OCR Text |
Show [ 23] ·116 own b e d ' an d coYered him with b. l an k e t s and buffalo robes; it was .all I could do. b t and found the men by the aid of the We now searched a ou caused by the movements of the cracks on the surface of th~ snt~:' hea;y mantle of snow they h. ad restless sleepers; coveredd y . the chill air felt to them more Inkept extremely warm, an now tolerable. d f · ces of wood that we had collected · We managed t? fin .~1 ~r pte fiercely that we could not kindle last night; the wmd sh . ewd s~ in lightinrr some piece of wood fi t doors· we succee e b • ..1 f th any re ou ' b .1 l'ttle fire on the ]eesJue o e wagon; in the tent and then ui t _)ou~II t and shivering· I now called on ched arounu s1 en ' b the mfe n croue n to come Wl' th In e ' they were two off my es t m.e n; two o my m harden ed to peril in the service of th.e. u~ companies; they had beenld ot flinch under the most fearful VlCI?Situ?es; they mend 'wl ho cwcoomu pamn. ec1 me, an cl we started down the ln v1e r m search rea I y a .. , which would furnish us with fuel and s 1~ ter; we pr~of some .pot . e di ~tance but seeing no timber on th1s ceeded down tldle rhive~ somtpon~ the i~e which was now sufficiently . d crosse t e n ver ' ' . f l d t Stl e, wteo b ea. us up'. we built an enormous pde. o ogds 1 1a n . se s ron~ bla~e and I sat down to d ~y my m.o ccasm s an eggms, fthoer mI hma da b ro k· en' th roug h the ice while crossing a treacherous spot in the river. sent back 1o collect al1 the property and to My men were now d' tl 't the mules and move down to a. spot tree y oppost e harne~s ~p r' them left their beddtng, clothes, and guns the. tdimb er; tmh a~Ke osnow and half crazed with their forlorn and bun e en e a ' ·' 1 h l h beaten condition, hurned down to see c s e ter. . :WAt ]er th the wagons arrived and we endeavored to dnve the 1 t ~~gthe south side of the rive-r, where they would tave good mu es rounds· some however, took fright (when half-way over)and ~as~~~\~ck and one broke through the ice; we im med~ately passed IUS d ' the belly of the animal and soon drew It out of the ro· pers· uton keere p its blood in eire• 1a t1· 0n we d ragge d 1· t b ac k "': ards and rftve ' d all would not do, its limbs became momentanly more aonrdw maro rse; stiff, and at last ~he po0r b e~st f e 11 to t h e groun d., w e put three buffaloes robes upon It anrlleft It. . r · M men now reported the full extent of our mi~fortunes; three o the ~ules were found frozen to deat~, and half htd.den by the snow that had drifted upon their dead bodtes; around th1s heap the oth~r , · ules were gathered, to screen them from the storm, and t .e ~~laryettoes" of the living were entangled about the .dead. It 18 more than probable that all of them would have met With the same fate had the storm endured twelve hours longer; our mul.es w~~e 'illow' driven to a spot about one mile below us covered wtth WI-lows and swamp grass. . . h bet! We built our fires on the :southern bank of the river, m t e. d· -of a dry creek, the banks of which afforded shelter from th~ wm t~ the night ·was clear and excessi.vely cold; we were all obllged·ns sleep without tents, as the ground was frozen so hard that tent P1 117 [ 23] could not be driven, and when we had softened the soil by building fires, the sand ~ecame ~oo loose to hold the pins. February 3.-T.hts mo_r111ng we arose at. an early hour; par.king up our camp furnttu~e, -we recrossed the rn·er and marched a mile further down the ArKansas. The mule that we had drawn out of the river had recovered sufDcien tl/ to regain its feet; some corn was given to it. but during the past night it had wandered off a few yarus and ~as attacked by wolves, and devoured while_endeavoring .to regain the wagons; the saud]e b.lanket that I had grrted aro~nd It was torn to pieces. Poor mule! tt met a cruel death after gomg through so many troubles; it was the la~ t one of the set wrth which 1 left .Bent's Fort. on the 9th of last September. · · . To-day llrown was struck blind, fro~ t!~e effects of the glaring }jght reflect ed by the snow. We left hun m camp until the afternoon, when I sent some men to g a ther up his clothing and lead him into our new camp. Those who had left their property at the camp when the storm occurred, took spades and went and dug it out. The men in camp overhauled the provisions and the bedding; although our wagons hall each two covers, or sheets, they were full of snow. On a fallen tree, against which we built our fire's, we read that which follows: "J. Abrea, Y. Litsendorfer, C. Estis, March 11, 1846." "A storm." This gave us new encouragement, for we. . felt that other men, under the same circumstances, and in the same place, had felt, suffered , and thought as we had, and we felt that we, like th ey, coultl weather the storm. In the evening, some of the men led Brown into camp. He said, that while lying near ou r ol.d camp fires, listening to the bickering of the ravens and magpies, which were contending for the scraps. we had left, he felt something give his buffalo robe a jerk, and looking round, he saw several wolves; they ran off a few steps, seeming to have but little fear of him; his eyes pained him so much that he did not attempt to shoot. FebruaTy 4.-We again started at our usual time, ·and in good. order, leaving many articles which only served to encumber us. As our "rnulada" was now weakened by the loss of the four irozen m~J es , our progress was slower than heretofore. Dunng the first few hours, it was with difficulty that we could keep the road, which was covered with deep snow; in many plaees it was a foot deep, although, now and then, we found little spots on the road that were perfectly bare, and in the river botto. ms there was but little snow. At midday the sun shone forth Wtth warmth, the snow began to thaw, and our progress became comparatively easy. \V e marched fifteen miles, and camped near a fine grove, where we found some dry wood and pretty good grass; blthough the buffalo, which had recently been here in great num-ers, had much .impaired the grazing. . .h The greatest Inconvenience t4at we have suffer~d on this march as been caused by the negligence of others w1th regard to the |