a
whirlin' and BLOWN. as if it wasn't
ever goin' to let up. 1t blew ME over the
| snow like feather. but. as luck would
have it, it didn't take me up in the air
| as I've heard it does take men some
times; lodged against an uncommon
high pile of snow, and there lay, nearly
frozen to death. Twas havin' regular
hand-tO-hand fight with the storm.
| when all of a sudden the cloud of snow
that was over me sorter tore in two.
and [ could see house, or a part of
one. half tipped over. and not dozen
rods away from me. l knew in a minute
that it must be the little house that Lem
and had seen of on the skyline"
'O-h-h!'' cried ''Skep'' Thompson.
LES see! that house was six miles of
at last accounts"
Il don't care!' insisted Tim, stoutly.
''When that snow-cloud sorter broke /
could have thrown Il stone, if I'd had
one, and hit that house, weak as l was.
1t was seem that that reused me up. 1t
really seemed to give me courage, and
| crept along toward it on all tours.
Such hash as there was! There were
pieces of pigsty and hen-coop; and,
as true as live. if there wasn't part of
a baby's cradle!
Lord thinks /, where's the
baby? Can it be that father and
mother and children have all been
killed?
Il managed to get up alongside of
the hen-coop, and there l had to stop.
1t seemed as if l lay there an hour.
though likely it wasn't ha'f as long as
that. My ears were full of a ringin'.
and my eye-balls, and all of me, for that
matter. ached so with the cold that |
felt as though would rather die than
not-when. all of sudden, as was a
lynn, stupid-like. side of the hen-coop.
the wind stilled down little, and
heard noise of cryin'. Then the wind
come up again, and then there was an
other hush, and then come up that little,
wailin', baby's cry again. 1t was a
baby's cry, and no mistake, and it did
seem to me, even if Uas all used up.
as if couldn't let little baby die out
in that cold without trying to save it.
So just gathered up all my strength.
and tried to make for the noise. Two
or three times keeled over with my
eyes and ears and nose full of snow,
though had been tied up and bundled
up fit to kill when we started out; but.
at last. after I'd felt and felt around in
the blindin' storm and darkness, found
her. She was a little thing, couldn't
have been more than six months old,
and her little dress was damned in
under the side of the house. 1t was a
miracle she hadn't been damned in
there, too, but bein' so close under the
edge was all that had saved her. for
the house was stuck in SO tight it
couldn't move, and it Sorter protected
her from the storm. q, she was a
white. pretty little thing!-not scrap
of hood or anything on her head, her
little thin dress a-freezin' on her, and
her little baby hair all stiff with ice.
She was most gone. l could see that.
but managed to undo my fur coat, and
tear her dress out from under the house.
and then l Rugged her up and covered
her as close as | could with the coat.
o. but she was pleased! She snuggled
down. that little thing! tight up to me.
and sighed long. sobbin' signs. and shut
up her pretty little eyes, as quiet and
contented-like rs if she was taking
nice little nap.
Then came the worst time of all. but
the piece OF the house that jutted over
Us stood firm. l don't know how long
this lasted. for it took my senses clear
away. There seemed to be noise in
my head like twenty locomotives all
lettin' off steam at once. and that was
the last knew. | reckon | never was