The French Broad hustler. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1896-1912, 1910-02-10

Try anu i LOOh luC tdSL ShAA(S ONS
our gulch, by way OF the Sidney
branch stage line,
And because there was no bank
within reach, / was compelled to
travel with what gold my partner and
1 had CLEANED up" during the season.
This was some two hundred ounces.
/ carried it in a small Talise which
l kept between my feet in the coach.
From Custer City on we were crowd
ed with outgoing passengers, three in
a seat, and two on the boot with our
drivers.
For thirty-six hours the snow fell
and the wind blew; each team was
used up as we wallowed into ? station
for the change. How u driver kept
to his trail in the night will ever be
a mystery to me.
1t was a bone-wearing business for
us all. About midnight, somewhere
between. the Cheyenne and White
Rivers, 1 fell alseep, muG1ed in my
great buffalo coat. When l awoke
we had passed the White River stage
station. l found myself sitting easier.
One of my seat-mates was gone; then,
in shuf1ing my feet, ! missed my grip,
and quickly discovered taat that was
gone, too.
Sick with alarm and suspense. I
opened the coach side-door and called
to the driver to stop. ! quickly told
him what 1 had missed, and together
with his aid and that of the awakened
passengers, the coach was thoroughly
searched. 1t was of no use; my gold
had gone with the outgoing passen-
ger, either by design or mistake. He
was a young fellow who had claimed
to be employed at the White River
Indian agency, and he had got OF at
the last s~tage-ranch.
Driver and passengers did their
best to dissuade me, soma of them
even taking hold of me to get me into
the coach; but l broke away from
them, and %plunging into the storm.
started back upon a trail fast filling
with
had left a homestead in North
western Iowa. after two "grasshopper
years" mortgaged for 4 thousand dol
lars to pay old debts and to furnish
my wife and two children with the
mean of support until l should get
back to them; and l had been carry
ing the all of a partner who had left
a large family worse on than my own.
In the desperation of the moment
it seemed to me that I had better
perish than go home penniless. Upon
the whole, 1 never Smember such Bit
ter moments as those l spent strug-
Cling in the drifts until daylight, and
keeping my course at last solely by
direction of the wind. / had only the
~despairing hope thai daylight and the
cessation of the storm would find me
within sight of the stage-station or of
some habitation where 1 could ask for
Information.
I believed thai the thief, for such
I had no doubt the man was, would
hardly venture to leave the stage
ranch or its vicinity during that night,
and I hoped that 1 should be able to
take his trail in the morning.
Before daylight il had ceased snow
ing and had cleared away overhead:
but the wind still blew and the snow
still crawled fast enough to fill q
mans tracks quickly.
Sunrise found me on a high plateau
with nothing in sight but white drifts
and curling gusts OF snow. The wind
had changed at daylight, but l knew
that the direction l should take to
cover the back trail of the stage was
nearly due north. However. ! had no
meal of knowing whether or not I
had passed the stage-ranch or how far
I was to right or left of the trail.
Weary hungry and sick at heart.
I pi0dded endlessly e the waste OF
snow, going north still at a venture.
1t was about nine o'clock when l came
upon what seemed to be truly the
"jumping-off place.
I then STOOL upon a great height
looking far out-a score OF miles
over a white plain threaded with
creeks. Along these, fringes of sxal-
eton trees showed their tops above
the crawling drifts. Directly at, my
feet lay a series OF descending notches
and ridges partly pine-grown, form
ing a great gap miles in extent.
Through such a gap called Salt Pork
Canon / knew the stage route ran
after crossing White River, and I
scanned its lower reaches eagerly for
signs Of smoke or h%abitation.
There was non in sight, but /
plunged into the big gap less hope
lessly. In a moment | was out OF the
rough wind. which had shifted COM
pletely to the southwest. and had en-
tered a region of magic, white and
calm. each cluster OF evergreens laden
with wreaths of snow which had fall
len straight down upon them. shell
tered in their Geep pockets.
The ridges were mostly bare. and
ito one of these / kept. The difts on
the heights were hard-packed and the
walking was comparatively a I
had made a considerable descent, see
ing no sign of a living thing. Sud
denly in crossing a shallow notch, ]
came out OF a cluster of pines and
found myself face to face VITA a MAJ
leading four ponies in a string.
He IA been searching for stray,