Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1886-07-09
WINONA'S FATE.
Little Coon, Her Aged Lover, Elk.
plodes a Fiction.

AAOoA OSoA1 AAoA AASOo 'o "a LA
plodes a Fiction.
Ii you have ever spent a winters
night lost and alone in the forest wilds
you can appreciate my feeling of de.
spair when | found myself weary, be-
wildered and storm-bound in the great
woods of Canada. 1t was twenty years
ago. to be sure, but the recollection oil
that night is IS vivid in my memory az
any event of yesterday.
had spent the day in the pursuit OF
game, and when night began to fall
gave up the chase with the purpose OF
going to the settlement. An hour OF
hard trudging through the snow still
found me among the whitened trees,
confused. lost. After fully awakening
to a realization of the situation, there
seemed to come a cold wave sweeping
through the great dismal forest, and
with the shudder of apprehension came
a chill that seemed to stiffen my limbs
and frost my face. The paroxysm of
tear lasted but a brief period, but the
intense cold could not be overcome by
mental action and the fact became for
chilly impressed that | must keep NOV
ing or perish.
t:lf i only knew which way to CO." 1
muttered to myself.
1 gazed up through the lea1ess,
crcaking branches of the tall trees to
see if the stars had appeared, but the
sky was overcast and not a twinkling
objec met the anxious gaze. Night
had fully come; there was no moon,
but the darkness was not intense. The
earth being mantled with feecy white
and the trees fringed with the same,
dark objects were visible for several
yards around. The tramp was re-
sumed with no idea as to direction or
what adventures lay in my path, Per-
haps | was going deeper and deeper
into the great woods and if not there
was but little hope of getting out that
night. Even the nearest point of
,cgIess in all probability was miles
away, and thus one wandering in the
night in a forest is liable to run a circle
instead of keeping to one point of the
compass. / have noticed that right
handed people usually Circle to the left
and vice versa, probably from the
greater muscular force Of n side
reaching a little ahead of the inferior,
when not kept straight by some object
i've point ahead.
Hunters usually carry the rifle at the
right side when in hand, on account of
its better position for quick use and
his also influences the physical force
of that side and inclines one to circle
to the left. For rest the rifle is carried
upon the left shoulder. but this does
not increase the muscular action of
that side, but diminishes it as the left
hand is at rest upon the butt of the gun
and the pendulum motion of the right
carries one around to the left. Having
this theory, l exercised my best iudg-
ment and by keeping objective points
ahead and bearing a trife to the left,
in imagination at least, believe I kept
very nearly a straight course.
What a night! The wind cut as if
filled with millions of fine needles, fly
ing points foremost, and now began
crusting so as to make walking more
laborious. l cast about me for some
spot which would afford shelter from
the bowling tempest, but only the
sturdy trees, studded in the great white
blanket, could be seen. l was weary
and chilled to the bone, but dared not
stop. Hour after hour slowly passed
and no halt had been made. MY watch
told me that half of the night had
passed, but could l survive the other
half? That was the question. I did,
OF course, but it seems to me now, as it
did then, that Providence guided my
weary steps to a safe rescue.
At the very moment when 1 was dis
cussing the possibility of enduring the
cold until dawn a strange object doomed
up before me. 1t was a wigwam made
of poles and closely covered with bark.
A single wigwam buried, it proved, in
the heart of the great Canada woods.
A cloud of smoke almost as white as
the snow issued from the top. Never
was mortal more gratifed. Going close
to the fur-closed doorway l cried out:
"Hello. there"
There was no response and l cried
out again. The skin moved and the
muzzle of a rifle appeared.
GA white hunter lost in the woods"
i said. getting out of the range of the
gun.
"White hunter" was repeated and a
lace appeared.
"White hunter, come in.'
A moment later / was out of the bit
ing frost and out of danger. l found
the only occupant of the forest lodge
to be . very aged Indian. His face
was wrinklcd, his form bent and the
light covering of hair upon his head as
white as the crystals that danced in the
winter wind outside. The old man
spoke English very clearly and seemed
glad l had come.
He revived the fire, wrapped a
blanket of wolf skins about my shout