The Oakley herald. [volume] (Oakley, Idaho) 1908-1961, 1918-08-30

take chance on being discovered and
threw myself down for nap. 1 was
extremely nervous, though, throughout
that whole day. and would scarcely get
settled into comfortable position and
doze Off for a few minutes when,
startled by some sound In the woods,
would suddenly awake.
After what seemed like year or
more, night finally came, and with a
"dud" sky, low-hanging clouds and still
more rain. There was not a star in tho
sky, Of course, and that made 1t very
bad, because without the aid Of the
stars had absolutely no way of know
ing which direction l was going. 1t
was just a case Of taking chance.
probably would have been better OF If
l had simply picked out place and
stayed there until the weather i'm
proved, but naturally l was impatient
to be 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 off In
the direction which l thought was
north. I hadn't been at all sure Of my |
bearings the day before, and as 1t had |
rained the sun failed entirely to help |
me out, but 1 was almost sure l had
the right direction and trusted to luck.
That night found more rivers, canals
and swamps than I ever found In my
life before, but I had the good fortune
| to stumble on to some celery, and after
my diet of beets it surely was a treat.
Perhaps it's unnecessary to add that ]
took on a good supply Of celery and
for days went along chewing celery
like COW would cud.
Along towards morning, when l sup
posed / had gotten In fairly good lap
of my journey-perhaps seven or eight
miles-I began to recognize certain OBJ
jects as familiar landmarks. At least,
/ thought l had seen them before and
as l Travelled along l knew positively l
had seen certain objects very recently.
OF at my right-not over quarter of
a mile--I noticed some fairl y good
sized woods and thought l would go
over there to hide that day, because 1t
looked as though the sun was going to
clAiiC anu 4 ioPSA ~ 6C> ny >ASNASo
dry, and perhaps get a decent sleep.
had this celery and a large beet, so
knew 1 would be able to live the day
through.
. Finally made my way over to the
woods. 1t was still too dark in among
, the trees to do much In the way OF
5 selecting my quarters for the day and
| 20 IN
| waited on the edge of the forest until
4 dawn and then set out to explore the
l place, with view to finding some nook
. where might sleep. Imagine my dis
? gust, and discouragement,t too, when an
, hour or so later I came upon the exact
} place where had spent the day before
and I realized that all night long had
been circling the very woods / was try.
| ing to get away from. think perhaps
, had gone all of a quarter Of mile In
t the right direction, but then had lost
my bearings entirely, and daylight
found me with nothing accomplished.
| The sun, however, did come out that
, day, and l welcomed its warm rays,
l as they, perhaps, have never been vel
coined before. I was very tired-just
! about all in-but l spent a better day
, in the woods than the previous one,
t That night the stars came out;
Q located my friend, the North Star, and
tried to make up for lost time. But
!, when one is making only seven or eight
{ miles q day. or rather q night, one
| night lost means a whole lot, especi-
$ ally when each day keeps him from
? freedom. Such i'll fortune and dis
: couragements as this were harder to
| endure, I believe, than the actual
hunger, and the accompanying worry
, naturally reduced my weight. At times
q l was furiously angry with myself fol-
: the mistakes / made and the foolish
r things l did, but l always tried to see
+ something funny about the situation
q whatever it might be, that relieved
|. the strain of habit and helped to pass
{ the time away. I think IL man is
q overburdened with a sense of humoi
0 and wants to get rid of it, this trip
took would be an excellent remedy
q for it. Right at this time l would
. have welcomed anything for compan
!. Ion. l believe even a snake would
q have been a Godsend to me.
S With name as Irish as mine, 1t /:
>. only natural that l looked for goats
y along the way, thinking that / might
I be able to milk them. There are very
: few COWS In this country, and the OPP
e portunities for milking them fewer
than the cows themselves because they
S are housed in barns adjoining the
n homes and always alertly watched BY
t their fortunate owners. I did hope
d that I might find a goat staked out
g some place in the fields, but In all my
:. travels l never saw goat or a pig
s and only a few cows. Several times
n searched nests for eggs, but somebody
), always had beaten me to it, as l never
h even found so much as a nest egg.
6 There was no chance of getting away
/ with any bullying" stuff in Luxem