Bennington semi-weekly banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 1894-1902, 1895-11-29
A DAY ON THE SMOKY

breakfast now ready in the dining
CARP yelled tho cook, us he poked his
round face through the flap of the tent.
There was no answer from within. "Last
call for broakfast!' he repeated. And this
time there came u grunt from the depths
of a canvas roll, and head, surmounted
by awoolen cap, protruded just far enough
to allow its owner to see that dawn had
scarcely broken.
Say isn't it going to snow?" queried
the newly awakened.
"Not a cloud in the sky" answered the
knight of the skillet. "You bet you'll
have TO work today, if it is Thanksgiv-
ing"
The newly awakened glided into a sit
ting posture. wake up there, Smiler 4"
he shouted, singing a shoe at a similar
bundle myself, on the other side of the
tent A smothcrod groan was the response
Then the bundle began to move, "a hand
protruded from one end, couple of spring
hooks were unfastGned, and head, sim
liar to the one already described and fol-
lowed by long, skinny body, appeared on
the scene, like q snake issuing from it's
hole.
You see, my blankets were sewed up into
kind of bag, just large enough to receive
my body, and at night L crawled in and
fastened up tho end, thus keeping off the
chilly air When the weather was cXCeD-
tionally cold, l would take the additional
precaution of inserting a smallpuppy into
the orifiCe and kicking it down to the bot
tom, where the faithful animal would re-
main until morning, emitting a cheerful
warmth.
Though deckcd for the hours of slumber
we were entirely clothed, with the excep-
ton of shoes and coat.
"Beastly cold, Tom," remarked to my
companion, as l shivered into my coat and
shook on my shoes.
"Worse and more of il" replied Tom,
and, completely dressed, he disappeared
through the tent door. In moment I
heard the strokes of Ratchet. 1t was
only Tom breaking the ice in the water
bucket. ''It froze three inches last night, {"
he remarked, as l issued from the tent.
We'll have a day of it. I'll bet freeze
to DEATH"
A little dab Of water around the eyes
and vigorous use Of tho towel comprised
the extent of the morning ablutions and
then we hurried into the cook tent, shiv.
ering, and stretched our fingers over the
comfortable warmth Of the gasoline stove.
The other men were already there, seated
around tho oilcloth covered table and de-
vOuring oatmeal by the bowl, fried eggs,
hot biscuit and pints Of delicious coffee
from big granite cups, an example we were
not slow to follow.
But in spite of good breakfast the sit
uation was pretty tough. This was the
day that the president of the United States
had declared should be given up to thanks
giving, and which is from one end of the
land to the other set apart for ruinous
feasting, and here were these poor fellows,
Uncle Sam s very servants, preparing to
start out for a days hard work, driving in
the cutting wind, with stiffened fingers
trying to depict on paper the contour of
the rolling plains. OF course we were go
ing to work. Men in tho field never take
holidays, especially toward the end Of the
surveying season, and the only Thanks
giving we expected to have was q little
better dinner than usual on the following
Sunday.
We were camped within sight Of the
twin cupolas Of Hays City, and were it not
for the cottonwoods which line the course
of Big creek, the abandoned military post
of Fort Hays, with its deoaying buildings,
would have been plainly visible.
The sun had just risen when we pre-
pared to get under way. The horses had
been brought up to the wagons and fed
that is all except my constituencies Ches-
apeal1e, who had nosed all his feed out on
the frozen ground with an impatient toss
of his head. At this period of his career,
by the way, Chesapeake's wild oats had
not yet been all sown. He evidently knew
it was Thanksgiving day and expected
some of the delicacies with which my in
diligence had often supplied him. For
Chesapeake was the only horse ever heard
of who liked fried chicken. He would pick
the meat off a drumstick as daintily as
you or l. Then, L always used to give him