Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1898-02-27

%e were oeihS puried aiiyeILny snow, IN.
would drift above us. The blankets soon
were packed and loaded above and around
and an; 81 the en roarin nsi, Of as ib III S ster were no IN s q mSIei
like a far-away zephyr in my ears. l
fought OF the drowsiness for a while. but
Eagle was sleeping beside me gave me
confidence-and the end was that l dropped
on to siumbers as sound as his. 1 slept
a long while. and it must nave been high
morning when / awoke. 1t was dark. and
the snow was all about us. though it did
not lie heavily on us or Cypress us. and I
found l could move my legs and arms a
little in every direction. There was no
sound of any kind to be heard or breath
of wind that I could feel. L turned over on
my back and stretched my legs and arms
out the best i could TO give relief to my
muscles. l was not merely comfortably
warm. but moist from perspiration. and
the blankets about me were dry. Pcering
out from under the blanket, l could see
that the light penetrated the snow. which
porcelain by daylight. Black Eagle was
sleeping away as soundly as in the begin
ming. and seemed not to have stirred once.
In the dimness. with the drowsiness caused
by the limited supply of air. in a space SO
confined. it was easy to drop asleep again.
waking spells which lasted only long
enough to stretch my limbs and turn a
little before l went off to sleep again. And
l peeped out from the blankets. and the
room still was light. showing it still was
daylight above. Next time it was dark,
and i knew that another night had set in.
The Indian and / had not exchanged I
word during all his time; indeed. Black
Eagle
Scarcely Had Moved
from his first position since We first laid
ourselves down. l made one unbroken
sleep through the night, and woke to find
myself. for the first time in our hiberna-
ton, thoroughly hungry. 1 pulled the fold
of my blanket from before my face and
saw that the snow was no longer presse,.
closely about US, but that We lay in a little
yault-shaped space. This had been caused
by the melting of the Saw next us
through the heat of our bodies; but the
water thus liberated. instead of dropping
upon us. had been drawn by capillary at
traction into the surrounding SNOW. so that
our blankets were perfectly dry. L was
warm-fOr my body was moist
and steaming with. perspiration. There
was a clear foot OF space all around us,
and enough light came through the snow
TO enable the Indian and l to distinguish
each other.
".Do You think the storm is over?' I
asked. my voice sounding strangely as 1
spoke. For answer the Indian took the
cleaning rod Of his rife and began to
work it up through the snow above his
head. 1t was a slow job. and he had to
widen a space to admit the whole length OF
his arm before he pushed the rod high
drew it, and through the hole that he had
made a ray of sunlight rifted down to
NItE0 We were. bldCh EdSIe put MS eye
to the hole and looked up through it.
HIM. All right. No more snow he
grunted. Guess We go now
a passage upward. following the opening
that he had made with the cleaning rod
and clearing. away a space barely big
to use his arm freely. The snow. as 1t
fell into the opening where We were, 1 dis
trihuted where it would be least in the
way. First Black Eagle worked living on
his back, then he sat up. with his head in
the opening, then rose to his knees, and at
Last he got upon his feet. and l could tell
and by the light streaming down into the
hole that he was working with head and
shoulders in the open air. The snow.
packed by the wind and then frozen. was
as solid almost as chalk. He lifted himself
clear OF the hole and cut away the snow
chunks, throwing them TO right and left
until he had
Enlarged the Opening
so that I could easily pass out the saddle
blankets. antelope quarters. and our other
effects and then follow myself. 1 emerged
into dazzling sunlight and a world of snow.
Plain, valley. and distant hills and noun
tains all wore white ana every gully was
filled level to its brink with snow so solid
that in moving about upon it our feet left
scarcely an impression. Underneath the
buried cattle horses and sheep which
would not be discovered until it melted in
the spring.. L looked Tor my rancn, which
ordinarily would be plainly in view from
the ridge. but I could now see only the
chimney and part of the roof among the
drifts. Fortunately. l had a pair of green
goggles in my pocket with which to protect
myself from snow blindness. His blanket
pulled over his head answered the same
purpose as goggles for the Indian. The
air was cold. though sunny. and the snow
was hard enough everywhere to walk on
without slumpirg. The hands of my
watch, which / had wound twice while
under the snow, were at noon wnen We
started for the ranch. We got there az
3 O'Clock in the afternoon, and / was
hungry and faint enough, as the Indian
and / sat down TO the first food we had
had to eat in over two days. 1t had been
thought. at the ranch that l probably had
persisted in the bliZZard-that l certainly
had if the storm had caught me between
Marston and the rarch-and the men
looked at me at first as if 1 We're Il ghost
returned. Black Eagle was hungry. like
myself. but beyond that he SHOWED no
signs of having gone through anything I'M
usual. AS for me. it was years before I
cared even to think of my experience. and
of what would have happened if / mad not
fallen in with the old Indian just as l did"