Judith Gap journal. [volume] (Judith Gap, Mont.) 1908-19??, 1910-08-26

| follows:
1--WE entered the cabin and it was
just light enough to see an old heap
OF straw in the far corner that had
been used as Il bed. On the wall
about six feet from the floor, was
shelf on which | saw coffee can.
handed the coffee to my companion.
who is very fond Of the beverage, and
said: Here, colonel. you can have
some coffee, and then l reached fur
ther back on the shelf to find some
matches. which thought might ba
there. My hand touched Il smooth.
slippery object, and before I realized
II a was there Il terrible pain
shot through my entire body. Some
thing had s t ruck the middle fin
ger OF my left hand OH the second
Joint with sufficient power to
reach the bone. thought it was
rattler. and attempted to cut off the
circulation of the blood from the
finger. had the colonel cross-cut
the wound and | endeavOred to suck
the blood, but the finger turned as
white as a piece OF cotton and abso-
lntely refused to bleed, and | thought
seriously Of getting the hatchet i'm the
buggy aud cutting the finger Off. but
hated to part with it. For about
! fifteen minutes still attempted to
Withdraw some plood. and then had
the end Of the finger cut to the bone,
as knew the serum was under the
membrane covering the bone. Fro m
this wound extracted about a quart
Of blood. but my hand and arm had
by this time swollen to twice normal
size. and breathing became quite
difficult. asked the colonel to strike
the shelf with something and find out
| what was there. He did. and immetl-
| lately the snake commenced to rattle.
1--WE then hitched up the team and
/ tried to find trail out, but no pro-
|. gress could be made. so we returned
to the cabin. After searching the
place we found an old smoky lantern
which we lit, and when my cOmrade
saw the condition of my hand and
arm he became horrtied and said we
would have to get ont of there or
would be a dead man before morning
remarked that we might kill the
snake first, which at best was u feeble
Jest. OF course the mental anguish
was terrible, as we were practically
lost and knew Of no nearby inl,abit-
ed places, il there were any, and we
were about forty miles from Stanford,
the nearest place where physician's
services could be secured.
''The horses were again caught, l
led one and the other followed. and
the colonel carried the smoky lantern.
At times ! would ride, but the breaks
were SO slippery and steep in most
places that the animal did well to
keep his feet under him. We struck
straight up the side of the river bank
to Arrow creek bench. and after four
hours walking, during which time we
covered fully five miles, we reached
deal have ever been put to. Orlin-
arily am a good walker and Il very
good hill climber, but my respiration
became so affected from the poison
that breathing seemed almost impos-
iDle. ! thought many times that |
would have to tell the colonel to leave
me behind and lie get assistance if
possible, but my pride AS Il hill
climber made me exert all the
strength ut my command After
reaching the bench, we soon struck il
wire fence and some blowing. and
about Il half mile away We came to
an occupied ranch house.
'The inmate, an old bachelor, was
aroused and notified OF the trouble.
lie had no wLiskey. but brought
forth bottle of camphor. which |
slipped at rather sparingly as | was
afraid it was made of wood alcohol.
The bachelor rode over to Il neighbOrs
and secured quart of whskey,
which hit rather freely. The first
two drinks caused me to vOmit Il
greenish fluid, and then the liquor
staid on my stomach. While he
was after the whiskey soaked my
feet in hot water, as long before this
my lower pXtremi,its were numb,
cold, and swollen. After drinking
the whlskey became unconscious,
|. I | -
We're: Take him to the tent. he will
soon be all in. ! slept q number of
hours, when | remember was slight
ly awakened by yonngster in the
tent. About half conscious of what
WAS going on around me, | opened
my eyes and everything seemed dim,
and while | was looking at the tot