The Black Hills union and western stock review. [volume] (Rapid City, S.D.) 1904-19??, 1905-07-28
CHAPTER X

HOW WE KEPT LENTEN VIGJI,S
IN TRINITYTIDE.
l"ouid weary you beyond the limit
or good nature We're / to try to nict,,ra
= a. !arse tne varied haps and haz-
ARDS OF our watchings in the snvare
wilderness, For the actors in any play
the trivial details have their place AMI
meaning momentous enough, 1t NAV he.
yet these are often wearjsome ia tha
box or stall yawning impatientlv for
the climax. W
so, II you please, you are to conceive
Us tour, tne strangest ill-assorted com
pany on the. footstool, pushing on from
day to day deeper and ever deener into
the painless forest s%olitudes, vet 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 An
susl neat, or over hillsides slippery
WIN. the tallen leaves of the pine trees.
Anon 1t traced the crooked windinps Of
some brawling mountain stream
through thicket tangles where, YOU
would think, no woman-ridden horse
could penetrate.
One day the sun would shine re-
splendent and all the columned dis
tances would fill with soft suffusings or
the gray n green n gold. with here
u there a dusky flame where the
sweet-gum heralded the autumn. whilst
overhead the leafy arches were fine
lined traceries and. arabesuues against
the blue. But in the night. mayhan q
DISMAL rain would come, chill with tho
breath of the nearing mountains. and
then the trees turned into dripping
~sprinkiing pots to drench us where we
lay, sodden already with the heayiness
of exhaustion.
Since the hasting pursuit was a thing
to tar the very fountain head of forti.
tuoe II endurance, We Jared on silent
for the better part: and Ii a little time
the hush of the solitudes laid fast hold
OF US, scanning us of speech and bidding
us go softly. And after this the march
became a soundless shadow-fittlng. and
we a file OF voiceless mech
anlsms wound up and set to measure off
the miles TIL famine or exhaustion
should thrust a finger in among the
wheels and bid them stop forever,
This was the loom on which we woye
the backward reaching web of siren
uous expressing. But through that web
the scarlet thread of famine shuttled
III n out. ana munger came and
marched with us till II the DAVIS and
nights We're filled with cravings. and
we rocked little of fair skies or drip-
ping clouds. or aught besides sa We this
ever-present specter of starvation.
You will not think 1t strange thai /
should have but dim n misty memor-
les Of this fainting time. OF all priya
lions famine soonest blunts the senses
making a man oblivious Of all save
that which drives him onward. The
happenings that J&remember clearesl
are those which turned upon some
temporary bridging OF the hunger gulf
One was Yeates' killing of a milch doe
which, with her fawn, ran across GU,
path when we had tasted two whole
days. BY this, a capital crime in an,
hunters code, you may guess how
cruelty we were nipped in the hungel
wise. Also. l remember this: as If i
mock us all the glades and openings 3,
the hillsides were thicketed with berr.
bushes, long past bearing. And. bein,
too late for these. we were as much to,
early for the nuts of the hickory ant
chestnut and black walnut that peltet
us In passing.
The does neat. coming at a time OF
sharpest need. set us two days farthe,