The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1898-03-24
The stars bright. with the going down

the stars bright. With the going down
OF the sun the wind had died away, leav-
ing calm, clear night; but before it
had stopped it had filed the track with
drifted snow and left the travelling
heavy. We logged along past the end
less row of little trees at pretty good
rate. The only sounds were the creak-
ing of the sleigh-runners in the snow,
for the night was bitter cold, and the
occasional deep rumblings of the ice,
sounding, as it always seems to me, like
distant thunder near at hand. There
was a faint play of northern lights in
the sky ahead of us.
I had for some time been looking
anxiously for the lights of the town, al
though there was no. hope of seeing
them yet, when my attention was at
tracted by a dark object on the snow
far to the right toward the Wisconsin
shore. At first took this thing to be
one of the immense ridges in the ice
where it had cracked and heaved up.
several of which were on the lake, some
of them almost as high as a house.
Then I saw it was moving along like a
shadow at right angles to our course.
The man saw it and said: "What's
coming over there-some other teams?"
"They wouldn't be going so FAST"
answered, picking up the whip from the
bottom of the sleigh. The shadow was
now directly to the right.
Its some sort of ANIMAL went on
ho m
then added: "1'hey look like big dogs"
At that moment there came the cry
had so often heard at home, only much
deeper, harsher and louder.
"They're wolves!" I said, and I
cracked the whip at the horses, although
that was hardly necessary, as they
heard the savage howl as we'll as we
They were indeed pack of timber
wolves, starved out of the Wisconsin
coulees and crossing the lake in search
of food on the Minnesota side. The
howl which they set up showed they
thought they had found it unexpectedly
on the lake. The horses struck into a
fast gallon and the sleigh bsgsn to
|
Portable manner. I looked back bid
saw that the wolves had struck the road
and were coming behind. The horses
were now running as fast as they could
with so heavy a track. It seemed as if
we should be thrown out the next mo-
ment, and it was certain that we should
be overta]en in any case.
| The second time looked back saw
that the pack was much nearer could
make out the leaders and see that there
must be 20 or 80 of the animals, all told.
My fellow passenger was clinging to
the seat crying to me to drive faster, al
though the horses were fairly running
away and had practically no control
over them one way or the other.
'Can't you throw out the trunk and
back seat % shouted to him.
will give him the credit for doing
very well at this. He clambered over
back and pitched out the other seat and
a small trunk which stood behind it. It
was good thing to do, as it lightened
the sleigh and delayed the wolves
slightly. They all stopped and surged
around the things moment; then they
came on.
I heard the man throwing out the
mail sacks and some other parcels, but
the wolves did not pause much fo1
these. They were soon closer than ever,
and, the man said afterwards, within
a few rods of us. I kicked the buffalo
robe, which was still over my lap, out
at one side, and sank down on
my knees in the bottom of the sleigh;
the man wrenched loose the seat and
dropped it out with two other robes
These were the last things which we
had to throw out. The robes seemed to
delay the wolves longer than anything
else. They stopped and tore them to
shreds. We got quarter-mile start
All of this time the drunken driver
was sleeping like u log in the bottom OF
the sleigh:
The horses were becoming exhausted,
and I could feel that they were going
slower. I now urged them on with
whip and voice, but it seemed to make
no difference The bowling behind us
began to come palmer; the wolves had
left the robes and were again gaining
on us. Right ahead I could see high
ridge in the ice where it had cracked
and showed up. A notch had been cut
in it just wide enough for sleigh to
pass through. held the reins steady
and tried to slow up little in the hope
Of steering safely through the narrow
crack. AS we came up to it I saw a
dark streak between the rough cones at
either side; the crack had opened two
or three feet during the day and new
ice had formed. We struck the opening
in the ridge squarely; the nigh horse
reared up and jumped over the new ice,
but the other stepped on it and broke
through with one forward leg. He fell,
but the other horse dragged him and
the sleigh beyond the crack, where we
stopped all in a heap.
| I jumped over the dashboard and fell
in the snow beside the horse. He was
struggling to rise, but guessed what
had happened, and threw my body
across his neck and felt of his leg. 1t
was crushed and broken. got out my
knife, cut the breaststrap which held
the neckyolze, and called to the man to
unlock the traces, which he managed
to do at last. cut the injured horses
rein and ran around behind the other,
who stood trembling and snorting.
With the strap I tied back the end of
the whifletree to the sleigh-runner.
The wounded horse was again strug-
Cling to rise and had sprawled himself
Il