OCR Text |
Show AND A RIDE IN A SNOW- STORM. 65 or less. We decided to go. The number of necessary bed fellows, or room- fellows at best, if we remained, may have influenced us somewhat in our decision, and as the storm was increasing we hurried off. Ascending a hill we were upon a broad plain extending to the Fort. Here the storm was then ten- fold more severe than before, as the bench had protected us. The wind was from the east, and now directly in our faces. The pelting snow in the eyes of the mules macle it difficult to keep them in the road, which every minute was becoming more ob scure. The curtains of the ambulance broke from their fastenings, and the snow was driven furiously through it, while the night was rapidly growing colder. Our driver soon became so benumbed as to be scarcely able to hold the reins, and it was necessary for one of the party to walk in front of the mules to distinguish the road. It became evident that the driver must be relieved, or he would freeze, and as Lieutenant S. had had more experience in driving four animals than Mr. Dean or myself, he took the reins, and we wrapped the driver in our only buffalo robe. The mules were jaded, and to get them along re quired the free application of the whip, which the Lieuten ant did not fail to make, together with some expletives which would probably have been omitted if the ladies had been present. In a short time our new driver had to desist, and the original resumed his place, only to relinquish it again in a few minutes, however. About this time Mr. Dean, our pilot, discovered that we were off the road. The storm howled furiously, and so did a pack of hungry wolves that followed us, doubtless expecting that we would soon become their prey. We knew that we were within six miles of the Fort, but we might as well have been sixty, so far as our comfort that night was concerned, for it was evi dent that we could not reach it. The only thing to be done was to lay up for the night, so we unhitched the mules, and tied them to the leeward of the ambulance. We could make no fire, as we had no wood cut, nor an ax to chop any, and if we had had both, would then have been no bet- |