The Portland daily press., 1895-05-25

| Dl1zzardS that rage in such high alti-
| tudes. The rough roadway was soon OBJ
liberated and it was necessary for them to
take turns in going ahead to find the
road, while the other drove the mules. In
this way they finally reached the log
bridge. There was no rail on either side.
1t was simply platform of round slippery
logs, about 20 feet wide. When about
half way across, the forward mules SHE'D
violently to one side and nearly slipped
down Despite all urging they refused to
advance and kept leaping to one side in
imminent danger of going over the edge
and dragging the whole team down into
the ravine
The two men We're non-plussed at first
but soon in tramping about in front of
the mules, their feet came into contact
with something buried in the snow. In
less time than it takes to tell of it, the
half-frozen and unconscious body of a
man was dug out and lifted into the
stage. They worked over that man alter
nately all the way over the pass to
Georgetown rubbing and pounding the
chilled body and endeavoring to keep alive
the spark of life, and they succeeded He
finally recovered after many weeks, but
Mr.. Plummer never saw him again, after
the day of their arrival at Georgetown
Filled with the gloomy memories of this
experience, Mr.. Plummer crossed that
log bridge, just as the twilight began to
deepen over the mountain, at between
five mr. civ RI
storm should come upon him then And
suppose that, storm or no storm, he
should be unable to find the trail in the
timber and should have to spend the
night in his blankets Even if he thus
withstood the cold all night, would not
his rheumatic joints be too stiff and lame
for him to move in the morning.
But there was no need for this anxiety,
as it happened. By great good luck, as
well as great care in the observance of his
bearings, he struck the trail at the edge
of the timber, as if he had been directed
straight towards it by unfailing instinct.
1t was glad time in his life, never to be
forgotten, as he strapped on his snow shoes
and started off through the darkening
gloomy forest. He had still eight miles
to go, over the soft snow, in all the
dreariness and loneliness of that noun
tain solitude at night, but there was
clear path before him and rest and relief
at the end of it. He was nearly famished
of course and sore and lame with fatigue
and rheumatism, but what are such
trifles, when the burden of anxiety is
removed and the haven of refuge is in
sight
The way was not exactly Clear after
all. EARLY in the evening in a place
where the trail passed across d steep slope
of the mountain, an avalanche had swept
down over it. An enormous mass of rocks
and earth and upturned trees and stumps
mixed with snow, was piled over the, trail
for distance of a quarter of mile Tt
extended so far down into the valley that
it was useless to go around it. There
was no other way but to go over and over
it young Plummer went, though it was
almost the last straw, in his exhausted
co ndition. Such chaos of obstacles and
pitfalls as that FRUSTRATED forest, half
buried in snow and earth, presented it
would be difficult to imagine, and quar-
ter of a mile of it seemed like a days
journey.
Mr.. Plummer got over it somehow and
kept on. He reached Elwoods camp more
dead than alive, at about 10 O'Clock in the
evening. Having eaten nothing since
morning, but the powdered Mexican
beans, the hot supper that Elwood pre-
pared for him has never keen equalled be-
fore on since.
The next morning, the rheumatism
had asserted itself and he was hardly
able to move. He did not fully recover
from the effects of that arduous journey
till the middle of the next summer.