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 Frontier Sketches 
 
 BY 
 
 FRANK W. CALKINS 
 
 CHICAGO : 
 DONOHUE, HENNEBERRY & CO.
 
 Copyrighted, 1893 
 
 BY 
 
 DONOHUE, HENNEBERRY & CO. 
 AH Rights Reserved. 
 
 Frontier Sketches. 
 
 PONOHUE & KENNI£BERRY, PKINTERS AND BINDERS, CHICAGO.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 I. A Piece of Frontier Strategy 5 
 
 II. The Mystery of the FiV^ Brand 18 
 
 III. Corson's Wife 28 
 
 IV. The " Moaning Rock " at Bogey's Bend 40 
 
 V. Mortimer Halleck's Adventure 54 
 
 VI. The Mystery of the Valley 64 
 
 VII. Followed 73 
 
 VIII. Olaf Helgerson's Pay 83 
 
 IX. A Wild Night-Ride. 97 
 
 X. Carlen and his Comet 10.5 
 
 XI. Caught in a Blizzard 115 
 
 XII. A Fortunate Cyclone 125
 
 FRONTIER SKETCHES. 
 
 I. 
 
 A PIECE OF FRONTIER STRATEGY. 
 
 In the early days of the settlement of Wisconsin 
 there were neither land surveys nor government laws 
 by which lands could be held with perfect security by 
 the settlers. There was, however, in most counties an 
 unwritten law, much like that which governs claim- 
 taking in mining districts, and which generally pro- 
 tected the claimant who complied witii its requirements. 
 These requirements which were adopted in nearly all 
 the new communities as " neighborhood by-laws," and 
 in most of them strictly enforced against all persons 
 who tried to violate them, were usually something like 
 the following : 
 
 The claimant, if he were of age or the head of a 
 family, was entitled to one hundred and sixty acres of 
 timber land and the same amount of prairie land, which 
 he must first locate, and then proceed to measure by 
 " stepping it off." 
 
 There was usually some one in every organized town- 
 ship who was regarded as an expert in measuring land. 
 Eight hundred and eighty steps of three feet each 
 along the four sides of a square, beginning at a given 
 landmark and returning to it, were allowed as a quarter- 
 section. 
 
 The corners were established on the prairie by marked
 
 6 , FRONTIER SKETCHES. 
 
 stakes, and in timber by blazing trees and carving the 
 takers name or initials upon them. Then within a 
 reasonable time, say three months — the time was not 
 definitely fixed — the squatter must build a cabin and 
 move his family, if he had one, his effects if he had not, 
 into it, and there make his home until the land should 
 be survej^ed and " come into market," when, by appear- 
 ing either himself or in the person of the " township 
 bidder," at the regular " land sale " for his district, 
 bidding the minimum price, one dollar and a quarter an 
 acre, and paying the money to the registrar of the land- 
 office, he received a government patent which made his 
 claim valid and final. 
 
 It was not well for an interloper to attempt to jump 
 one of these claims, or to bid more than the minimum 
 price above a claimant who had complied with the by- 
 laws of his district. 
 
 Generally, as I have said, the squatter, who com- 
 plied with these " right of discovery " land laws, was 
 safe enough to hold his claim, and if he had not the 
 ready money saved to pay for it at the land sale, he 
 ^ould easily borrow it of money-lenders in his district. 
 But sometimes there were disputes, in which whole 
 neighborhoods took sides, and occasionally a squatter's 
 claim was the scene of an affray in which blood was shed. 
 
 Two young men, Jacob and Jared Stebbins, who 
 lived in the region between Blue Mounds and the 
 Wisconsin, very early in the history of that country, 
 belonged to the pioneer class above mentioned. Their 
 father had mov^ed up there from Galena some time 
 before the Black Hawk troubles, and, though they were 
 but lads of sixteen and seventeen, they had taken part
 
 FRONTIER SKETCHES. 7 
 
 in the defense of Mound Fort, and in the battle of 
 Wisconsin Heights. 
 
 As they grew up and Jake came of age, they became 
 ambitious to have land of their own. They had helped 
 clear grub, break up, fence and cultivate one hundred 
 acres of land on their father's "'patent" in Mound 
 Creek Yalle}'', and now it was high time to begin for 
 themselves. 
 
