The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1891-12-19

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"You know the old man was wander
In bit before we started" Joe nsed
to say, IAN the greatest fear | had
about the trip was that he'd go clean
crazy out thar in tn woods fur it
seemed to me IS If I'd go crazy, too, ef
he did. Ez twas, l sometimes think
kinder lost my wits fur n spell. Twas
powerful hard work blowing along
over the snow, specially where they
was drifts, m l reckon l 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 had.
"A'ter Williams left me, begun to
feel, right away, one thing I'd dreaded
mighty bad. N that was the awful
loneliness O. tn woods. The wind was
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 |
found 1 was maxim just about two
mile an hour. / could ha' pushed on
| some faster, but knowed if [ did I'd
! o'ny tire myself more, an didn't dast
to do that. had plenty o time to fig
I 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 l ltnowed / 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, reckoned on about TWEEN
ty mile the first day; then sleep till
| day break, an then the best / could do
towards the other thirty miles
knowed I'd be in the open when the
second night came on, an if had luck
| might strike trail, an mebbe git
help somewhar. 1t was close figger-
in, though, an 1 made up my mind the
one sleep 'ud be all I'd git, an the sec
ond day I'd have to go till dropped, if
it took me way inter the night. / could
steer by the stars knew, if l once got
away from the trees.
Long towards night I'm dalned if
the old man didn't git plumb crazy.
He hollered an yelled an struggled so
to get off n the sled t / 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
ye twas somethin' awful. Thar was,
miles an miles away FIN anybody but
a crazy man, ris1in' my life to save his.
an skeered to death for fear I'd 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 laudanum that Andrews
had give me for him, an after little
he Gained down an went to sleep.
81 went along till twas too dark to
see the way any further, an knowed
I'd got to camp out. They was good
many wolves round, too, N | heerd
'em gittin closter and closter. i
warn't afeerd of 'em S longs l was
awake, fur l knowed how pesly cow
ardly the critters are, till they ketch
feller down, but was skeerd for fear
they'd jump on us alter we'd gone to
sleep. So 1 built up rousin' good
fire. That took time, but made it o.
brush an chopped up young tree It l
l found, for logs, an in about two hours
l was ready to turn in. Then l stripped
an rubbed myself as well S could
with whisky and dressed an wrapped
up well, N lay down.
well, l slept tolable sound till nigh
daybreak, though 1 had to git up
% 'tnSf hn Hra
blame wolves was too close to be conf 1
table. cd see 'em in the dark, smell
in and yelpin' round, but they was
more afeerd O. the fire n l was o.
them.
"Soon as twas light got up m het
some coffee an took bite, N started.
l was goin' by the compass, o. course,
but couldn't go in the dark, for not
seein' the way.
Ye may think talk too much bout
the way felt, an mebbe another man
wouldn't ha' been skeerd like | was,
but was almost frightened to death
for those two days. i Iknowed, though,
It the on'y thing to do was to push
ahead, m l did. The ole man had woke
up, an it seemed to me like he was
before, but he lay quiet, m l didn't
dare to say nothin' to him fer fear It
he'd start in yellin' again. He didn't
though, m then got slleerd again fur
fear he was dead.
The fust thing It give me any cour-
age whatsomever, was about dark
when l struck a trail It l knew must
lead to Minneapolis. reclSoned ! had
nigh twelve miles more to go, but the
goin' was a heap easier, ma had some
hope O. meetin' somebody or comm to
house where l co uld git horse.
''As it turned out l was plumb wr ong
all round. / was on the right trail, to
be sure, but was more'n sixteen mile
away FIN town. reckon I'd travelled
over forty mile, but I'd lost morn'n
thought then, by not goin' dead
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