The Canon City record with which is consolidated the Canon City cannon., 1918-09-12
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found it. and i was pretty nearly all
in by that time.
That was the last time i ever took
my shoes OF, for my feet were becoIn-
ing SO swollen that figured IL took
my shoes or might not be able to get
them on again.
This stunt of crossing the river and
diving for the lost shoe had consumed
about three hours, and after resting
some fifteen minutes / went on my way
again. / had gone nearly a mile when
came 10 another river, about the
same size as the one ! had just crossed.
walked along the bank awhile, think
Ing i might be lucky enough TO find Il
boat or a bridge, but after walking
about half an hour ] received one OF
those disappOintments which come
once In lifetime" / found that this
river WAS the one had just swun!
had swum IL on the bend and was still
on the wrong side. Had ! made only
short detOur in the first place l would
have avoided all the annoyance of the
past three hours and saved my
strength and time. i was never 80
hfhd III NY lie nj sell HIS 1 WIS W
think that had not paid more atten-
tion TO the course of the stream he
fore l undertook to cross 1t. but us
matter of fact, there was really no
way of telling. The river was not
shown on the map at all.
Now had TO cross 1t, whereas he
fore I could have turned 1t. / walked
boldly into the water. not botbering to
take my clothes OF this time, nor did
j ever bother TO take them on after
wards when swimming canals and
rivers. ] found 1t WAS impossible to
keep them dry anyway. and SO might
just Ms well swim in them and save
time
/ All the next day ! spent In a forest,
to which my nights travel had brought
me about 8 o'clock in the morning.
kept on my way through the woods
until daylight came. and then, thinking
the place would afford fairly good con-
cealment, i concluded to rest until
night
The prospects Of even good sleep
were dismal. however. for about the
time the suns face should have ap-
fFai'Nf "a bttah
gave up my search for dry spot
which would serve me as bed. Some
of the leaves were beginning TO fall.
but of course there WAS not enough Of
them TO form a covering for the
ground. and the dampness seemed 10
have penetrated everywh ere
wandered around through the
woods for two or three hours looking
for shelter. but without any success.
for. although the trees were large, the
forest was not dense. and there was
practically no brush or shrubbery.
Consequently one could get fairly
clear view for some distance. and
knew IT would he unwlse to drop on
TO sleep just any place, or someone
would surely happen on TO me.
Once I came very near to the ends
of the woods and Heard voices OF men
driving by in wagon. but j couldn't
make out just what they were, and
instinct told me ! had better not come
out of the woods. so / turned back.
Here and there small artificial bitches
had been dug. which at a dry season
might have cradled weary fugitive,
but now they. too. were filed with
water. Once singled out good big
tree and large branches and thought
might climb into II and go to sleep.
but the longer looked at II the more
] realized that IT would require more
energy than had in my present weak
and exhausted condition, so didn't at
tempt that.
Finally chose spot that looked a
bit drier than the rest. concluded 10
take chance on being discovered and
threw myself down for nap. / was
extremely nervous, though, throughout
that whole day, and would scarcely get
settled into comfortable position and
doze on for few minutes when.
startled by some sound in the woods,
would suddenly awake.
After what seemed like a year or
more. night finally came, and with
''dud' sky. Iow.hangIng clouds and still
more rain. There WAS not star in the
sky. OF course. and that made It very
bad, because without the aid OF the
stars had absolutely no way OF know
Ing which direction i was going. IT
was just n case of taking a chance. ]
probably would have been better OF II
had simply picked out a place and
stayed there until the weather i'm
proved. but naturally l was impatient
to he ON my way when each day with
out food only lessened my strength and
my ultimate chances Of reaching the
frontier.
So ] left the woods and struck on in
the direction which thought WINS
north. hadn't been at all sure Of my
bearings the day before. and NJ II had
rained the sun failed entirely to heir