| OCR Text |
Show 204 TALES OF THE COLORADO PIONEERS. and continue in the route we had decided upon the day before. The other man went alone. "As we continued our tramp over the interminable mountains, the days seemed like years, and the hunger-pain kept gnawing at our vitals until strength was gone. If we fell to the ground it was almost impossible to recover our feet. " My friend was of robust physique, and could stand the 'racket' better than I. " I had fallen off until my clothes were large enough for a dozen of my size. "We struggled along for fourteen days, and I reached a pile of rock from which the snow had melted, and felt resigned to lie there and die; my lower limbs were already dead to my thighs. "My companion, with painful effort, climbed to the top of what is now known in the San Juan country as Hanson Mountain. He looked around at me with his face as bright as a Chinese lantern, and shouted,' brace up, Charlie! we are all right. Another outfit in the valley.' That was about the happiest moment I have any recollection of. "The party in the valley came to our rescue. They carried me into camp, and I pulled the scales at forty-eight pounds. They handled me as if I was a child; put my legs in boiling water, but I didn't feel it. " It was Ben. Eaton's party that rescued us. They fed me on water gruel for several days, but I didn't gain much fat on that kind of diet. Finally Ben. made the awful announcement that I must die. " He was absent a few days, and when he returned I told him they were starving me to death. He again gave |
