St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1888-03-03

had been gone half An hour before "
fully realized what his going meant
and then two of us went out with tn
lantern and searched and called TO
him. The snow was being whirle,
about in . furious manner, and IT,,
wind was rising to a gale. and the bit
ter cold drove us back after quartz
Of an hour. 1t was true that we hat
little enough to eat, and that we wcr,
cramped in our cabin. but the idea o
driving that pale-faced orphan boy ou
to freeze was something we could no
get over. 1t was just the thing needet
to set us up in rebellion against oul
boss. and that night we threw of tn,
yok. and gave it to Big Ben right ant
left. We had two or three rows be
fore bedtime. and all turned in sulky
and indignant.
Whew! But what a night that was
The cold increased until the rocks were
split. and the wind roared until oul
cabin threatened to topple over a,
every blast. At midnight Big Ben crepi
carefully out Of his bed and opened the
door. and then l almost forgave him
for his brutality. Conscience had been
at work. and his heart was touched.
He hoped to find the boy crouched on
the threshold. and I heard him sigh
and mutter to himself as he shut the
door and returned to his blankets. The
strongest man in our party. clad as we
were for the winter. could not have
stood against that blizzard halt an
hour. and l fell asleep to dream of find
ing poor Charlcy's frozen corpse on the
trail leading down 10 the Forks, and
of his big blue eyes being wide open
and staring at me in . reproachful
way.
For breakfast next morning we had
some canned meat-opened . new can
from our slim store. We thawed it out,
and all ate our full shares. and were
on the point of starting out to search
for the boy when one Of the men was
taken i'll. Inside of half an hour all of
us were down with pains and cramps.
and it was evident that we had been
poisoned by the meat Wc had no
antidote Of any sort, and one after
another went to bed to suffer the
most agonizing pains and to lose con-
sciousness. Big Ben was the hardest
hit of all. while ]. perhaps. suffered the
least That is. while all the others
rsved and shouted and lost their senses.
l was all the time dimly conscious of
every thing going on. The blizzard
was still raging. and the thermometer
was marking still lower degree when
the door opened and Charley walked
in. l saw him. but was flighty. and
It seemed to me that he was dead. /
his looking down upon each
Of us in strange, scared way. and
to retreat when one of the men
shouted q louder curse.
l was the first to come back to life,
IS it were. and that was twenty-four
hours after being first taken. The
pains we're gone rs l opened my eyes.
but l was weak and wre tched. like one
just over . terrible fever. The boy
Charley was standing before me as I
opened my eyes. and he bent down and
"You have all been terribly sick. and
think one man is dead. Can you eat
did feel 3 bit hungry. and I had
10 sooner signified it then he cam. to
ne with . bowl Of broth. As after
vard learned, the storm had driven .
couple of hares to seek shelter at the
loor. and he had secured both of them.
lie did not know the cause Of our sick
less. but suspected some calamity. and
vas prepared to feed rs Is soon a. We
ould eat. 1t seemed that when Big
Ben drove him out he stumbled into
he rsvine . quarter Of mile away.
md found shelter under a ledge. How
70 kept from freezing to death that
light heaven only knows. Indeed.
eaven preserved him. It froze our
7ater pail solid when standing within |
tx feet of the fire. and there he was.
ut in the cold in . threadbare suit
Vhen morning came he returned to the
abin to make one more appeal. He
,und us suffering and out Of our minds.
nd the fire about gone out Had it
OF been for him we should have frozen
tiff As pokers. for on that day it was
nirty-one degrees below zero all day
,ng. and it went down almost to forty
egrees when night came on.
The boy kept up . rousing fire,
ressed his rabbits for soup. and all
ay and all night long he kept forcing
,rong coffee down our throats. That
helped US to pull through.
r at least four Of us. The other man.
hose name was Hale. had his teeth
rmly clenched. and from the way his
.atures were distorted and his limbs
rawn up it was evident that h. died
! great agony. In couple OF hours
as able to be up and assist Charley in
sring for the others, but it was far
to night before the last man could
sc his tongue in . sensible manner.
was Big Ben. and when conscious
ess returned and he saw the white
'ced boy bending over him the great
rant whispered:
AYE! The corpse Of the lad has
sen up to confront and accuse me! It
IS . cruel thing I did to drive him
It and the Lord will never forgive
q for itr'
While out Of danger we were yet
eak and almost helpless. and none Of
, could attend the FIRE or do . bit Of
'oking for nearly . week. The whole
ork devolved upon the boy, and no