 Up to this period the broad "Wisconsin, unfordable 
 except in the driest seasons, had acted as a check to 
 the tide of Northern and Western settlement in their 
 district. There was much choice land upon the other 
 side, and some two years before Jake was twenty-one 
 the boys had been across the river hunting, and had 
 staked and blazed claims for themselves — two "quart- 
 ers" — upon one of which they had subsequently 
 erected a snug log cabin, which they had covered with 
 boards of their own make. 
 
 They spent the greater part of two winters in this 
 cabin, hunting and splitting rails during the short 
 days, and during the spring, summer and autumn 
 while working on their father's place, they watched 
 jealously for any movement toward a settlement on 
 the " other side. " 
 
 The winter before Jake came of age several other 
 claims were taken, above their own, on the west side 
 of the river, on Sac Prairie, one of the most fertile 
 prairies of the state. The boys now determined to 
 move over finally so soon as they should gather the 
 spring crops upon their father's place. 
 
 In March, upon going home from their claim, they 
 left their cooking utensils and other belongings inside 
 the cabin, and closed the door and window by nailing
 
 8 FRONTIER SKETCHES. 
 
 some heavy strips across tbem. It was not until May, 
 after corn planting, that they moved across the river. 
 They swam over two yoke of steers, their breaking 
 team, and rafted across their wagon, ploughs and some 
 other effects. It took them nearly all day to cross, 
 and it was late in the evening when they reached their 
 cabin. 
 
 The cabin had been built in the edge of the valley 
 timber, and they had cleared a space around it. As 
 they drove out into this open space, they were sur- 
 prised by the yelping of a dog, which came rushing 
 toward them, and flew at the faces of the steers, so 
 that they halted and lowered their horns to fight off 
 the brute. Jared ran forward and drove the animal 
 away with his whip, giving it a cut which sent it back 
 to the cabin. 
 
 " Somebody's here ? " said he. 
 
 Jared went forward. The dog snarled at him from 
 under the covered wagon as be approached. As he 
 came up to the cabin, he saw that the boards had been 
 ripped from the door, and that a light was shining 
 through a crack. 
 
 " Hallo, thar ! " he called, standing close to the door. 
 
 There was a moment of waiting, a murmur of voices 
 inside ; then the door swung inward, and the tall, gaunt 
 figure of a middle-aged woman stood in the open space. 
 
 " Who be ye? " she inquired, gruffly. 
 
 " I'm one of the owners of this claim," said Jared, 
 "an' wo'd like ter shar' the cabin with ye till we c'n 
 get some supper.'' 
 
 " Wal' ye can't come in hyer!" said the woman^ 
 coolly. " This hyer claim an' this hyer cabin b'longs
 
 PRONTIEB SKETCHES. 
 
 " Who be ye ? " she inquired, gruflay.— Page 8.
 
 10 tRONTIEU SKETCHES. 
 
 ter us?" and she stepped back to shut the door in his 
 face. 
 
 Jared was hot-blooded and was naturally angry at 
 this turn of events. He sprang towards the closing 
 door, and threw all his weiglit against it. The woman 
 was large and strong enough to have offered stout 
 resistance, but she was taken by surprise ; the door 
 flew out of her grasp, back upon its hinges, and Jared 
 was propelled against her with a force that made her 
 stagger half-way across the room. 
 
 Jared had gained admission, but found himself 
 facing two big, bony men, who had arisen from their 
 stools before the fire-place as he burst the door in. 
 
 They sprang at him, knocked him over, sat on him — 
 one on his shoulders and the other on his legs — and 
 then, with buckskin straps, proceeded to bind him 
 hand and foot. 
 
 Jared struggled for a moment, and then, finding it 
 useless, gave it up. He was soon relieved of the weight 
 of his captors, but lay helplessly bound upon the floor. 
 
 All this had happened so quickly that when Jake, 
 who had heard the scuffle, bad tied the steers and come 
 cautiously up to the door, gun in hand, he found him- 
 self confronted by the muzzles of two rifles, which 
 protruded tlirough a crack which had been made by 
 removing a board from the nearest window. 
 
 "Drop that gun!" came from within the cabin. 
 
 But instead of dropping his weapon, the quick-witted 
 young settler sprang to one side, and ran behind the 
 wagon, under which the belligerent dog was still bark- 
 ing. Then he called to his brother : 
 
 " Say, Jerd, have they hurt ye ? "
 
 &KONTIER SKETCHES. ll 
 
 Jared shoated back tliat tliey hadn't, but that two 
 men had tied him hand and foot. 
 
