Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1900-03-23
LIKE A FAIRY TALE.
4 Dinner That Came to Snovv-Bound
Soldiers When 1t Was Least
Expected.

lou mlShtnt DeneVe 1t, Sa1o an
army lieutenant, but once upon
time when three of us officers were out
on the plains starving in the snow, so
miles from any town bigger than
watertank, we were suddenly dropped
into a feast of champagne. oysters,
turkey and roast beef, and all the good
things you can imagine a starving man
would like to encompass. Of course,
YOU don't believe it, but let me tell
you.
"a force of SO men with five officers
were doing detail work in Montana
one winter, and as amusements of all
kinds were scarce, we were ready for
almost anything. One day three Of u
started out on hunt and when night
came we were caught by snowstorm
in an old cabin out on the plains. There
was nothing to do but stop where we
were, and making a fire with such
parts of the cabin as we could spare,
| we made ourselves comfortable as pos
sible for the night. We had nothing
to eat, and as soon as morning came
we faced the storm which was still
bad and started to find headquarters.
We were in fairly good spirits at first,
but as we houndered around through
the snow, able to make very little prog
ress, and that in a direction we were
not certain of, matters began to look
serious, and when the shades of even
| ing came on and we were completely
| lost and without shelter of any kind,
we began to droop and to wonder how
| long it would be until .our friends
! found our bodies in the snow.
"Of course, we didn't mention any
thing of this kind to each other, but
| viii admit that we were not very
cheerful, and when it had become so
dark that we held hands SO that we
should not be lost from each other
! I, for one, felt that it was our last
hand clasp on earth. We had become
very silent now, and were struggling
along aimlessly, growing a little
weaker all the time, and colder and
sleeper. AS a sudden blast stronger
than the others swept by, I turned
| half round to shield myself, and as
did so 1 saw off to the left the glimmeI
OF light. 1t seemed to be rising from
| the snow, and we thought it might be
some cabin half covered by the drift
with roaring fire inside streaming
up through the chimney. In any event,
we lcC loose the strongest SHOUT we
had left and made for it, still clingtng
| to each other. 1t was not more than
a quarter of mile away-if it had
been farther we never would have seen
| it through the storm and when we
! got to it we found it was a Northern
Pacific railroad train showed in. 1t
was digging its way slowly through the
Edrift, and when we came down over
the snowbank onto it the trainmen
thought it was 'Eold-up,' but we told
them pretty soon what the matter
was, and they hustled us aboard. 1t
was just after the second call for din
ner, the dining-room car was in full
operation, and there in the midst of
the cold, the desolation, the distance
from civilized homes and the bowling
storm, we sat down to dinner which
Is minutes before seemed to be farther
away from us than heaven. 1t was
like fairy tale, I tell you. We spent
the evening telling our story to all
the passengers, went to bed early,
Islept like moles, and the next morning
the train had worked through and we
Igot off at the first station to take the
next train back to headquarters''-
Washington Star