The Lee County journal. (Leesburg, Ga.) 1904-19??, 1908-07-24
Before We could finish the wall q I

storm came down out or the noun
tains. We had to weight down the
edges Of the tent, and crawl in and
do the best we could. When the RAJ
ton of cold meat and biscuit was
passed round, John said he wasn't
hungry should eat his share. We
rebelled.
~See here, John Miller" we de-
clared, syou must eat your rations.
You are getting weaker and weaker
and what would we do without you?.
He laughed and nibbled bit, and
passed the remainder over to us.
snow, boys" he said, with smile
which gave us hope, "I'll make a con-
fession. I'm having my last struggle
with this Congo fever, Unjust starve
| 1t out-starve 1t out, you know. But
Ill win. And when the reindeer
come-this storm will bring them
and the fat, juicy steaks are, going
round, why, just count me in"
This cheered us ALL Curious. the
faith we had in that man. We
wouldn't believe our own eyes; we
believed him instead. We saw that
he was wasting away; his blood was
running thin as water; the color was
gone from his face; his eyes were the
brightest things to be seen in the
gloom of the tent But he said he
was going to be all right, and that
was enough for us. We did not doubt
it.
More and more violent became the
gale. 1t was an arctic blizzard. The
snow blew all through our tent, and
we lay shivering in our blankets.
Three days and nights the storm con-
tinued. We couldn't sleep much.
Every hour or two the tent threat
ened to go Il pieces, and it was John
who always rushed to fix it or place
, another rock on its frozen edges. We
simply couldn't make him keep still.
He was in and out, looking for the
storm to break and the reindeer to
come, he said He cracked his jokes
and told us stories, and made each
one of us ashamed to admit his dis
couragement even to himself
At last the wind died away. The
snow stopped blowing through the
tent The sky cleared, and calm,
intense cold set in. oh, how cold it
Twas! We couldn't sleep, and after an
hour or two of shivering we cot UP,
lsshaking the thick white mantle from
FOUR blankets and pounding our be.
snumbed limbs John was not there.
His blanket was nearly buried in
snow; he must have been gone some
| time
Just then we heard a shout. 1t
came up from the shore. The voice
was Johns.
Reindeer! Reindeer" ne cried.
We three grabbed our guns and ran
out. There were reindeer, sure
enough score or more running
straight toward US; and behind them
was John, waving his arms and shout
ing, driving the herd against our
rifles.
In few moments seven deer were
lying dead in the snow. The others
had run away, but we were going
after them as soon as we could swal-
low some warm breakfast 1t did not
take us long to get the cooking lamp
lighted and some nice venison cuts
into the pot John tried to help us
dress the deer and prepare the break
fast, but he was so weak he could
hardly stand, and his face was as
white as the snow on the ground. SO
we took him in and wrapped him up
in the blankets.
Just as the SAVIOR of boiling meat
was waited through the tent, one OF
our comrades rushed in.
A ship! A Ship" he cried u
see a schooner headed this way!"
Our ship was coming at last. The
reindeer and the ship together both
of Johns predictions verified. We
turned to look at our comrade. He
was laughing softly. His eyes were
like two Goals Of fire, and there were
tears in them. He clapped his thin
hands together without making any
sound; the muscles were too weak.
There was a look OF peace and tri.
umph in his face
We were too happy to worry much
about our comrade just then. There
was the ship to talk over, the break
fast to make ready. No further need
of economy, Of scant rations. Out
with the coffee, the sugar, the dried
everything that was good. we
should have a feast to celebrate our
deliverance. John must eat, too
brave, splendid John!
A strange sound from our leaders
corner caused us to stop our chatter
and turn and look at him again He
shiyered like one who was freezing.