The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1893-01-24

CROSSING THE RIVER.
once more, it seemed so long since we
! had seen them. We went on next day
and down through deep places covered
with frost and then up On high places
covered with SNOW. Sometimes, lying
concealed under the snow, tho sharp,
long needles of the cactus pierced our
fest, causing them to bleed IS we drew
out their spines from the flesh After
that we felt just as if we were walking
on hot Goals
I'VE waded through several shallow
streams during the day and ca1nped at
night at the foot OF another big noun
tain. We made about thessaIne distance
es before, twelve miles. but we were
growing very weak. We had not eaten
q mouthful for two days. We covered
ourselves with bark and pine branches
and slept. But we dreamed all night
long, and it was aIwaysa bout somebody
from the school being after as with a
great stick, and we couldn't set away
from him because,our feet were so sore.
THE fifth day we dragged slowly
ard camped that night neer the Nor
mons. We got little to eat, but it
seemed like nothing. We had gone
without food for three days. The sixth
day we went on about eleven miles,
through thick growth of scrub cedar,
oak and mountain mahogany, crossing
the San Juan river IN boat which we
found. We had nothing to eat all day
On the seventh day we reached the
Utes. They were kind to us and gave
us something to eat and a place to
sleep. But our feet were frozen and
they have never thawed out, We were
anxious to get home and get OH for our
feet and warm clothes On the eighth
day we left the western bank of the San
Juan water and traveled-a bout ten miles
across an alllaIi desert.
There was no snow on this sandy
desert It would have been luxury II
there had been. There was nothing
but sand, sand. sand. The sand got
into the bleeding, cracked soles of our
bare feet, and every time we put them
down they felt as if Thousand knives
were stabbing US. Here and there a
dry, withered sage bush stuck up out
of the sand. We plucked these and
built q brush heap and made fire, but
we had nothing 10 cook. We camped
there that night. The wind rose in the
night and blew ont our fire and we
couldn't light 1t again. We had plenty
OF matches, but they were of no use to
us. The wind blew the sand into our
shoes, and we could not walk; into our
clothes and up the legs of our trousers,
and we could not lie down; into our
eyes, and we could not see; into our
ears. and we could not hear. One of US
lost his hat.
'Our senses were nearly gone. We
sat down and the sand drifted over us
and half covered us up. Then when
we felt it heaping up around US we got
up with our eyes shut and sat down
again with our backs to the wind. We
got the sagebrush at last and made
sort of screen of it and sat down again,
waiting there till the morning came.
Then the wind stopped blowing SO
hard. BGt we could not walk. Our
shoes were full OF sharp sand. The
cracks in our feet were full OF it and
they stung like poison. We took off
our poor old shoes, elnptied them out,
put them on again and crept slowly on
our way. 1t was the ninth day. Moth
ing to eat. We did not go far that
day. We washed out the sand in
water we crossed and reached before
night an Indian hut, where we went in
ard were treated kindly and got some
thing to eat. On the tenth dev we
came upon m ore Indians and concluded
to stay with them little and rest
'On the thirteenth day it storn1ei;
snow fell. We travelled all day and at
night reached the range Of the noun
tains that hid our old reservation from !
sight. We had Travelled nearly one |
hundred miles. From there at length !
we reached our parents IN the forest. |
We Travelled nearly two hundred miles. /
We waded three rivers, one of which /
was up to our necks and SO swift that |
we were nearly drowned. We wore all |
that time our frozen clothes that cut /
us at every step we took. We were /
weak from the loss Of blood. blue with /
cold weather. beaten with storms, frost /
bitten with ice and snow, cut with the |
cactus, blinded and stung By the sand /
and so stiffened in all our joints that /
we will never be able 20 get it out Of .
our bones. Wewill never go off the reser-
7ation to school again"
MILLER HAGEMAS.