The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1893-03-09

Singing lce-neeuleS JnaJ nlleu the ar
limited my range of vision to the
length of the sled. Respiration, at first
difficult, soon became well nigh impos-
sib,e, so to avoid being suffocated out
right ] brought the bronchos around,
tail to the storm, and narrowly escaped
capsizing the sled in doing so. l knew
that down in the Missouri bottom,
about five miles away, lay Bob Flavin's
beef ranch, and while the prospect of
finding it under present circumstances
was slim enough, determined to make
the attempt. 1t was SIMPLY impossible
to travel in the opposite direction, and
even the toughest cayuse must soon
freeze to death, unless it were kept on
the move, for the air had grown in
tensely cold. AS if divining my inten-
lions, the bronchos galloped off mile
or so toward Flavin's while ! was
debating in my mind what was
the best thing to do. / let the
| brutes have their heads while the
daylight lasted and the ground was
| level, for l knew that near the river
the country broke into coulees that
wound in all directions except the one
in which wished TO travel. struck
narrow one just as darkness was set
ting in. IL was half full of drifted
snow, and the bronchos sank into 1t
till their ears were scarcely visible.
The little brutes fought out of IL, but
the struggle tanned them down and in
clned them for walking. After about
an hour of cropping around in the dark
ness, during which time had not the
slightest idea as to my whereabouts,
the sled bumped into q narrow wash
ing of the sled tongue gave way, hold
ing together just long enough to drag
the sled to the summiv of slight rise,
when it parted and the team, plunging
violently forward, jcrked me over the
front of the sled. struck the ground
with stunning force and was dragged
some distance before ! could loosen
the grasp of my benumbed hands on
the reins. When ! was able to get on
my feeS there was nothing to be seen
of the bronchos. Feeling my way back
in the face of the storm, stumbled,
purely by accident, against the sled.
] could not restrain a shout of JOY as
| olu,1s.Sss ~i.o .OP or the Sfcd UOX.
could have Rugged the ugly vehicle in a
transport OF rapture.
| Turning the sled on it's side and
propping it up with the seat, drew my
arctic sleeping bag from the box, and
spread it out on the lee side of the sled.
placed my Winchester and cartridge
belt inside and crawled in. NV sleep
ing bag consisted of bags within
bags" the inner one of goat skin, and
the hairy side turned in; the second of
imitation seal, and the third or outer
one of heavy tent ducking, absolutely
waterproof, and provided with q hood
that could be pulled down, closing the
mouth of the bag, when the occupant
had made himself snug tor the night
pulled down the hood and resigned
myself to the stu ation. | shivered a
little at first, but soon be came as snug
and warm as kitten on hearth rug
and actually dropped off to sleep.
| was awakened in little while, how
ever, by the sled blowing over and
pinning me to the ground. After a
good deal of squirming around, man.
aged to crawl out and lift the sled off
the bag The wind was bowling like
thousand demons and the air was so
full of fine snow that | could not dis
tinguish objects at a greater distance
than fifteen feet-not very far, but far
enough to reveal to me the gaunt shiv-
ering frames of about dozen large
prairie wolves squatting in a circle
around me waitingpatiently for nature
to take It's course.
was cold no longer, excepting per-
haps, a narrow streak that extended
the full length of my spinal col
umn. Drawing the Winchester from
the bag, ! turned loose on the largest
of the starving brutes and succeeded
in soothing effectually the pangs of his
hunger. laid out three more of them,
and winged still another before they
seemed to realize that | meant lust
what | said. | was fast getting warmed
up to the work in hand. when the I'M
canny beasts skunk sullenly off into the
stormy darkness. Then | re loaded the
magazine of the rifle. lifted the bag
into the sled and crawled into it. | was
yuoe VII WV pun. VI uohllH OH again,
when the howl of IL wolf came down
on the wind, fol lowed in the next
breath by u score of answering howls,
coming from all points. Raising the
hood Of the sleeping bag with the muz-
zle of the rifle ] lay and awaited de-
velopm ents. First came a chorus of
snarls and yelps, apparently from I'M
der the sled, followed by "a genuine
pandemonium. Fully fifty of the fam
ished brutes were fighting over the
bony carcasses of those that had fallen
to my rife. While the storm had not
abated in the least, the full moon had
found clear place in the heavens and
the brightness of MONDAY was all
around me.
| raised myself slightly, cooked the
rifle and, glancing over the top of the
sled box, had selected skinny old bag
of u she wolf with which To furnish
continuance of the riotous feast, when,
happening to glance toward the rear
of the sled, encountered the gaze of a
pair of wicked eyes, set deep in the
head of wolf of gigantic size. The
brute had thrust his head over the tail
board, and craniug his scrdggy neck as
far out as was possible he barred his
tusk-ike fangs until | could have
counted every one of them, had SO