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Show 306 TALES OF THE COLORADO PIONEERS. vation. The last match was gone, and the fear of freezing was added to the horrors of starving. •They staggered along a short distance every day, carrying fire from camp to camp in an old coffee-pot, at last becoming too weak to move. , One of the party, a man named Bell, was a raving maniac from starvation. They begged Packer to go to the top of the mountain to see if he could discover any smoke or sign of human life near them, saying they would pray for him and have a warm fire when he returned. While on the mountain he ate some rosebuds, which saved his life. It was night, when, weary and discouraged, he returned to camp. Through the thick falling snow he saw Bell stooping over the fire, and he was so intent upon cooking something that he did not notice his approach until he spoke. Then he looked up, and with the infuriated rage of a maniac, seized the hatchet at his feet, and with glaring eyes and grating teeth rushed upon him. Packer dropped on his knees to escape the blow, and the natural impulse of self-preservation prompted him to shoot. Bell fell forward dead, with the hatchet still in his grasp. Seeing the others lying with their blankets around them, he went to arouse them, but they were dead. Bell had killed them. He sat down without one tremor of horror, drew his blanket around him and went to sleep. The next morning he felt happy, he did not know why, he supposed it was idiotic happiness. A serene imbecility settled upon him, and he spent weeks in that drowsy condition. His strength revived, and with it the horror of his situation gradually dawned upon him and compelled him to quit the spot. So he took some of the flesh in a sack, |