The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1901-02-01
A DAKOTA MONSTER.


western part Of North Dakota.
Within the vehicle was 4 heart.
bowed down by the touches Of re-
cent bereavement; and, there was an
other heart therein also-on % yet
incapable Of understanding emotions,
A mother and her child were on their
way toward the setting sun, to a home
that had been offered them when the
death angel came and visited their
own. The mother hourly realizes the
distance growing between her and her
husbands grave; and the babe, 2wed
to silence by the choking sobs and
caresses of the heart-broken mother,
was finally lulled to sleep by the signs
Of the quivering lips and the soothing
pattings Of the tremulous hand
Altar in the distance ahead, beyond
the tagged horses whose limbs rose
and fell mechanically, reared an omi.
nous cloud whose import was we'll
known to the African who held the
reins In his hands. East, west, north
and south. the, plain stretched away
into the distance-cold. cherries, mer
CHESS, frozen into CHASTITY melancholy
by the silver glitter of the stars, and
white-coralled by the frosty grass.
blades, sere and brittle.
II reckon dar's gwine TO- to be one
oh dem nasty blizar's soon. Whoof!
Denis de debirs own BRET TO- blowin'
de life out Oh folkses. G'long dar, ole
Gray! You'ur alleses hangin' back TO-
Sandy. Hi. golly! l hope de good
down.
| "What is the meaning of that cloud
ahead, Joe?" asked the woman, as he1
eyes ranged the sky beyond the horses
| heads.
Muffin, nutfin,' missy! Jess cloud.
Joe, as he touched old Gray with the
goad.
"Joe, why not stop here for the
night? The jolting of the wagon
makes me ache all over; and ! am so
tired!'
"Honey, yo' see dat brack hill way
ober dar?" asked Joe, as he pointed
toward the dark outlines of an object
rising from the plain. '1's gwine TO
to reach dat hill if old Gray sotter
bust a Shoe"
II see the hill, Joe-it must be some
miles away; but why so anxious tc
reach it?'
"'Case-dat's ally" laconic:llly re.
piled Joe, urging on the tired horses
''Well, suppose you know best. Oh
shall we never reach home: Home
What strange word that seems t.
me! ] have no home-no homer
"We'n git dar purity sun, honey; an
when the bapby an yo' aur dar, why
-yo'n be dar, chile, Dress yo'!' b.
There was but slight consolation to
be derived from the honest fellows
words. So the widowed mother with.
drew her face and closed the opening
in the canvas.
81 doan dar tell poo missy bout
de nasty blizzar' OATS comm. II dem
poo snags kin hol] out little longer
we'll reach de hill-an' edat'I keep off
de wusser part ob de dehips bref."
| The cloud beyond grows larger and
larger every moment. It swells and
spreads as it approaches the wagon,
sweeping like giant crescent between
earth and sky, obscuring the blinking
stars, and murmuring ominously like
the sullen roar Of the distant tempest
With gaunt, gloomy, ghostly arms
the giant monster Of the Northwest
approaches. The cold, like the grim
premonition of deaths dranght. pene
trates the canvas OF the wagon, pierc.
ing the flesh of mother and child with
daggers as of ice.
"Joe! Joe! What is itY' cries thu
voice from within.
Muffin, muffin, honey!' chatters
the negro, as his frozen fingers me.
chemically clutch the reins. "Yo' jess
pull dem blankets close bout yo' an
de babby. Wen git dar, bress God!
Yes, chile, We'll git dar by-bv de
bright light!'
The words falteringly fall from the
half -palsied lips like the murmurs
that come when the speaker IL slowly
but surely drifting into the land Of
slumber.
Five, ten minutes pass; the tempest
increases. The pale face Of the wo.
man again appears in the rent in the
canvas. She speaks. Joe is silent.
Again she speaks, and louder. tn
faithful blacks lips are locked, and
he does not answer. She reaches out
her hand and shakes him. Merciful
heaven!~ The rigid form topples over
the side of the wagon and falls upon
the ground, stiff, frozen! His eyes are
wide open, and they stare up out Of the
depths of chaos into the illimit-
able eternity beyond the swishing
gusts of snow and leaden, 'sullen sky.
The sudden drag upon the reins
stops the horses. The poor creatures
lean to the pole and rub their noses
together; and thus standing they
freeze, freeze inch by inch, while their
legs turn to Ice, rigid, supporting.
And then the monster, the white
wrath of the Northwest, engulfs the
fated wagon. 1t rips the canvas from
the stays and bears it away with
shrieks of laughter. The mother and
child are now exposed to the pitiless
buffeting of the whirlwind raging furi-
ously about them. The entire plain
seems one heaving undulating mass as
far as the eyes can reach. Like the
swallowing waves Of the ocean the
clouds of snow beat against the skele-
ton-like wagon as though - tear It
from earth and bear it away in fury's
| rms