The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1891-12-19
Ioa,a Stoex,

in a bit before'we started" Joe used
to say, 'an' the greatest fear l. had
about the trip was that he'd go clean
| crazy out thar in tn woods, fur it
seemed to me s if I'd go crazy, too, eff
he did. Ez twas. I sometimes think
kinder lost my wits fur spell. Twas
powerful hard work blowing along
over the snow, Especially where they
was drifts, n I reckon I must er lost
NOR n five or six mile goin' round the
biggest on 'em. Luckily, though, there
wasn't many on 'em an the most O. the
way 'twasn't so bad.
after Williams left me, l begun to
feel, right away, one thing I'd dreaded
mighty bad. n that was the awful
loneliness O tn woods. The wind was
a sighin' through the big trees like it
always does when they is any wind at
all, an it sounded so kind O. n-ournful
that it put all sorts O. foolish notions
into my head. 'Peared like the very
trees was sorry for me. an that begin
to make me feel sorry for myself, an
sometimes I'd almost break down an
cry.
81 was always kind O. handy about
reckonin' distances in the woods, an I
mile hour. I could ha' pushed on
some faster, but knowed if l did I'd
o'ny tire myself more, an 1 didn't dast
to do that had plenty o time to fig
ger on the journey, an the highest l
could get to it was that if could hold
out might git somewhere near town
the second night. knowed I couldn't
git out O the woods in one days goin',
an they was no use tryin' to travel at
night among the trees. So, the days
bein' short, I reckoned on about TWEEN
ty mile the first day; then sleep till
day break, an then the best l could do
towards the other thirty miles, I
knowed I'd be in the open when the
second night came on, an if I had luck
I might strike a trail, an mebbe git
help somewhat. It was close fgger-
in, though, an I made up my mind the
one sleep 'ud be all I'd git, an the Sec
ond day I'd have to go till l dropped, if
1t took me way inter the night. could
steer by the stars. knew, if once got
away from the trees.
"Long towards night I'm damned if
the old man didn't git plumb crazy.
He hollered an yelled an struggled so
to get off'n the sled It was afraid he'd
break the fast'nin's, but Andrews had
tied him pretty close an he didn't have
sense enough to try to unite the knots.
had to tie his arms, though, an tell
we twas somethin' awful. Thar was,
mil NJ LII
a crazy man, rislzin' my life to save his.
an skeered to death for fear Id be as
crazy as he was in few minutes,
tyin' him up to keep him FIN gettin'
away. got him fast, though, an gave
him a dose O. laudannm that Andrews
had give me for him, an after a little
he Gained down an went to sleep.
II went along till twas too dark to
see the way any further, an l knowed
I'D got to camp out. They was a good
many wolves round, too, m / heerd
'em gittin closter and closter. I
warn't afeerd of 'em S longs l was
awake, fur l knowed how pesky cow
ardly the critters are, till they ketch
Teller down, but I was skeerd for fear
they'd jump on us alter we'd gone to
sleep. So I built up rousin' good
fire. That took time, but made it o.
brush an chopped up young tree It 1
I found, for logs, an in about two hours
1 was ready to turn in Then I stripped
an rubbed myself as we'll S could
with whisky and dressed an wrapped
up well, n lay down.
well, slept .tola BILE sound till nigh
daybreak, though I had to git up
couple O. times n feed the fire. Them
blame wolves was too close to be conf
table. cd see 'em in the dark, smell
in and yelpin' round, but they was
more afeerd o. the fire m I was O.
them.
''Soon as twas light 1 got up m het
some coffee an took bite, n started.
1 was goin' by the compass, O. course.
but I couldn't go in the dark, for; not
SEEM the way.
Ye may think talk too much bout
the way felt, an mebbe another man
wouldn't ha' been skeerd like 1 was,
but was almost frightened to death
for those two days. 1knowed, though,
It the on'y thing to do was to push
oACoO, IL uAO. AAC VIC A4du Ndu WOKE
up, an it seemed to me like he was a
little more sensible m he was the day
before, but he lay quiet, n I didn't
dare to say nothin' to him fer fear It
he'd start in yellin' again. He didn't
though, m then got skeerd again fur
fear he was dead.
The fust thing It give me any cour-
age whatsomever, was about dark
when I struck trail It l knew must
lead to Minneapolis. Ireckoned had
nigh twelve miles more to go, but the
goin' was heap easier, ma had some
hope O meetin' somebody or comm to
a house where co uld git horse.
GAS it turned out was plumb VIZ ong
all round. 1 was on the rig hit trail, to
be sure, but was more'n sixteen mile
away FIN town. l reckon I'd travelled
over forty mile, but I'd lost morn'n 1
thought then, by not goin' dead
I. { / Il nj