Year: 1876

mouth of Flint creek, three miles below, l
prepared to leave. l noticed as Rourke
handed me the bride that his face was flushed
and that he apparently staggered; for mo-
ment thought he had obtained liquor while
off hunting the horse, but as he had been
such quiet, attentive and reliable man l
saids. s.nothing, and rode off.


We were late in camp that evening" and
the moon was just supplanting the sun in the
! heavens when We sat down to our evening
repast The boys had shot some ~ild ducks
with their revolvers during the afternoon,
and they had been cut up, rolled in flour and
cooked for a side dish, in our rather slim bill
of fare. The bread having been passed
| around 1t was not long before some one re-
marked its peculiar bitter taste; then another
remarked the same thing. noticed it slight
| ]y myself and laid my piece aside, it was but
mass of dough at the best. Another re-
marked that perhaps some quinine had been
spilled in the wagon, and this theory obtained
| the more, when delicate youth from New
York said that he had lost a package of that
! article, which he had brought from the
| States AS consequence little Of the bread
| was eaten, the pieces being thrown away.
| Our camp was close alongside ranchman's
| house, and the the ranchman, accompanied
! by a fine Newfoundland dog, had climbed
| the fence in front of his door and was enjoy
| ing smoke by the fire, for though it was
August, the nights were clear, delightfully."-
dry and COOL The dog, of course was pick
ing up the bread and eating all that it could
find. Poor dog, that was his last square meal.
The conversation for some time after supper
ran on the bitter tasted bread, and there was
much speculation regarding the matter.
Rourke said that at dinner time, at the other
camp he had noticed bitter taste in some
tomatoes that he had found in the wagon,
and that the sugar he put in his tea only
made the tea more bitter. He had eaten no
supper, complaining that he had been quite
sick all afternoon; and was only then re-
covering. But. amid the Jokes and laughter
little attention was paid to his remarks.
1t was fully an hour after tea befor any in
the circle around the fire made a motion to
retire. Finally rose to my feet to go to my
tent when | stopped suddenly as though
every muscle had became fixed in vice. My
body appeared to have beyome p,;raliZed,
with peculiar rigidity and constrain., indie
scribable. My head swan. the moon and the
tents began to float around in my distorted
vision. At the same time was struck with
a faintness, and feeling myself falling
called for help, believing that l was dying.
l would have fallen insensble to the ground
had not the faithful Rourke caught me in his
arms and said, as | felt myself fading into
uncOnsciousness


"Don't be alarmed. Captain, that is Just
what happened to me at dinner time; youwill
recover


In moment Iappeared to regain my con-
sciOusness but what was my horror to dis
cover eight or ten OF the men staggering
around and some fallen to the ground, call
ing 30 God, we are poisoned Save me, l
am dying" etc. The spasms of some were
fearful. One young man, in particular, fell
backwards, with his eyes distended, and pale
as death, remaining for a while entirely in
sensible. The CONSERVATION was fearful,
for while none knew what to do or say.
The aXeman OF duty as cook and the transit
man had not as yet been affected, and they
shortly after proposed that we ali drink
coffee. Immediately the rancheman lied
the pots, and the fire became covered with
various utensils. as each man was i'll hurry
to securr warm water and coffee to drink.
Others mixed mustard and water, and fairly
gulped it down in the hopes of exciting vom-
ting One Irishman drank al least a quart
of mustard and water, pint of coffee, and,
finally, warm water with salt. He would
come up to me franticaly, saying


"For Gods sake, Captain, can't you raise



lars for puke? 0 God. | shall die, know
| will


But had enough to do to control my own
feelings which were horrible in the extreme.
A dark suspicion settled in my mind that the
aXeman had put strychnine in the flour and
this morbid belief settled deeper and deeper
within me, so much so that when he offered
me coffee / felt as if he was a fend desiring
to make sure of his foul work. | believed
from experience that night that strychnine
eXcites, among other things, suspicion in ones
nature which feeds on the slightest pTetext,
and becomes, for tue time, almost ungoyern-
able.


We had in the wagon quart bottle Of castor
oil and finding that by no manner Of means
could we excite vomiting, raid was made
for it and in short time it was more than
half consumed. But for my myself was
afraid to take anything from the wagon SO
that when the rancheman invited me to his
house to get some soda and milk, | gladly ac-
cepted, and accompanied by the dog, we
crossed the fence towards the house. AS |
was climbing the fence a second spasm
nearly as bad as the first seized me, and for
moment l was terrified beyond measure.
My muscles stitfened everywhere except at
the waist. for | observed that | could bend
there. However, the paroxysms soon passed
Off, but leaving me extremely weak. While
the rancheman was mixing the soda and milk,
l observed that his dog ran up and down the
room, jumping towards his masters face,
licking his hands and showing every con-
ceivable sign of affection.


$ What is the matter, King, don't be so
playful" bis master said to him. but had
scarcely uttered the words when the dog
stiffened and fell head foremost to the floor,
dead. Trembling with excitement, felt his
legs and they were as stiff as iron bars.
believe now, that that dog could have been
bolu Ahal locH: :1,;.a x,f l. hut