The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1902-01-17

rent of icy air, tugging and shrle<ing
4 at the very ground beneath my feet;
hurricane of piercing sleet that
for breath, and still yelled on at the
same frightful speed.
Before 1 could prevent it, my big
mules were turning toward home, but
1 urged them back with shouts and
line, and bowed my head over the
dashboard ito escape the singing ice
particles. They went slowly on with
ewes closed and shoulders Traced
against the wind for a few hundred
feet, and then they doggedly insisted
on turning round, in spite of the
whip. / went to their heads, hut the
strong brutes backed and circled,
blowing the sleet from their nostrils,
utterly rebelling. l ran back to the
wagon and from the seat fairly pulled
their jaws around to their TANKS as
they sheered off from the storm.
Then one of them deliberately lay
down with his tail to the blizzard,
and both became entangfed in the
| harness, and when 1 succeeded in I'M
hitching the standing mule, he jerked
away and lumberingly gallo2ed OFF in
the binding snow.
AS the remaining mule was kicking
unmanageably in the deepening drift,
and as 1 was very cold and becoming
exhausted, 1 gave up the attempt to
| free the brute, and started bnck to
the village for aid. But when 1 had
made 20 steps from the wagon, the
| full meaning of the storm broke on
me. 1 stood in the midst of white
wall, seeing nothing, hearing nothing
but the roar of the ice hurricane,
which was so complete and steady
that it gave me sense of absolute
loneliness, as vast silence does.
So hard did the fine hail beat and
bruise me that l turned my back to
it's force and tried to reason out the
way to the house, which "ould not
have been 40 rods from where the
wagon stood. turned due east, judg-
ing from the tracks of the storm, and
plunged swiftly along with the gale
until I~stopped in a panic at being
wholly lost on the trackless prairie.
Now the wind, rising every minute,
dashed me furiously from all direc-
tons; my sense of distance and place
was hopelessly confused in the whirl-
ing chaos of snow.
To stand still would be soon to
freeze, and after a scared calculation
of my bearings, | went, on in what /
thought the direction of the village,
although the inclination to 60 with
the storm was almost irresistible. it
was not until after what seemed an
hour of futile struggle that l halted
again, turned once more to peer into
the coming blizzard, and was amazed
to see the dim, low outline of some
vast thing strangely moving toward
me, as if wide, slow, gray blanket
were creeping over the ground out
of the storm. It was not until. the
front was almost on me that l made
out flock of sheep.
The grizzled leader walked almost
to my feet and there stopped for sew
eral seconds, fixing his snow-crested
black eyes upon me in mild surprise.
Then he forged ahead with the storm.
Behind him in solid mass moved an
immense flock, nothing visible to me
except their snow-covered backs and
the moving legs and downcast heads
of the ones on the edges of the gap
that opened as they neared me and
closed as they passed me by, often
touching my clothes.
There seemed to be thousands of
the sheep as they filed past in the
driving gale. 1 could not imagine
where they were going, but every one
of the solemn-faced creatures seemed
to have a fixed purpose. Just as the
end of the flock seemed nigh, big
black dog doomed up in the rear and
came straight at me, with trifie of
suspicion in his eyes. He took my
joyful greeting in friendly manner,
however, but looked in vain for any
rancher accompanying the flock. L
tried to detain the dog, thinking that
surely he had some human companion
not far away, but after regarding me
doubtfully for a minute, he trotted
after the sheep and disappeared in the
storm.
1t struck me that the faithful guar
dian must be taking the flock home,
and so l ran hastily after him with
| the blizzard at my back. AS l knew
nothing then about western stock, I
did not understand that the sheep
were only drifting aimlessly with
their tails to the storm. These silly
creatures will wander before a storm
as long as they can stand, unless the
leader finds a bush or a gully where
he can take refuge. Then he stops,
and the whole flock pack around him
to leeward and lie down to die.
The sheep travelled rapidly through
the rising drifts, and the black shep-
herd and l followed. I supposed then
that he was heading them toward the
ranch, but now 1 know that he had
been caught alone with the herd, and,
being powerless to check their fight,
had refused, with high, dumb hero
ism, to desert his charges.
Some of the younger and weaker of
the sheep were already tagging in the
| coo,, lo,,>;4o fha JDc,c 70 lyaan