The Opelousas courier., 1893-06-03

tlelf nome on q OJner sue Oh IN
street and only a few doors below tn,
church. They were found dead in tn
snow not ten feet from the fence tina
inclosed their house. Stills threw him
self on his stomach, fattened out ant
dug his fingers and toes into the ground
fercely.
He did the right thing and did it no
a moment too soon. The noise which
had directed his attention to the black
knot had become a startling thunder,
wild Aurries of snow darted and spread,
and in another instant the blizzard
brokel Ten million demons surcharged
with fury could not have made a wilder
uproal, or produced a more fearful force.
The luckiest thing that eve happened tc
Stills in all his life wa his thinness al
that moment. He held himself down il
the cured grass and trembled. Stiff al
he was with cold, the perspiration OIL
fear wet his face. How long he lay he
did not know, but he knew the mo"
was heavy on him and he began to b.
afraid of losing consciousness. The
widest passion of the storm had passed
of that he felt certain. But it still
ragged and roared. The snow fell in lit.
tie fakes that struck his face like whip
snaps. He could not see a foot in trout
of his eyes. He was afraid, indeed, to
open them, and ventured to do so only
for a second now and then: He rose
slowly, testing his strength against the
storm with every movement until at last
he stood upright with his FACE set, hs
was sure, directly towards his little
shack, one-third of a mile away.
Stills bad heard about the tendency
of a man in walking, without visible
marks to guide him, to move in a circle,
and he argued that there wa danger of
his missing the shack while being very
near it. As the thing had been K
planned to him, the muscles of the right
leg being stronger and more vigor-
Gus generally than those of the
left, it was a circular move.
ment toward the lett. He concluded,
therefore, to strike1o out for a point to the
right, or north of his shack. The wind
had also to be taken into account. Its
natural effect would be to throw him to-
ward the left. Considering these facts,
he began to move as swiftly as he dared,
having due regard to the necessity Of
controlling the direction OF every Step.
But it was not really swift. The wind
caught him, almost turned him and stiff
ened every muscle. The cold was I'm.
thinkable. The biting, whipping snow
TO raise a blister on every point
of surface it struck. He could not turn
from it lest he changed his route. BE
went forward a dozen steps, beating
the wind, and then paused in ex-
haustion-a dozen more aud paused
again. He asked himself a thousand
Would he never reach the coulee,
event. Again and again he was sure he
had lost it, sure he was going any other
than the right way. But as last he
he felt his footsteps descend.
ing, and now he was sure OF it. Down,
down, down he went, slowly but firmly,
The force of the storm growing less with
every step. He was at the bottom of the
Stills had been thinking all kinds of
things since he saw that black knot, aud
she thought which passed on him hard
EST was that his time had probably come.
His mind was choked with memories Of
his boyhood in Kent ucky, of his mother,
who was as good a woman as ever
noaned a life into the world, and as he
for breath in the %coulee, with
;he blizzard bowling above him, he tried
recall the prayers she had taught him,
put to save his soul he couldn't. He re.
rendered the long meter Doxology, but
Is he said it over softly to himself,
Praise God from whom all blessings
it didn't seem appropriate-at
east just yet. The only other verse no
could bring back were the lines:
is the little boy minding his sheepf
Under the hay-mow, fast asleep.
It wasn't q prayer, and Stills knew il
But he had never gone through
;he operation of making a prayer for
and, indeed, he had a vague
notion that to be efficacious prayers had
be made by a duly authorized person.
he said to himself that if ever he got
OF this alive, he would go to some.
,ody who knew n and get it and con-
nit it to memory. But what to do now
distressed him. He thought and thought
md thought, but only to ind himself
epeating again aud again:
Where is the little boy minding his sheeps
Under the hay-mow fast asleep.
SWELL" said Stills, gathering himself
ogether to begin the ascent, and to face
he storm anew, 81 can't help it; it's all
know; it's the best I can do, aud if it
Won't go, why, 50 much the worse for
ae." Tt somewhat comforted him,
Yowever, and he felt better for saying it.
The ascent to the top of the coulee
Tas performed with the expenditure of
all his remaining strength, and
hen Stills felt himself on the level
rairie he moved slowly and feebly. He
conscious that MS body was s~tiffen-
,g, that he no longer felt keenly, and
nat it wa a question how far he could
o without falling. This he attributed
, the fearful cold rather than to fatigue,
nd he began to swing his arms, to jump,
, pound his legs, and to do everything
nat would aid the circulation of his
lood. He kept on and on until he felt
ire he must be very near ht hack. aud
len hope began to fail himw He could
,e nothing, hear nothing, bas the wind,
'el nothing but the savage snow. Still
g walked, holding his hands out.
retched before him, and uttering short,
w means of despair. Suddenly he fell.