The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1902-04-05

and OH so cold. so Geld. I tried to ask Mr..
B. if he knew whittier we were flying but
could not make myself heard: so I took
a frmer hold on the seat and hung on,
while it seemed as If the wind were blow
ing right through me and turning my mar
row into ice 49,
How long 1t continued thus I don't
know; it could not have been very long
or we should have frozen to death, but it
seemed a week. ~
Suddenly I realized that we were actual
ly flying or falling. grasped blindly with
both hands, felt something in each, and
presently found myself rapidly sliding
down steep incline, with one hand firm
ly Fastened in Mr.. BIS collar, and the
both gasping and sputtering, finally bring
ing up nearly out of sight in bank Of
soft, newly-fallen snow. j.. -. g..
Now finding that we could see fairly
well, we began to take stock Of our con-
dition and surroundings. We We're at the
foot Of high hill, or snow bank, we
could not tell which, apparently hundred
feet or more in height, and as it rose at a
sharp angle directly to WindWard, it shell.
tered us from the fury Of the storm
The snow being freshly deposited In a
sheltered place, was soft, and we were
uninjuried, though nearly frozen.
Now I realized the value of the shovel,
and with it commenced with vigor t.
dig out a snow cave for shelter. while Mr..
B. got poor Dick the horse, untang1ed
from the cutter. " y <~.-
In digging, I soon came to q. crust
which had been formed by blizzard
from the opposite direction, and which
was so hard that, without the shovel,
we should have been unable to penetrate
1T: but once through it. it was but a
half-hours work to dig out a cave large
nT0n JcrI1 nr hnfh of fl,@
and with the buffalo robes thrown over
the opening, the heat from our bodies
soon made the place plenty warm enough
for comfort. .--...
well, Mr.. Blank" said T. what do
you think about it now? Don't / stand
IA pretty good chance of selling some
more goods in this country?"
"Oh, yes! you're all right, now. but
don't believe you realize what narrow
escape you have had, my son. Why if
we hadn't just happened by a miracle
to strike this place, your chance for
being alive two hours from now wouldn't
have been one in a thousand" .
Mr.. B. was right. I did not fully ap-
preciate the situation, as that was the
first blizzard I had had an intimate &C.
quaintance with. Before the winter end
ed I knew more about billiards, for
but as Kipling says, 'That's another
story
Our further experience with this biz
zard was only matter of a little c1s-
comfort, and the awakening of 70 ust
appetite, for the storm subsided in the
middle Of the night, though we did not
leave our warm snow shelter until morn
ing. which dawned as clear and bright
as if nothing had ever happened.
I then found that our escape had in
deed been miraculous. The snow bank
for such it proved to be-was only few
hundred feet long, and if we had gone
to either side of it, we should almost
certainly have persisted, for the prairie
was fiat as far as we could see. and Of
fored no chance whatever for shelter.
Within less than half mile was a set
tiers cabin, where we found a welcome
as warm as the breakfast, to which we
did full justice. ...>... r:
The settler informed us that the snow
drift that had sheltered us had started
from a Cit bank on the Des Moines river
only a few feet high. Every blizzard
had added to it. until it got tC be the
great drift that had been our salvetion.-
A. Hunger, in los Angeles Times.