, 1908-04-21
Wild and WoolIy story.

At Laramie begin the real Rockies,
which We shall have to conquer in a
Journey of 900 miles And they begin
without any pomp or majesty. 1t is
only at first a grassy plain that rises
very slowly. Then comes a gentle
slope which leads to a higher plain.
This stretches out toward the horizon
without a single break. Only in the
far distance do purple SUBMITS rise
in the blue sky. z,
All around us there is a desert liter
ally strewn with carrion, ~carcasses of
horses, whitening skeletons and
swarming with ugly and dangerous
beasts of prey. There is no road across
this ghostly desert and the way is only
marked for hundreds of miles by wood
en- poles. Not one house, not a single
human being, not even a drove of cat
tie are to be seen. Only troops of wild
horses and antelopes, galloping be-.
fore us in a frantic race.
Not A Good Shot.
We shoot at them with our guns, but
do not succeed in stopping them. In
the air thousands and thousands of
huge crows whirl above up, waiting
until we passed to their feast
on the bodies of dead horses. The
wind is as violent as before.
The road Is good. There are no OBJ
lstacles. The track rises but gently,
and at 5 p. m. we are fifty miles from
| I O y mic onI ~ ~ aIt;t,I1 IS - mn
feet.
The wind has grown icy. Snow again
creaks under our wheels. Goodbye to
easy driving.
The ground rises more and more and
the difficulties increase. The snow Is
now nearly three feet deep, and we
have often to step out and extricate
the machine. The road is now as bad
as can be. There are huge rocks on
our track and we annot avoid them,
for they are hidden in the snow. The
biting wind freezes us.
Running on Thin Ice.
There are other difficulties. We
come across little streams, and the
coat of ice which covers them is thin
and breaks under the weight of our
car, which remains perilously suspend
ed. There are deep ravines filed with
snow OF of which it Is most difficult
to raise the car.
A guide precedes us on foot, showing
the way with a great smoking torch.
AT 8 p. m. we have covered another
twenty miles. The cold is intense. 1t
cracks the face and the lips. The
snow is fully 4 feet deep. We are
Z 400 feet above sea level. Fortunately
the snow is freshly fallen, and we can
still force a way.
At II p. m. we have covered five
more miles in a series of short spurts.
for another six or seven hundred yards
we nov forward. looking for places
where the snow is less thick, when,
all Of a sudden, our motor stors, and
our Zust inclines itself on its right
side on the ground.
Wheels Nailed Down.
We step out quickly to find what
has happened and discover that the
hudCiiuC nap ouilh III d lldioh. we
start the motor. 1t exerts itself for
awhile, quite uselessly, then stops
again. We attempt to save our car
by pushing behind, and pulling it with
ropes, but our efforts, though intense,
are vain. The wheels are nailed, as
it were, to the ground, and it is obvi-
GUS that we must find some other and
better means of releasing them.
But the night is dark and frosty, and
the nearest city, Medicine-Bow, is four
teen miles distant, and fourteen miles
are no trife. 1t is better for us to re-
main here and suffer from cold and in
| somnia than to face those fourteen
miles on a hopeless road in the worst
conditions. We shall better resist the
| storm by staying where we are.
We remain then and shivering with
cold, sit on a few beams which we
have orr away from an old decayed
shed near by. We built a huge fire,
which flares and fiaunts in the gusty
wind.
On the space which we have cleared
/ lTOIH SuOW, Sal VII OPChS q iSW eio W
preserved meat and warns the con.
tents on the blazing wood. We wait
for our food, stupid with fatigue.
Car in Danger. .
Not n of US notices the terrible
thing which is happening. Our a is
gradually sinking deeper and deeper
Into the mire. Haaga, is the first to
notice it. The rims OF the wheels,
which before were out of the mire,
have now entirely disappeared in the
bog, and one half Of the wheels as well
I'VE watch in horror. The deadly de-
scent goes o n The danger is terrible
We face it with desperate energy. We
|rush to the remnants of the decayed
shed and pull down feverishly every
bit OF wood available We place the
wood around and against the car, and
under it as well as we can, to save II
from sinking deeper.
But the sea Of mire triumphs ovel
our efforts. Hope abandons us in this
fearful night. Our strength is failing
We are powerless in the face Of thiI
terrible disaster. We cut u hand
to pieces in handling the rough wood
There is not a plank that we have no