Western appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1885-18??, 1888-02-04

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 We had no
antidote of any sort, and one after
another went to bed to suffer the
most agonizing pains and to lose con-
seriousness. Big Ben was the hardest
hit of all, while I, perhaps, suffered the
least That is, while all the others
raved and shouted and lost their senses,
| was all the time dimly conscious of
every thing going on. The blizzard
was still raging, and the thermometer
was marking a still lower degree when
the door opened and Charley walked
in. saw him, but was flighty, and
it seemed to me that he was dead. I
remember his looking down upon each
of us in a strange, scared way, and
starting to retreat when one of the men
shouted a louder curse.
| was the first to come back to life,
as it were, and that was twenty-four
hours after being first taken. The
pains we're gone as opened my eyes,
but / was weak and wretched, like one
just over a terrible fever. The boy
Charley was standing before me as
opened my eyes, and he bent down and
whispered:
You have all been terribly sick, and
I think one man is dead. Can you eat
something?"
1 did feel bit hungry, and l had
no sooner signified it then he cam: to
me with a bowl of broth. As after
ward learned, the storm had driven a
couple of hares to seek shelter at the
door. and he had secured both of them
He did not know the cause of our sick
ness, but suspected some calamity, and
was prepared to feed us as soon as we
could eat. 1t seemed that when Big
Ben drove him out he stumbled into
the ravine a quarter OF mile away.
and found shelter under ledge. How
he kept from freezing to death that
night heaven only knows. Indeed
heaven preserved him. It froze our
water pail solid when standing within
six feet OF the fire. and there he was,
out in the cold in q threadbare suit
When morning came he returned to the
cabin to make one more appeal He
found us suffering and out of our minds,
and the fire about gone out. Had it
not been for him we should have frozen
stiff rs pokers, for on that day it was
thirty-one degrees below zero all day
long, and it went down almost to forty
degrees when night came on.
The boy kept up a rousing fire,
dressed his rabbits for soup, and all
day and all night long he kept forcing
strong coffee down our throats. That
doubtless helped us to pull through,
or at least four of us. The other man,
whose name was Hale, had his teeth
6rmly clenched, and from the way his
features were distorted and his limbs
drawn up it was evident that h. died
in great agony. In a couple of hours /
was able to be up and assist Charley in
caring sor the others, but it was far
into night before the last man could
use his tongue in a sensible manner.
1t was Big Ben, and when conscious
ness returned and he saw the white
faced boy bending over him the great
tyrant whispered:
AYE! The corpse Of the lad has
~ fr,o ,f,.or II
was a cruel thing I did to drive hin,
out, and the Lord will never forgive
me for it!'
While out of danger we were yet
weak and almost helpless, and none OF
us could attend the fire or do bit OF
cooking for nearly a week. The whole
work devolved upon the boy, and NO
| one could have done better. He was
cook, nurse, doctor and protector, all
in one. He got three more hares and
a couple of birds, and don't believe a
spoonful OF the broth went down his
own throat.
Well, /, for one, had been watching
Big Ben to see what he would do.
The first moment he was able to sit ur
he called Charley and pulled the frail
little fellow down on his breast, saying:
IF you'll only forgive me I'll pray
to the Lord to do the same. I'm rough
and wicked. but to turn lad like you
out O. doors on such a night as that
wasn't me at ALL Old Satan must have
had possession of me- =
That great big fellow cried like a
child, and Charley cried with him, and
might as well own up that we all
cried. What made it more solemn was
the fact that we had corpse at the
door. When it was known that Hale
was dead, none of the other four of us
could lift hand. How the boy got
body out of doors never could under
stand, but get it out he did, and it was
three long months before we could give
it Christian burial.
| On the morning when we got out Of
bed feeling pretty strong again, Char.
ley went to bed with fever. and be.
fore noon was raving crazy. tell you
it was awful to hear him cry out every
few minutes in his delirium:
20, Ben. don't drive me out. I'll
] work. I'll work as hard IS can't