Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1886-08-25
.ver. Suddenly 1 thought sometbip,

ever. Suddenly 1 thought somethin
mad broken the force of the wind fo
the moment, which could only be cause,
by some building or haystack. | i'm
I medlately led the team toward what
hoped was the haystack, and was de
lighted to find that soon ran full tilt III
against the very thing / was lookin'
for.
By dint of very great effort l managed
to unhitch the horses and let them rur
loose. l thought it was only fair t
give them their liberty and let them rur
home if they could find the way.
And now my main troubles arose.
found L could not pull out enough hay
10 make covering for myself, and my
ssalids were becoming so benumbed that
1 was hardly able TO do ANYTHING. By
| his time the darkness of night had sci
in and TO the other terrors was added
the certainty that / must soon succumt
10 the fatal drowsy feeling that was
4tealing over me. l wanted to get on
The lee side of the stack and lie down
out OF the wind and sleet. 1t was only
by 4 most determined effort that /
aroused myself and strove to think how
could save my life. Again the exI-
gency Of the danger seemed to sharpen
my wits and l saw that my sole chance
lay in setting fire to the stack and warm
ing myself by its flames.
My fingers were so numbed and pain
iul that l could with difficulty find my
matches. There were only few in the
box discovered, and the furious wind
made me more nervous than ever.
knew that | must set it afire from the
leeward side or the fire would not last
long, for if it had the wind TO fan it
there would be no chance of its continu-
ing till morning; so tried TO light il
from the sheltered side. / first of all
pulled out enough hay TO make a little
pie, and then carefully struck a match
by rubbing it on my trousers. Forum
ately the first one was enough, and /
soon was surrounded by a nice blaze.
The flames increased rapidly, and |
thought the whole stack would soon be
consumed; but luckily the snow that
had collected on the sides and the top
melted rs the fire approached them, and
in this way partly subdued the rapid
spread.
In about quarter of an hour l was
thoroughly warmed through and
through except my feet and hands.
These eNtremitieS | now knew were
frozen, but how much they were frozen
| was unable to tell. The heat thawed
the SHOW from the ground, and | was
able to stand ON the bare prairie sod.
After little rest i pulled lot of hay,
and placing it i'll a heap, sat down and
waited for the dawn. When look back
at it now it seems like hideous night
mare. Surely never was there a more
desolate position for human being,
ana surely the means TO save life were
justified. But ut the same time the
fact of setting another mans stack on
fire never struck me rs being unreason-
able.
! sat and watched the greedy flames
dat out and flare up with the most in
4 so iff.vr-st. My only hope'was that
the fire might not go out. Toward
the last vestige of hay was gone,
and nothing remained but the embers.
As last resource l was compelled to
STIR up the ashes and stand In the midst
of the last remains of the fire. was at
times almost choked by the fumes, as
they were swirled by the furious wind
into my face.
When daybreak came at last l looked
round in the gathering light, and
thought | saw shanty down the
slough" valley. As the light in-
creased / was able to see clearly, amid |
the falling snow, it was 4 house.
The farmer received me with every |
He would not listen to my |
offering to pay for the stack, but seemed |
delighted TO think that it had saved a
human life from a painful death. He |
lrove me home after breakfast, where
We found my horses lying before NV
;table door, both frozen to death.