 Jake picked up a club and threw it at the dog to drive 
 it away ; then he called to the men to know what they 
 meant by such outrageous acts. One of them — the old 
 man — answered back that they had taken up a man for 
 assault and battery, and meant only to protect them- 
 selves and their rights. 
 
 Jake told them they had no business inside the cabin, 
 which belonged to himself and his brother; that this 
 claim had been made and held for two years, and 
 that they were liable to prosecution for assault on his 
 brother. 
 
 The elder man answered back that he and his son 
 had found an old trapper living in the cabin ; that they 
 had bought his right to it, and laid claim to the land, 
 and, what was more, they should hold it against all 
 comers. It was also stated that a colony of settlers 
 from Illinois had come in some three weeks before, hav- 
 ing crossed the river at " The Portage," and squatted 
 along on that side ; that a general meeting had already 
 been held, and the usual regulations adopted, and that 
 the speaker inside the cabin had been chosen constable 
 until a regular election was held. 
 
 The young fellow was astounded and chagrined at this 
 intelligence. The situation was puzzling enough, for 
 he saw that these claim-jumpers had greatly the advan- 
 tage over him. He and Jared could i-eally prove nothing ; 
 not a settler on the other side whom they knew had 
 ever visited them here or knew of the location of their 
 claim except by heresay. Their only callers had been 
 two or three stray trappers and an occasional Winne-
 
 12 FRONTIER SKETCHES. 
 
 bago Indian who had at various times spent a night 
 with them. 
 
 It was one of those trappers, a rascally-looking fel- 
 low whom he remembered he had disliked, who had 
 pretended to sell this claim to the present occupants — 
 and there was a whole neighborhood to stand by them 
 in possession. 
 
 The situation was discouraging even if Jared had 
 not — according to the code of the region — been lawfully 
 arrested for an assault. Jake went out near his own 
 wagon and sat down on a stump to think. 
 
 The night was not dark; the moon was shining 
 faintly and a light wind wa.s moving the tree tops, and 
 as Jake sat with his face between his hands in a brown 
 study, the figure of a person came across his range of 
 vision. A boy emerged from the woods a short distance 
 west of the cabin and came toward him. As he 
 approached the dog ran out and began leaping upon 
 him. 
 
 ''Hullo, mister! w'at ye doin' out hyer?" The 
 voice was that of a lad of fourteen or fifteen. 
 
 Jake answered, warily, that " he'd jes' druv up a bit 
 ago, an' was wonderin' where thar might be some 
 water fer the oxen. " He added that he thought it 
 rather late to wake people up to find out — there was 
 no light that could be seen from the cabin. 
 
 " Oh, I'll show ye, " said the boy. '' It's 'bout forty 
 rod, though, the way ye'll hev ter drive t' git down ter 
 the crick." 
 
 "That don't make any differ'nce — the distance," 
 said Jake. " I want to camp by water, " — which was 
 true enough, as matters had turned out. 
 
 Thereupon he untied his oxen, turned his wagon
 
 FKONTIEK SKETCHES. 13 
 
 about and drove after the boy, who led him back very 
 nearly over the way he had come. Jake, looking back 
 as they entered the timber-line, saw the cabin door 
 swing open, and some one come out and look after 
 them. But fortunately the boy was straight ahead 
 and could not be seen, and the man, who had probably 
 come out to see what was going on upon hearing the 
 wagon rattle, turned again and entered the cabin. 
 
 It was fifteen minutes' drive down to the creek, by 
 the nearest approach for a wagon, but, as Jake well 
 knew, the stream could be approached on the opposite 
 side of the cabin, which was situated in a bend of it, 
 by a very short cut through thick brush. It was from 
 that quarter, in fact, that he and Jared had brought 
 their water for cooking purposes. 
 
 However, it just suited a plan which had flashed 
 upon him that the boy should be at the pains of select- 
 ing for him the best camping-place — it got them out 
 of sight and hearing of the cabin. 
 
 Jake walked well up by the steers and talked -to the 
 boy as they went forward and learned, as he had 
 expected, that the lad was the son of the man who had 
 jumped his claim. The boy said he had gone over to 
 a neighbor's who had just moved into a new log-house 
 one mile west and was to have stayed all night, but 
 finding that a number of land-seekers had claimed the 
 neighbor's hospitality, he had spent the evenmg at 
 play with their boys and returned. He said his 
 father's name was Burrel. 
 
