West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1888-02-23

10 l ed I left the door wide opcn. \
seemed to inc ia & the air was ge tinr
I foul down ihese, ard hy opening the
I door the room Was grcCly p liicd u
/ was m!dnight, as | afterNarl cam, To
know, and the tirc WAS all out. when
( some noise IN The room startled me.
sat up in bed,un was soon convinced
. that some one or some Ii ing thing he.
I side myself was present. could hear
a labortd breathing. together wi n
/ sounds. as OF some one pu ling himself
along tho iloor, and / 5e,im Scd over the
/ foot Of the bed and lighted the cand e.
What WAS my anna cement q Gud third
"a age in the cahinl lie had quite
reached the side of the bed, and bai
got ont that way, as u ual.
he would have at lc ,st wounded
me, for he hld his naked knife in h $
hand and was bent on mu der. The
hatchct was at hand, but Il d not reed
weapon. The warrior had bccl dread
fully hurt, and, as an Investigation
proved, had been buried list bcyo ,d The
other two. When left the bodies hc
had dug his way to my tunnel. and then
pulled himself along 10 the door, intend
ilg to have my life as / slept When
batlcd in this, he glared ~ me with all
the hate humln heart can bctray. He
wa' crushed at the hips, ana none but a
81 age could have accomplished what lac
did. | could have killed h m at a ,ingl
blow, but the horr.b work was spa. ed
me. Death was already cide him. and
a ! stood and looked down upon him.
candle in han |, he uttered a faint war
whoop and icll over dead When / was
sure that life had departed ! dragged
him into the tunnel and shut and bar cd
the door, and SO upset had my nerves be
come 10y the advcnturc that | did not
sleep again that night
In the morning excavatcd hole ncai
where the two bodies lay, and plshcl the
three into it, and packed the snow over
them. Then began running tunnel
Tor the ledge in front OF the cabin. and
had gone a oIt twenty feet whea the
second night came. Early in the third
day | ha TO abandon this tunnel on a
count OF a cayc-in which arlysnothe.cd
me. Then turned to the right 10 come
oIt down the valley, and WAS still at
this work when the first week closed
Early in the second week ] was stopped
10y a bank OF rocks and cath, aud " en-
the sc'old week closed was drifting
tunnel TO the left 1t was slower work
than you would think for The snow
was packed very solid, and all dug out
had TO bc thrown behind me, and cvcntu.
ally carried Oft and scattered in some hole
under the tree tops. Every few feet |
met vi IA a big rock or the trunk Of
tree, and it was hasd WORK to get around
such obstruct ous. Again cave i'm
would take place TO hinder further pro.
gress for day or two, and finally came
10 the conclusion that could never get
out by tunneling.
Istartcd in on the third week more
to be at work than from any hope OF es-
cape. All that week / tunueled TO the
right again, and at three o'clock on Sat
urday afternoon | broke into my own
tunnel In other words, had done as
IN IN oocs when lost in the woods.
made half circle and came back on my
self, while all the time | felt sure | was
going straight ahead. The fourth week
was spent mostly in the house was
now becoming much weaker, and was
ready 10 give up. IL was on the thirty
NTH n ght that the cabin began groan-
ing aad racking again, and knew that
The snow was settling down around it,
The noises continued all night, giving
nc many fright, aud at seven o'clock
next morning, when | opened the door.
l found my tunnel filled up. I was
lamcnting this when / noticed that the
fire was drawing better than usual. Go.
ing over to the fireplace, took look up
the chimney and saw the dark sky Of
heaven. At the same moment three or
four drops OF rain fell upon my face. and
then ! understood that great thaw had
set in and was reducing the snow around
me. 1t was three days more, however,
before ! got daylight through the win
dow and could force my way out Of the
door.
IL had been raining for three days and
nights, and the creek below me was
mad torrent The snow on the trail was
yet very deep, and I was compelled to
wait two days before / could get away.
Then the weather changed to colder and
got down 10 Virginia City. il was
nearly n month later before we could pct
10 tlc bodies / knew were under the
snow. The hermit had been caught in
the edge Of the rush, and killed by being
dashed against the rocks. Ills body was
carried across the frozen creek 10 the
edge Of n thicket, and such clothing n.
still clnug TO il were in shreds and tat.
tcTs They had known Of the avalanche
both above and below, and had given
Inc up for lost AS near as the men
could Judge the snow above me was forty
feet deep, and no one had any idea that
the cabin had been spared That ! came
out Of II alive was simply the luck which
strangely enough saves u man now and
then from the open jaws Of death -NlN
JOrk SIM.