The daily chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Ind. Ter. [Okla.]) 1898-1902, 1900-03-21
LIKE A FAIRY TALE.
A Dinner That Came 10 snow-iiound
Soldiers when II Was Least
Expeeted.

"You mightn't believe it," said an
army lieutenant, but once upon a
time when three Of us officers were out
on the plains starving in the snow, so
miles from any town bigger than a
watertanlS, we we're suddenly dropped
into a feast Of champagne, oysters,
turkey and roast beef, and all the good
things you can imagine starving man
would like to encompass, or course,
YOU don't believe it, but let me tell
YOU.
"A force of 80 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 us
started out ON a hunt and when night
came we were caught by a snowstorm
in an old cabin out on the plains. There
was nothing to do but stop where we
were, and making q fire with such
parts of the cabin as we could spare,
we made ourselves comfortable as pos
sible for the night. We had nothing
90 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 floundered 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
will admit that we were not very
cheerful, and when it had become 80
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
sleepier. AS a sudden blast stronger
than the others swept by, l turned
Salf round to shield myself, and as
did so 1 saw off to the left the glimmer
of light. 1t seemed to be rising from
the snow, and we thought it might be
some cabin half covered by the drift
with a roaring fire inside streaming
up through the chimney. In any event,
we let loose the strongest shout we
had left and made for it, still clingfng |
to each other. 1t was not more than |
a quarter Of q 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 Northern |
Pacific railroad train showed in. II |
was digging its way slowly through the
drift, and when we came down over |
the snowbank onto it the tra:nmen
thought it was 'hold-up,' but we told
them pretty soon what the matter
was, and they hustled us aboard. II
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 a dinner which
Is minutes before seemed to be farther
away from us than heaven. 1t was
ike fairy tale, tell you. We spent
thc evening telling our story to all
he passengers, went to bed early, :
lept like moles, and the next morning
:he train had worked through and we
rot of at the first station to take the
next. train back to Headquarters. -