 They reached the creek, and Jake, having quickly 
 matured a plan of action, stopped his oxen and while 
 untying a long, slender lead-rope from the horns of
 
 14 FRONTIER SKETCHES. 
 
 the "near" steer at the head of the teanij kept the boy 
 near his side by talking to him. 
 
 When he had secured the rope, however, he turned, 
 flung an arm around his listener, and with a quick trip 
 threw him to the ground. The boy struggled and 
 screamed with fear and anger, but Jake quieted him 
 with a stern command and then, holding him fast, 
 told him just what had happened at the cabin, 
 and also gave him a truthful account of his own and 
 his brother's labor in making the claim, which had been 
 jumped regardless of their rights. 
 
 " An' now, youngster, I'm goin' ter tie ye up, an' 
 bring yer ole dad ter terms, an' the more ye cut up the 
 wuss it'll be for ye." 
 
 The boy evidently believed hie story and saw both 
 the point and the justice of the case, for he sullenly 
 submitted, gritting out between his teeth that " Dad 
 'n' Bob '11 get ev'n with ye fur this." 
 
 Jake tied his prisoner securely, unhitched his oxen and 
 turned them loose, with the yokes on, to graze, and 
 then, getting some quilts out of the wagon, made a bed 
 under it, picked up the captive and laid him upon it. 
 He then ate a cold bite of bread and meat, and taking 
 his rifle went slowly back to the cabin. 
 
 When he arrived there he again seated himself upon 
 a stump and gave his mind to thought. He had gained 
 one advantage, at least, he could exchange prisoners 
 and get his brother free, which had been his object in 
 so roughly treating the boy, but could he do anything 
 more? 
 
 He determined to try. Accordingly he got up and 
 stole softly behind the covered wagon where he had 
 stood before — the dog seemed to have exhausted its
 
 FRONTIER SKETCHES. 15 
 
 animosity or else it had followed the wagon and gone 
 rabbit-hunting. 
 
 Jake now shouted loudly at the cabin 
 
 " Ho, Burrel ! Burrel, I say ! " 
 
 There was a movement inside, a light shone through 
 a crack and an angry voice — the old man's again 
 — replied : " Wall, what ye yawpin' 'bout now ? " 
 
 Jake briefly related the story of the boy's capture, 
 only being interrupted every few seconds by ejacula- 
 tions of wrath and chagrin from his auditors, or at 
 least from two of them. Jared was listening also, and 
 Jake heard him give a shout and a hearty laugh of 
 triumph at the conclusion. 
 
 For a moment there was confusion inside the cabin, 
 and a gabble of excited discussion, then the door 
 opened cautiously, and Jake heard somebody — evi- 
 dently a woman — crying piteously. 
 
 "Oh, they'll kill 'im I they'll kill my babby!"she 
 moaned. 
 
 " Shet up ! " said one of the men, roughly. 
 
 " Say, mister ! " he called, poking his head out of a 
 crack in the doorway. 
 
 " Now, look hyer ! " called Jake, sharply, " none o' 
 that ! Keep inside ef ye want to keep a whole skin." 
 
 The head was hastily withdrawn. 
 
 " Now, lookee hyer ! " repeated Jake, " I'm a-goin' 
 ter hold this hyer cabin in a state o' seige till ye come 
 ter my terms. My terms is these : 
 
 " Yer turn my brother loose ; give 'im ev'ry gun 
 ye've got an' let 'im bring 'em out hyer to me. Then 
 yer pick up yer duds, 'n' bring 'em out 'n' pack 
 'era in this wagon 'n' take yerselves off 'n this 
 claim, n' when ye've done that I'll turn yer boy loose.
 
 16 FRONTIER SKETCHES. 
 
 'n' when ye've gone 'n' took a claim 't ye've got a 
 
 right ter squat on, 'n' git settled onto it, yer c'n send 
 one o' yer neighbors after them guns. Now yer c'n 
 jes' do that er I'll hoi' ye in thar till the crack o'doom, 
 'n' yer boy 't's tied up out thar in the woods c'n stay 
 thar till the b'ars eat 'im up, er the wolves, 'n' they's 
 plenty o' both round hyer. I've got plenty ter eat in 
 my pockets 'n' good shelter commandin' the winders 
 'n' door." 
 
 At the close of this speech there was another wail 
 inside the cabin. The woman, rough as she was, loved 
 her boy and was terribly frightened, and the men 
 seemed subdued and impressed with the gravity of the 
 situation. After a long parley the men, moved by the 
 entreaties of the woman and greatly to Jake's surprise, 
 did accept them and sent Jared out with the guns. 
 
