Kingsbury County independent. (DeSmet, Kingsbury County, S.D.) 1894-1929, 1905-07-28
CHAPTER XXI.
HOW WE KEPT LENTEN yIGTLs
In RINITYTInn

~@@NAN .
IN TRINITYTIDE.
TWoulda weary o beyond the limit
or good nature were / to try to picture
out at large the varied haps and haz-
ards of our ~watchings in the savage
wilderness. For the actors in any play
the trivial details have their place and
meanlng momentous enough, 1t may be;
yet these are often wearisome to the
box or stall yawning impatiently for
the climax.
So. If o please, you are to conceive
us four, the s~trangest ill-assorted COM
pany on the footstool. pushing on from
day TO day deeper and ever deeper into
the painless forest solitudes. yet al
ways with the plain-marked trail to
guide us.
At times the march measured a full
days length amid the columned aisles
or the forest temple through lush green
glades dank and steaming in the Au-
gust heat, or over hillsides slippery
with the fallen leaves of the pin trees.
Anon 1t traced the crooked BINDINGS OF
some brawling mountain stream
through thicket tangles where, YOU
would think, nc woman-ridden horse
could penetrate.
One day the sun would shine re-
splendent and all the columned dis
tances would fill with soft suffusings of
the graz and green and gold, with here
and there a tusky flame where the
sweet-gum heralded the autumn, whilst
overhead the leafy arches were fine
lined traceries and arabesques against
the blue. But in the night, mayhap. a
dismal rain would come, chill with the
breath of the nearing mountains; and
then the. trees turned into dripping
sprinkling pots to drench us where we
lay, sodden already with the heaviness
of exhaustion.
Since the hasting pursuit was a Trims
TO tap the very fountain head of forti-
tude and endurance, we Jared on silent
Tor the better part; and In a little time
/ the hush OF tine soiitudes laid fast hold
or us, scanting us of speech and bidding
us go softly. And after this the march
became a soundless shadow-fitting. and
We a struggling file of voiceless mech
antSms wound up and set to measure off
the miles till famine or exhaustion
should thrust a finger in anon the
wheels and bid them stop forever.
This was the loom or which we wove
the MISUNDERSTANDING web of siren
uous expressing. But through that web
the scarlet thread of famine shuttled
in and out. and hunger came and
marched with us till all the days and
nights We're filled with cravings. and
we rocked little of fair skies or drip
ping clouds, or aught besides save this
ever-present specter of starvation.
You Will not think Ii strange tina I
should have but dim and misty
les of this fainting time. OF all priya-
tions famine soonest blunts the senses.
making a man oblivious OF all save
that which drives him onward. The
happenings that / remember ciearest
are those which turned upon some
temporary bridging OF the hunger gulf.
One was feates' killing of a mich Zoe
which, with her fawn. ran across our
path when we had tasted two whole
days. BY this. a capital crime In any
hunters code. you may guess how
cruelty we We're nipped in the hunger
wise. Also. 1 remember this: as IL 70
mock us all the glades and openings on
the hillsides were thickcteG with berry
bushes. long past bearing. And, being
too late for these. we were as much too
early for the nuts Of The hickory and
chestnut and black walnut that pelted
us In passing. 4.
The does meat. coming at a time OF
sharpest need. set US two days farthav