Sunday morning globe., 1901-11-10

uge.
Luckily, the storm began to abate
somewhat along about ten o'clock, and
the wind suddenly died down to al
most a whisper It was extremely
dark though, and the cold was intense.
/ dismounted several times in the hope
Of finding some familiar rock or tree,
by which I could identify my surround
ings but the darkness was so inpene-
trabe, and the snow had rifted into
such fantastic shapes that it was ut
terly impossible to distinguish a soli-
tary familiar object among all that
dreary eXpanse Of desolation.
dad some pretty deep thinking dur
ing this period, and had / strictly
adhered to the excellent resolutions /
made for the guidance Of my future
life / should be held up TO erring young
men Of today as a shining example for
them to guide their wayward footsteps
by-as it is-but why disgress?
now became conscious Of a terrible
drowsiness which / knew to give way
to meant certain death, and yet the
knowledge that | was in danger Of
freezing caused me no uneasiness at
all Indeed found myself smiling at
the thought. Old forgotten boyish es-
capades foated through my mind as If
they had occurred the day previous,
and several times caught myself
laughing heartily at the tricks We used
TO play upon a particularly deaf old
drawing master that was connected
with our school, and who had been
dead these many years.
We had a rule in our school to the
effect that It was always necessary
when desiring permission to withdraw,
TO raise our right hands. Now the
drawing master was lamentably dear,
and yet he was unusually sensitive
about his infrmity, so the boys used
TO think Of the most ridiculous ques-
tions they could ask him; then raising
their hands. they used to inquire in
vocle loud enough for the entire
school to hear. something Ike the fol-
lowing: "Mr Mills, I am sorry to hear
that YOU were drunk again last night
is this so. you old reprObateY And
poor old Mills, thinking that the prom
ising youth was only asking permls-
sion to withdraw from the room, would
always reply. Eyes. yes much to the
amusement of the whole class Many
of the questions were not as one would
eypect that a boy would ask OF an old
man, but I don't know that this acted
as any damper upon our fun; rather
increased it, I am bound to admit An,
many Of those rosy-cheeked lads have
since followed their old master into
that great unknown world
Now il seems strange to me that
,nose old boyhood memories should
arise so vividly to my mind on that
memorable night, and yet I could see
the old schoolroOm and the bright
boyish faces. just as they had been in
those days Of long ago. Brave old
days. Days that will never come
again.
My thoughts wondered from my
school days to the incidents Of my
later life and I found myself trying
to make excuses for a misspent life.
I tried to reason that I was in the
right, and that the others were all
actuated by selfish motives, still
would have given all to have been able
to have asked their pardon that night.
| Bah. how weak I must have been.
BY and by, as the mumbness became
more and more perceptible, I thought
of the flask Of brandy which I carried.
| Hastily drawing 1t from my pocket
took. a long pull and almost as If by
magical influence I became a new
man. All my former energies returned
i'm a twinkling. and I realized for the
first time the true seriousness Of my
| position. 1t was plain to me that my
| horse was as much at a loss i'm finding
| the path to safety as I was myself.
realized that the return Of my facilities
were only temporary and that as soon
as the effects Of the liquor wore off, I
would be a great deal worse off than /
was before,
So striking a match on the pommel
/ Of my saddle. saw that that the hands
| of my watch pointed to the hour OF
| two o'clock. I had just replaced the
watch in my pocket when | was near.
ly unseated by an abrupt movement OF
my horse. Quickly glancing up to as
certain the cause of my horses fright
/ saw not ten PAGES from me a huge
| barrel-like object that kept rolling In
an aimless manner back and forth
directly in front Of my frantic steed.
break in the cloudy sky at that
moment enabled me to distinguish the
outlines Of a barrel quite plainly. as
it moved back and forth, and always
Immediately across my horses path.
I could feel the horse quiverina
under me as his breath came quick
and fast But I don't beneve that
was so much frightened at the time as
I was puzzled at the remarkable con
duct Of the mysterious barrel Again
and again I urged the maddened beast
forward, but as every effort he made
to respond to my cries, that ghosly
barrel by a peculiar whirling motion
rolled deliberately across our path.
was now rapidly becoming imbued
with the panic that seemed to com
/ pletely possess the horse and I yelled
wildly as 1 attempted to force the
, frantic animal past the horrible OBJ
, struction. In my impotent rage / drew
, my revolver and discharged it reclI
lessly at the offending obstruction. A
/ furious terror overwhelmed me.
, was raving maniac for the time be
r ing, / showered blow upon blow OF