Mexico weekly ledger., 1898-05-12

to find You they would lift your scalp
quicker than q cat could wink its eye.p
At that place the river made q short
bend TO the left, whilst the road went
straight ahead into a big fat that
appeared to be half q mile wide and,
thinking that 1t ran along
the foot of the mountain, I took an
Indian trail that kept close to the
river. Well, / followed that trail
about twelve miles before I knew for
certain that I was lost, and then I met
Benson and Alex. coming back. They
had gone many miles further and, as
they said, came to where . vertical
wall OF rocks rose from the waters
edge thousands OF feet above their
heads and they could 60 no further.
Ten miles from where the emigrant
road left the river / saw quite q curl
osity. 1t was an Indian suspension
bridge across the river. 1t was made
by weaving willows together like
basket work and was about six feet
wide and fifty yards long. 1t was
suspended about sixty feet above the
water and was firmly anchored to q
big pine tree at either end. Now, 1t
must have taken a small army OF
Piutes to stretch that thing taut before
they fastened the ends.
1t was dark before we got back to
the road and we laid down On the trail
and slept till morning. The wolves
and mountain lions howled pretty
lively high up on the mountains dur
ing the night, but they did not come
near US. High up on the mountains
on the opposite side Of the river we
could see many Indian camp fires
burning.
1t did not take me long to find the
road the next morning and we pushed
rapidly ahead all day long, for we
knew we were ssgoners" if we did not
reach a place where we could get
something to eat. All that day I was
in hopes that a snake would o my
path, for I felt sure that I could eat it
raw If I could only catch it. That
night we camped in a beautiful cove,
where the mountains rose many
thousands of feet above our heads and
were covered with perpetual snow.
Benson and Alex. huddled together
by the side of a big pine log like two
pigs and I roasted alone about 40
yards from where they lay. have
often heard of a game called "freeze
out,n but l never saw it played but
once and that was on that never-to-
be-forgotten night, when I played 1t
alone. 1t was SO bitter cold that could
not keep a by one fire, 80 I built
two and laid down between them, and
then it was roasting on both sides and
freezing at both ends at the same time.
When I went to sleep Islept SO sound
ly that / did not awaken until my fires
had burned down to a few Goals and
then / felt rs though / was frozen
solid to the bone. Well, after repeat
ing that performance half a dozen
times during the night I was mighty
glad to see daylight appear. That
morning there was ice on the water q
quarter of an inch thick and the ground
was as white as snow with frost.
When we struck the trail, which was
not more than 40 yards from where I
slept, we saw fresh tracks that we
mistook to be the footprints of an old
she ~Senegambian and two little pick
aninnies. They were the tracks of an
old grizzly bear and her cubs, but
they looked SO much like those made
by a barefooted darkey and neither of
us having ever seen a bear track be-
fore, 1t was easy to account for u
mistake. About s O'Clock that morn
ing we reached Webber's cattle ranch,
and on telling him the ~dePlorabie con-
dition we were in and asking for food,
he said he and his men were just start
ing out to look after the cattle on the
range. "We have just had our break
fast and have no meat cooked,
but you will find some biscuits, gravy
and plenty of milk in there, so walk
right in and help yourselves" Now,
If you could have seen Us, you would
have thought that we did help our-
selves with a vengeance. There was
a big tin wash boiler full of biscuits(?)
they were about the size and shape
of a "a pound cannon ball-a big fry
ing pan with a few pieces of bacon and
half a gallon of milk gravy in it and in
several large tin plates there was an
abundance of nice, fresh milk. Two
and a half of those biscuits, ar equal
share of the gravy and half a gallon
of milk was the amount that I slowed
away in my stomach before it ceased
to clamor for more.
A mile or two west of the house q
large and beautiful lake, that bears
Webber's name, vas in plain view.
Weber afterward built a large hotel
on the lake and it has been a great
summer resort for the people of Cali
fornia for many years, but during the
winter snow falls to an immense
depth and then no living thing, un-
less it has wings, has any business
there until, the NOW melts off in the
spring.
From Webber's to Jackson's ranch
it was only eight miles and the road
almost level, passing through a dense
forest of pine all the way. After we
had got about half way to Jackson's
Mr.. Weber passed us on his horse
and from the peculiar smile that he
gave us as he rode by I judged that he
was thinking about the big hole we
had made in his grub that morning.
Weber was on way to Jackson's for
some things that Jackson had brought
over the mountains for him and l am
pretty sure that he toldJackson that 3
EVERY BRIDE
and wife should know about the pre-
paration that for half a century has
been helping expectant mothers bring
little ones into the world without
danger and the hundred and one