The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1925-10-30

| every size.
| | looked for the light of the shack
on Fourteen, but it was nowhere to be
seen; evidently It's faint rays could not
| beat their way through the hundred
yards of swirling tempest that inter
vened. So, taking careful note of my
directions, started out, my head
| bowed to save my face from the lash
Ing of the storm; my legs wallowing
uncertainty through the varying depths
of drifts.
At length l knew / had come to the
edge of the gully; although could see
| nothing | was aware that was going
sharply down a steep slope. Here at
,, points the snow was already piled in
great drifts and l plunged through 1t
waist deep, only to come suddenly
upon bare, icy spot where lost my
balance and fell. / was now at the
bottom of the coulee, and the ascent
proved even more difficult than coming
down. | had to pillow through deep
drifts and scramble up icy lodges, and
could only suppose that had reached
the top by the greater violence of the
storm. Nothing was to be seen but a
gray mist; my eyes were almost COM
pletely closed with snow and ice. /
was not cold indeed, / was warm, but
began to realize that my exertions
and the strangling sensation / felt in
breathing were quickly exhausting me.
However, there could not be much
further to go, and pressed on.
1t is wonderful how little sense of
distance the average man has when
deprived of the service of his eyes.
He may walk road every day in the
year and yet. have but faint idea of
the number of PAGES it represents. He
probably could not tell you how many
house. AS to direction he is even more
hopelessfy at sea, and when, In addi-
ton to these difficulties, he is plunging
waist deep through snow drifts and
buffeted by fifty-mile gale he is in
imminent danger of becoming hope
lessly lost. Just how near to that state
/ had come l began to realize, and it
was with more relief than would have
cared to admit that l at length dis
cerned faint glow of yellow light
battling against the storm and throw
ing fantastic specters into the night.
was soon at the shack, and, cropping
my way along the wall, l reached the
door and burst in.
Jean was sitting by the stove, her
wonderful hair down about her back
and neck, her face resting in her
hands, her feet on the rail of the stove
and her dainty ankles peeping out
from under her wooden skirt. But for
the moment my appreciation of her
charms was buried in amazement.
"Jean! what are you doing here?"
Frank! You've come back! What
is the matterY
/ I threw off my mitts and rubbed the
snow from my eyes while Jean took
my cap and shook it and then stood by,
eagerness and apprehension in her
face Then, when | was quite sure
| was not in a dream or mirage, 81
guess Tn back on Twenty-Five am
I?'' | said, as one who, suddenly awak-
ened from sleep, finds it impossible to
recall his surroundings.
you're on Twenty-Five all right, but
why did you come back? Not that I'm
not glad to see you-you know l am.
Frank, dear, always-but, why did you
come back?'
81 guess it's because my time hasn't
come" l answered, soberly. Eve
heard of getting turned around in a
storm, but l didn't know it could hap
pen so easily. 1 suppose it was when
fell at the bottom of the gully"
swell, you're here, and we're not
going to take any more chances" said
Jean, slipping her arms about my neck
when had told her. "We're going to
haye little supper, and if Jack doesn't
come you will stay until he does
Jean hustled about and my eyes fol-
lowed every graceful movement as she
prepared hot tea and made toast at the
! fire, and found jar of preserves that
she had cached away for some special
occasion. And when we had finished
our betrothal banquet she gave me a
lamp and sent me into Jacks room.
And after a little her limpid voice
called to me last goodnight, and
through the open doorway of my parti-
tion-we could not afford unnecessary
doors in those days-I saw her slender
hand tossing me caress. And then
her light went out, and l lay under
Jacks warm blankets listening to the
roar Of the storm and hoping Jack was
quite all right, and marveling at the
amount of happiness one human heart
can hold. My doubts were gone; my
faith was again the faith of little
child. And my mind wandered back
into the past and picked up again those
tender days of childhood when Jean
and played together beside the dam,
and the sober millwheel across the
stream flung its myriads of diamonds
In the air. And Jean had saved me in
those days, and | was to be hers
hers and she mine, forever!
1 awakened with a consciousness
that the shack was very, very cold.
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