Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1908-06-24

| away
Though mortally afraid of such a
thing, ] almost laughed at the idea
OF a blizzard with the sky as clear
and the sun as bright and warm as
a day In June. Nevertheless j aided
Uncle Billy to hook up and get away.
We logged along at a good steady
gait. but uncle was silent as a tomb
stone.
do you think we shall have gen.
uine blizzard, uncle?" said /, ven-
turing to break the silence.
"You can't tell one minute what'll
happen the next" was his only re-
ply.
His next word was at the halfway
post, and that simply to mention the
fact that we were passing it, and
was spoken to the horses more than
to me.
A little gust of wind caused him to
straighten up and look toward the
sun, and brought from him the sig
nificant remark: Cali depends on the
team, my boy"
1 was ready to think the whole
thing a huge joke on tenderfoot,
and was about to say so when my
eyes caught sight of long, dark wall
moving rapidly toward us. Already its
western end was obscuring the sun
and the air was beginning to chill
my blood.
Uncle laid on the whip till the
horses were on the run. We passed
the last ridge hiding our home from
vision, and the long line of cotton
woods indicated that we were near
ing the ranch.
BY this time the sky was growing
so dark that l hardly dare look back;
and the dark wall was rising higher
and higher, and growing blacker and
blacker with the passing of every min
ute.
The horses were doing their best,
their furious driver apologiZing to
them for his. unwonted cruelty, when
he suddenly yelled with the ferocity
of a mailman: eff that falls on us be-
fore We reach home, you freeze TO
the Buffalo robe and Doll, and I'll
take my, chances with old Ned"
Those were the last words 1 heard
till uncle pulled me out of the robe
an hour later. The thing fell sure
enough, and yet the frightened team
would not stop. They kept lunging
and plunging and pulling one another
up by turns after a fall.
AS for me, could not endure the
snow for a second. There were no
flakes just snowbanks. These came
straight down, only to be lwhirled
about by the wind to make room for
more; so rolled me UP in the great
robe and lay down in the wagon-box,
awaiting orders from Uncle Billy.
Though we were not more than
twenty rods from the barn when that
wall fell on us, it took the team an
interminable hour to reach that barn.
We had left the big double doors
open that morning when we started
for town, and well for us that we
had done so; for no sooner had the
faithful horses landed on the barn
floor than they dropped from sheer
exhaustion. Uncle closed the doors,
and then pulling me out, shouted:
They made it all right, but look at
EN-"
We set to rubbing them with all
our strength, and soon had them dry
and warm and bedded in their stalls
with hay to their backs
Being confined in the corral the cat
tie and sheep had taken refuge in the
long. low sheds built for them, and
we're comparatively safe and COM
Portable.
The next question was, "How can
we get to the house?'
After tying long line to my wrist,
uncle took the other end and lunging
into the snow told me to follow when
he pulled. At the first Indication of
tautness, l made a Decline for the
house without waiting for another
tug on the rope. To my surprise,
reached the kitchen door without fur
Their assistance, only to find at once
that my uncle was not there.
Having thoughtlessly released the
rope from my wrist, a sudden jerk
drew it far out of my reach and l
dared not follow.
Intuitively, almost, took down the
old musket and began firing blank
shots, hoping thereby to attract my
uncle's attention toward the house.
In this I was right. Although
blinded with the snow and chilled
with frost, Uncle Billy was soon be-
side me in the shanty, safe and sound.
For three days and as many nights
we dare not open the outside door,
such was the roaring of the wind
and the cracking of the frost.
We spent the time playing checkers
and writing to our friends back East
that we had the record for fast driv-
ing, having sent old Doll and old
Ned over twenty-three miles of plains
| in one hour and fifty-one minutes
with two men and farm wagon be-
hind them.
On the third day we ventured ou.,