The Florence daily tribune., 1899-01-12

TREED BY WOLVES
By Martin Hunter.
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BY Martin Hunter .

7 GOT the outlines of the following
! story from DE Hertle, and send it as
/ a companion sketch to the "Ruttling
/ Season" However. II word about De
| Hertle There. was quite romance
about his being among the Indians.
and at some future time ] may be
tempted to write il up, for it shows
| how a man can sacrifice position and
| family itself for sublime love.
| When | first went to Mingnn to as
sume charge of that post, ! found DE
| HertIe. middle-aged man. with an In
| dian woman for wife, and 4 growing
up family of French half-breeds, most
beautiful and intelligent children.
He was at home and fluent in French.
| English and Latin, and, being nm OBJ
servant man. and having read every
| thing he could lay his hands on. was
most amusing and instructive com
panion.
II. NJ. Ballantyne mentions him in his
book. "Hudson's Bay" but under an
| other name.
| | think il was the first or second day
| after ms arrival that noticed man of
/ about 20, who was hobbling about in
the most odd gait ! ever saw, and his
| moccasins were of abnormal shortness.
| said to De Hertle. who happened to
| be chatting with me AT the time:
whats the trouble with that fel-
| low? Look how he walks"
"That poor man." he replied, follow
ing the Indian with his eyes. has had
] l. nH He
was only youth at the time, but
showed wonderful bravery and endur-
ancc However. il you would like to
hear the story. | will come over after
tea and tell you the facts as they hap
| pcned."
| assured him it would give me great
| pleasure not only to see him but to
hear the story With this. he took his
way and l turned my steps toward the
cooper shop, to see how the work there
was progressing. thanking the fates as
| poor Ballantyne had done in the wears
gone by for having such an agreeable
person about the post as De Hertle. for
this is the great drawback that pre-
sents itself to an unmarried officer in
the company's service on outpost duty
the want of genial and suitable com
panionship.
According to this promise, De Hertle
turned up in the early part OF the even
| ing, and after we had replenished the
fire in the old-fashioned chimney and
filed our pipes. we drew up our chairs
to the hearthstone and De Hertle be
gan:
"That poor unfortunate young man.
regarding whom you questioned me to-
day, is nephew of my wife, and the
way he became crippled. as you noticed,
happened years ago, when he was quite
boy,
THE winter when this took place his
father (my wife's brother) and myself
went from here to the Moisic, as il was
likely to he year of foxes on the coast,
and there is no better place to hunt
them than on the sands on each side of
that great river.
I'VE built ourselves n small log cabin
to house our families in common. and
| by the time all was finished snug to
our satisfaction it was time to set our
traps.
'Fox-trapping. when they are plenti-
| ihi, 10 ~ ''iS P"N A't '''''iNs's'f 'iH s''>
| silver or black ones. as you know, are
very valuable. The intense cold of Dc
cember began to make itself felt. and
ms the fish had left the shore To deep
water, and partridge, rabbits and other
small game were becoming scarce. we
were glad 10 see that the cold wave
from the far north had brought down
to the coast innumerable tiocks OF
ptarmigan, and thus we We're assured
of plenty until the warm weather of
early April drove them back from
whence they came.
''ln very severe winters, such AS
the one | mention, the cold drives
everything south-wolves from the bar
rem grounds among the other animals.
/ "Old Jerome Nalois had four children
two sons and two daughters. The
boys We're the youngest at the time
am speaking of, being respectively nine
and seven years of age. The one you
saw to-day. William. was the elder.
''William had had gun for over n
year. and was quite n good shot and
successful hunter. young as he was.
Nearly every day he and his little
brother. Mark (the latter To carry the
bag and pick up the game) used to
sally forth, and at night return both
| Il a. ,.rnr