The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1894-10-03
full violence across the plain and began to
sweep in all directions

1ul violence across the plain ana began 70
! sweep in all directions.
| Dmitri was only few versts from the
! village when night fell, but the snow had
entirely covered the knotty pine boughs
! that marked the way. The consequence
! was that he became lost. After he had
| vainly sought the right direction for
/ long time he alighted from the sledge.
for in consequence of the intense cold he
began TO be overpowered by feeling OF
numbness For some time he wandered
at random, leading his horse by the bri-
die, but suddenly the snow caved beneath
I his steps, and almost at the same moment
the horse and sledge went under. All his
, efforts to right them again were fruitlesS-
: The metel, as such terrible storms are call
( ed, ragged more violently every moment,
2 and he was finally forced TO cling TO the
sIedee, In order to withstand the blasts Of
| wind which were heaping the snow high
, about him.
| There was nothing for him to do but
I wait for daylight. So he embarrassed the
! horse and tied him TO the shafts Then
! he laid himself down in the sledge as
/ TRANQUILITY az if he were in his own cottage.
: Before stretching himself out he removed
his boots and cap, which he placed under
/ his head, Russian fashion. Then he COW
cred himself with his kaftan and lay down
| in such a way as to protect his head from
| the wind. Thus he passed the night.
! When he opened his eyes in the morn
| ing, he was covered with snow. As he
conjectured that it must already be day,
| he took his little willow stick out of the
| sledge and began to hollow out the snow
| above him. Although it was already pref
ty solid. he succeeded in breaking hole
| through it,
| Then, raising himself up as high as be
could, he thrust his head out. The sun
was up, but it was SO dim and so enshrouded
| in clouds as to be almost indistinguish-
able The metel had not yet abated. He
! let himself fall back into the sledge and
undertook to enlarge the space about him
rs the natives of Siberia do when on
! journey and wishing to pass the night in
an uninhabited place. From the main
aperture he dug little cells in the snow,
whose walls he covered in order the more
! quickly to develop warmth and vapor.
Thus he again passed some time in peace
on his sledge. When he attempted anew
to put his head out of his prison, he struck
against so dense a stratum of snow that
it was impossible for him to penetrate IL
When Dmitri did not return on the day
on which he had started for Rursk, his
father foreboded evil and set out to search
for him. The local authorities immediate
ly summoned number Of peasants, who
were to traverse the entire neighborhood-
All efforts proved vain, and all returned
home with the firm conviction that the
unfortunate boy had been overcome by the
storm and was too deeply buried in the
snow ever to be found again.
The weather finally changed for the bet
ter and on the 9th of December a peasant
of the district resolved TO go hunting. A.
he was passing along the edge of a snow
covered declivity he noticed that not faI
of his dog was pressed down flat on the
snow and seemed to be scenting out some
thing. Approaching nearer, he discovered
that it was the foot of q horse which lay
buried in the snow and whose head was
already partly devoured by wolves. He
returned with all speed to the village and
gave information concerning it.
Immediately Dmitri' s relatives, together
with other peasants, hurried TO the spot
with axes and shovels. In a comparatively
short time the body of the horse was dug
out of the snow. Soon afterward the shafts
appeared The workers redoubled their
efforts and at last struck a layer of hard
snow spread over sledge. They bored a
hole through the stratum, and, to the
amazement of all present, a warm vapor
exhaled toward them. One Of the peasants
knelt beside the opening, and pressing his
face against it looked about inside.
man lay on the floor of an ice grave, Civ
ing no sign of life. When the AGED father
was appraised of this, he went to the tunnel
which the shovels had scoOped in the snow
and called in trembling tones, 'Dmitri,
art thou still alive,'
Eyes. " answered half smothered voice.
"Then come nearer the hole, so that we
may help you 20 leave this snow pit. "
Gladly, but have care that you do not
wound me with your axes"
Some seconds later his head appeared in
the opening, which they had worked with
might and main to enlarge His face WAS
deathly pale but his bearing evinced adj
mirable composure. He had already closed
his accounts with life.
Twenty hands helped him TO rise from
the grave. He was visibly enfeebled, and
his damp clothes steamed. When Dmitri
saw his father, he was deeply affected and
stretched ou6 his hands 10 him, first of all
handing him the little leather pouch
which contained the proceeds of the faience
that he had sold in the city. After this
they conducted him to a neighboring inn,
where ne changed his clothes and took
some nourishment When they told him
that he had passed 2 days under the snow,
he was surprised OF course the time had
seemed long 10 him, bit he had been IN
able to measure its duration, for around
him had prevailed the most profound dark
ness and silence. Though he had lain
there almost motionless and was covered
only with his kaftan, he had been quite
unaffected by the cold. A few days suf-
feed TO restore his strength.
But similar cases, with fortunate issue,
are not very numerous, for, powerful as a
Russian peasant is, yet still, as rule, he
is unable 10 cope with the icy cold of these
rnetels. and numerous bodies are found
along the road after such a stOrm.-Trans-
lated From the German For Romance.