, 1888-04-08

u u w Z Jul " < W IL
was on the earth or in the sky, or whether
we imagined IL; but soon it came again.
"He's at our LETT" said Moore, pulling
the horses about and following the cry.
At every few rods we would stop aud
shout, and listen for his cry, which grew
each moment stronger, but he was not
approaching us, he was waiting for us to
come to him. Soon we were within speak
ing distance, and he was directing us
where to find him. 1t was strange that
he did not approach us. We thought he
must have met with some accident, when
suddenly he stood beside us. With a
single word, Follow me, =" he started off,
the horses following him. We could not
see him, but we knew h was on the
track of something. Soon we came upon
n small barn heavily banked with snow,
and with hoarse cheers we shook hands
and yelled, ~ told you sol" We had hit
tine barn, and the house was near by and
easily reached.
Without stopping to talk of our good
luck, we sprang out, and in a few mo-
ments the ponies were safe from the biz
zard, their noses deep in some hay and
oats. After rubbing the ice and snow
from their coats, and stirring the circula-
ton anew in their stiff and weary legs,
we gathered our robes and things in our
arms and made for the house, which we
reached in n short, breathless run.
1t was n frame building, 18x24, which
Moore had erected for a summer resi-
dence-a mere shell of n thing, with only
one thickness of boards on the sides,
through which the snow drifted; and as
there was no banking, the cold air also
streamed up through the floor; but rela-
lively II was a palace. 1t was shelter and
Eight, for there was n stove and some kind
ling and n box ofcoal. Weneed not freeze
for one night, anyway. We soon had q
roaring fire in the rusty stove and n light
in an unwashed tubular lantern. We also
found a coffee can, and soon had n can of
coffee sizzling on the stove. Then we took
the time to ask Bailey about his advent
ure. 1t seems that in making a detour
he had caught n glimpse of the barn, and
though the storm the next moment COW
cred it, yet he determined to push on a
little further and make sure of it. Luck
lily we did not get quite out of ear shot,
and the whole ended fortunately, but it
was n big risk to run. AS our frozen
mince pies began to warm up and the cof-
fee to send off n fragrant steam, Moore
sang, e~xultantly:
The wind howls mad out doors,
The snow clouds hurry past.
We made a great picture as we sat
around the red hot stove, with our fur
caps and buffalo overcoats on. The Ian
tern threw a red light over us through its
smoky side, and the open jaws of the coal
stove brought out every line of our faces
as though we were the witches in MAC
beth" huddled aroun the caldron. On
our heads the sifted snow fell at intervals
like showers of red flakes of gold, while
the frail structure creaked and groaned
in the blast, the snow dashed the windows,
and rushed like a pack of wolves about
the door. After food and warmth, we sat
thus talking and singing till we felt
weary and sleepy with the cold; and then
our host led us to the upper story of the
house, where the bed stood which Moore
used when he came to sleep on his claim,
and upon this we piled our blankets and
robes, and then crept under them.
Outside the storm dashed and Missed
like an ocean. There was a futtering
roar, as of myriad wings, a rattle of dis
tant musketry, the bowling of innumer-
able wild beasts, and the walls of women
in agony. There were vague sounds of
rushing, Of swirling, and the tinkling as
of distant, falling, driving sand. l re-
member waking In the night and listen
ing In awe to the tumult, fancying the
wind some huge beast disappointed of his
prey, and wreaking his rage on the wood
of our frail retreat. He seemed to grasp
and shake the house as a lion would a rat,
while his voice sank to a deep raucous
snarl of convulsive fury. We seemed
such puny creatures, such notes in the
blasting tides Of icy sands, that / was
glad when sleep put an end to my specu-
lations and fancies.
When l awoke the next morning all
was still-still as the grave; not a sound
save the heavy breathing of my compan-
ions and the occasional cracking of the
wood under the terrible cold; as still as
though the snow had buried us deep un-
der its soft weight. And 1 shall never for
get how 1t looked as 1 stepped out into the
morning air:
Like an enternal changeless sea
or FURNISHED marble lay the plain.
In dazzling, shoreless, soundless waste,
Horizon grit, without a stain.
The air was still; no breath OF sound
Came from the wide expanse:
The whole earth seemed to lie In trance,
In hushed, expectant silence bound.
And oh the beauty of the morning sky.
Where famed the herald banners of the kingl
And as l gazed with famished eye,
10! day came on me with a spring.
No one would ever dream that the night
before this calm plain had been dashed
and driven by an appalling tempest. The
terrible ride of the night before seemed
almost a dream. There was no receding
swell upon this ocean, as upon the Allan
tie; on the contrary, it looked so marble
like and still that one could hardly imag-
inc it ever being moved again. The bril-
liant sun FLASHED from millions of ice
points on the snow, making a broad way
of dazzling gold and diamonds-a
royal way for the coming of the
morning. Its glory was almost, not
quite, a compensation for the experience of
the previous night. That night, as we
sat around the cannon stove in the WAN
burger grocery in Bloomtown, Moore told
our story with trimmings" adding,
among other things, the actual fact that
the thermometer was 3S dogs. below zero.
The other trimmings, which were not
facts. l will not mention. Moore is a good
fellow, and undoubtedly regrets the ex-
aggerations which the enthusiasm of the
moment nduced.-Harper's Weekly.