The times., 1898-02-21

that I dropped off to slurnbers as sound
as his
Il slept long while and IL must have
Deen high morning when [ awoke. 1t was
dark, and the snow was all about US.
though il did not lie heavily on us or
oppress us, and found | could move my
legs ana arms little in every direction.
| There was no sound OF any kind to be
heard. or breath of wind that 1 could
feel / turned over ON my back and
stretched my legs and arms out the best
L could TO give relief to my muscles. I
was not merely comfortably warm. but
moist from perspiration. and the blankets
about me were dry. Peerfng out from un-
der the blanket. could see that the lignt
penetrated the snow, which showed a
iafnt translucency like that OF porceiaiEs
by daylight. Black Eagle was sleeping
away as Soundly fn the beginning
ana seemed not to have stirred once.
In the dimaess. with the drowsiness
caused by the limited supply of air. i'm "a
space so confined it was easy to drop
asleep again. 1 dozed and sIumbered for
iong hours with waking spells which
lasted only long enough 20 stretch my
iinbs and turn little before / went of
10 sleep again. And peeDed out from the
blankets, and the room still was light
shoWihS that IL still was daylight above
NeNt TIME 1t was dark and knew that
another night had set in The Indian and
l had not exchanged a word during all
inns time; indeed Black Eagle scarcely
had moved from his first position since
We first laid down. / made one unbrok-
-en sleep through the night and awoke
10 fnd myself. for the first time in orr
Information. thoroughly hungry. / pull
cd the old fold of my blanket from ba
fore my face and saw that the snow was
no longer pressed closely about us bur
that we laid In a little vault-shaped
space This had been caused by the melt
ing OF the snow next US through the heat
or our bodies; but the water thus lib
Grated. instead OF dropping upon US had
been drawn by capillary attraction info
the surrounding snow. so that our blank
ets were perfectly dry. J was warn-tOo
"drm-for my body was moist and
steaming with perspiratfon
ihere was clear foot OF space all
around US. and enough light came
ehrousn the snow to enable the Indian
and | to distinguish each other.
DO you think the storm is over2'- T
asked my voice sounding strangely as I
spoke.
For answer the InGIdn took the clean
ing rod or his rife and began to work il
up through the the snow above mis- head
IL was a slow job. and he had 10 widen
a space to admit the whole length oe
MS arm before he pushed the rod high
enough for his purpose. AT last he with
drew It, and through the hole that ha
had MADE ray OF sunshine rifted dowT,
10 where we were. Black Eagle put his
eye TO the hole and looked Up through il.
III m! All right. No more snow. ne
Srunted- Guess we go now
With his hunting knife he hogan to
cut a passage upward. following the
opening that he had made with the
cleaning rod. and clearing away a space
Ddreiy Dig enough to admit his body and
permit him to use his arm freely. The
snow, as 1t fell into the opening where
we Were distributed where it would be
least in the way First Black Eagle
worked lying on his back. then he sat up.
Wlth MS head in the opening. then rose to
MS knees, and at last he got upon his
feet and / could tell by the sound of his
voice and movements. and by the light
streaming down into the hole, that ne
was working with head and shoulders in
tne open air. The snow. packed by the
WIND and then frozen. was 3 solid almost
as chalk. He lifted himself clear OF the
noie and cut away the snow chunks
them to the right and left until
he had enlarged the opening so that
could easily pass out the saddle. bIan-
kets' antelope quarters. and our other
effects. and then follow myself.
Il emerged into dazzling sunlight and
a world of snow. Plain. valley ard dis
tant hills and mountains all were white
and every gully was filed level TO its
brink with snow so solid that in moving
about upon il our feet left scarcely an
impression. Underneath the snow. over
half of Dakota. we knew were buried
cattle. horses and sheep. which would not
be discovered until it melted in the
spring L locked for M ranch. which
ordinarily. would be plainly in view from
the ridge. but 1 could row see only the
and part OF the roof among the
drifts. Fortunately ! had a pair Of
green goggles for the Indian The air
was cold though sunny. and the snow
was hard enough everywhere to walk on
without slumping. The hands of my
watch. which l had wound twice while
under the snow. were AT noon when We
started for the ranch. We got there at
o'clock in the afternoon. and 7 was
hungry and faint enough. as the Indian
and ! sat down to the first food we had
eat in over two days. 1t had been
thought at the ranch that I probably had
Derished in the bliZZard-that 1 certainly
had if the storm had caught me be-
tween MarstOn and the ranch and the
men looked at me at first as if I We're a
ghost returned. Black Eagle was hun
cry. like myself but beyond that he
showed no signs of having gone through
anything unusual. As for me. il was
-ears before 1 cared even to think of
ny experience, and of what would have
if I had not fallen in with the
Id Indian just as ] did"