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Show 298 TALES OF THE COLORADO PIONEERS. man in the company by the name of Alfred Packer, who professed to be perfectly familiar with the topography of the country, and said he could pilot them direct to the head waters of the Rio Grande, where very rich mines had been discovered. This caused discussion and they decided to separate, part taking Ouray's advice, and part following Packer's. " This man was one of the four who had taken the Gunnison route. It was severe and arduous traveling. As far as the eye could reach the landscape was wrapped in snow, which deepened as they advanced; they scrambled over huge piles of rocks that had tumbled from overhanging precipices; crossed streams on bridges of ice, sinking at times to their knees in water; scaled mountains that were covered in snow and sleet, keeping as a guide branches of trees, that formed a dark line above the snow. Their food was gone and their hearts quailed under the multiplied hardships. They had only one round of ammunition, and a pistol that was rusty with age; seeing a wolf carrying off a mountain sheep, one of them shot at it. The pistol burst, but the wolf fell dead-which furnished them a good meal. Several days after they saw a cow, which they killed by plunging a knife into its throat, and allayed their raging hunger by drinking its blood. They had no means of kindling a fire, and so ate of the raw meat until completely gorged. It made them very sick, but after much suffering they sank to sleep. " On the following morning a Government herder, while looking up his cattle, found the four men and took them to his camp. After a few days two of them, with the energy and determination that had characterized them from the beginning, started for the agency. |