Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1888-02-29

got myself some supper, wound up the
clock, and sat down for smoke and
think The hermit had two pipes and
large stock of tobacco, and lonely as was
my situation feeling of gratitude to God
for the comforts at hand was uppermost
in my mind Twas now perfectly satisfied
! that was buried deep under the snow,
and that my rescue would be q matter OF
weeks, The first move was to write out
statement Of the accident, and this l
placed where it would be preserved and
found in case of my death. Then began
daily journal, and mapped out pro-
gramme to be followed. A weeks I'M
prisonment would be nothing, but after
that it would not do to let the mind dwell
on the situation. You see, the horror OF
il was the stiffness. The idea kept COM
ing up that I was buried alive, and it was
an awful thing to think Of. The hermit's
clock was an old fashioned one, with q
loud tick tack, and after the cabin got
through settling under the weight OF the
snow every tick sounded almost as loud
as the blow of hammer. 1t was SO
warm that 1 needed only the smallest fire,
and when I went to bed at o'clock there
was no need Of even single blanket for
cover.
was up at an early hour next morn
ing, having slept like log all night, and
while eating breakfast was startled by
sounds which / believed to be the voice Of
human being. l thought I could hear
groans and means and cries for help, and
when / opened the door the sounds came
to me more distinctly. 1t might be that
the hermit, caught under the snow, had
succeeded in tunneling his way to point
from which could rescue him by digging,
and / had no sooner dispatched my break
fast than I set about making me shovel
to dig with. found a Ratchet, and with
this sharpened board, and the snow l
dug from the doorway heaped up in the
fuel room. / had not been digging over
half an hour when / made the discovery
that the first rush of the avalanche had
brought down a great lot of small trees,
bushes. and rocks, with here and there
large tree. They had been piled up heller
SHELTER, but they held up the mass of snow
so that with little digging could run
tunnel in almost any direction. Great
care was necessary, however, as the bur-
den above was very heavy, and the dis
placement of support might bring down
a great weight Of snow.
After l had run the tunnel straight out
from the door about twenty feet turned
to the right, made my way under o lot
of rubbish, and after going about thirty
feet came upon the body of an Indian.
Here the limbs and sticks made sort OF
bower, under which he lay, and / knew
that it was his voice l had heard calling.
There We're no Indians about us except
hostiles. and just before the snow came
they had killed two men belonging to our
camp. We had no fear of them after
winter set in, knowing that they stuck
close to their villages. Here was red
skin, however, and in full war paint; but
had no sooner found him than l saw
that he was dead, though his body was
still warm He had been mauled in a
terrible manner. both legs being broken,
his head all bloody from an injury, and
his right arm doubled under him as il
broken / could see the butt Of his rifle
sticking out of the snow, but when |
pulled at it / found the barrel missing 1t
had been wrenched off. got his toma-
hawk and knife, however, together with
powder horn and bullet pouch, and when I
had pulled the body along and crept behind
it caught sight of a m0ccasin in the
snow and dirt. 1t took me an hour to
nnearth the body, which was that Of
second warrior. The life had been crushed
out of him in q second. The mass of rock
which had come down with him had
broken every bone in his body, and great
share of his face had been ground Off
His rifle could not find, while both knife
and tomahawk were broken. While
searching his cold and battered body l
fonnd a buckskin bag containing about
$500 worth of small nuggets Of gold, and
this gave me a hint to overhaul the other.
/ also got from him bag containing
about 5000 worth of dust and nuggets,
and in the search l found attached to his
belt white mans scalp, which had not
been off the victims head over two days.
They must have been in ambush part way
up the mountain, intent upon taking the
hermit's scalp, and but for the avalanche
they might have had mine as well.
The day had gone by the time I had
overhauled the second Indians body.
Being at work the hours had passed
swiftly away and had not given myself
any time to brood over the horrors of the
situation. After supper l sat in front of
the fire for a while. then wrote up my
daily journal. and when went to bed
I left the door wide open. 1t seemed to
me that the air was getting foul down
there, and by opening the door the room
was greatly purified 1t was midnight, as
] afterward came to know, and the fire
was all out, when some noise in the room
startled me. / sat up in bed and was
soon convinced that some one or some
living thing beside myself was present. l
could hear a labored breathing, together
with sounds as of some one pulling HIM
self along the foCr, and I climbed ove1
the foot of the bed and lighted the candle.
What was my Amusement TO find third
savage in the cabinl He had quite
reached the side of the bed. and had l
got out that way, as usual, he would
have at least wounded me, for he
had his naked knife in his hand
and was bent on murder. The Ratchet
was at hand, but did not need weapon.
The warrior had been dreadfully hurt,
and, as investigation proved, had been
buried Just beyond the other two When
left the bodies he had dug his way to my
tunnel, and then pulled himself along to
the door. intending 10 have my life as l
slept. When baffied in this he stared at
me with all the hate human heart can
betray. He was crushed at the hips, and
none but savage could have accomplished
what he did. l could have killed him at
a single blow, but the horrible work was
spared me. Death was already beside
him, and as ! stood and looked down
upon him, candle in hand, he uttered a
faint warwhoop and fell over dead. When
/ was sure that life had departed dragged
him into the tunnel and shut and barred
the door, and so upset had my nerves be-
come by the adventure that / did not
sleep again that night.
In the morning eXcavated hole near
where the two bodies lay and pushed the