 The}'^ brought out their household goods and the men 
 sullenly packed them in the wagon while Jake and 
 Jared with the guns stood guard at a safe distance. 
 They got up their oxen and hitched them to the wagon, 
 and then the woman, who had silently helped bring out 
 their bedding, clothing and cooking utensils, broke down 
 again, and begged that the boy might be "turned 
 loose 'n' fetched." 
 
 This was more than Jake could stand, and though he 
 knew the lad was safe and fairly comfortable, he had 
 tied him so that he felt certain he could not get loose. 
 He, therefore, left Jared with two guns to guard the 
 claim-jumpers and went and got the boy. The whole 
 party then drove off without a word. 
 
 It was nearly two weeks before a neighbor with 
 whom they had become acquainted, and who sided with 
 them upon learning all the facts in the case, came over
 
 FKONTIEK SKETCHES 17 
 
 and got the guns, and brought the information that the 
 Burrels had settled about twelve miles down the river. 
 He had previously told them that be and some other 
 neighbors, who had elected the elder Burrel a constable, 
 had not been acquainted with the family long, having 
 only fallen in with them while " moving." 
 
 After getting acquainted with all the new-comers of 
 their neighborhood the two boys found good friends 
 and good neighbors among them.
 
 n. 
 
 THE MYSTERY OF THE F^ BRAND. 
 
 Six or eight years ago horse and cattle thieves were 
 exceedingly troublesome to the stockmen of Montana 
 and northern Wyoming. During a year's stay in 
 those regions I heard many accounts of daring and 
 successful robberies, of narrow escapes on the part of 
 these raiders, and of various curious expedients 
 employed by them to accomplish their object, which 
 was, of course, to drive off stock which did not belong 
 to them. 
 
 One of the most bold and yet cunning attempts at 
 cattle- stealing, perhaps, ever made, occurred about that 
 time on the South Cheyenne range near the Wyoming 
 and Dakota lines. I do not know that the story was 
 ever told outside the region in which it happened: but, 
 wlietlier or no, it seems worth telling now. 
 
 It was just at the close of the Indian troubles about 
 the " Hills," when cattle men had newly discovered 
 the many advantages of the range of country lying 
 immediately south and west of the Black Hills. It 
 would, in fact, have been impossible to have carried 
 out so daring a scheme on an older and more closely 
 guarded range. 
 
 One of the first ranches to occupy a portion of this 
 excellent grass region was built at Dead Cedar Forks 
 on AVest Dry Wood, and was owned by the Cheyenne 
 Cattle Company. It started with two thousand head 
 of stock, and its brand duly recorded in the nearest 
 stock journals was J V, the initials of an old ranch man 
 
 18
 
 FRONTIER SKETCHES. 19 
 
 and chief stockholder, Joe Villemont. The letters 
 were simply formed, about eight inches in height and 
 eight inches apart, and were stamped upon the broad 
 sides, always on the right of the company's cattle, and 
 in smaller letters upon the left hips of its horses. 
 
 "Old Joe," as Villemont's men called him, had 
 always been averse to the cruelty of the big, compli- 
 cated brands which disfigure the cattle upon so many 
 ranges, and which must cause so much suffering in the 
 stamping, and afterward until the wound heals. 
 Accordingly he had always used the simplest and 
 smallest brand that would identify his stock. 
 
 At about the time the J Y ranch, as it was called, 
 was established, several other cattle-owners came into 
 the region, bringing large droves of cattle, and built 
 ranches on Horee Head and Hat Creeks, and at the 
 head of White River, and the Running Water, and the 
 " L Z's," " Circle Bars " =0= " K— 23's," " Goose Eggs,'' 
 "000" and others, took their places with the " J V's" 
 upon the range. 
 
 The circuit of a " round-up " was soon determined 
 upon, and the cow-boys of each ranch soon made 
 themselves familiar with the various brands upon their 
 riding circuit. 
 
 It was at the third general round-up, in June of the 
 second year, that the boys working to the northwest 
 discovered a new brand upon that part of the range, 
 and searching their record-book of JSTebraska, Wyom- 
 ing and Dakota brands could find no marking to cor- 
 respond. The new brand was " bar Y N " thus, Y N 
 stamped upon the right broad side, and supplemented 
 by a new moon upon the right hip. 
 
 It was a camp on Lightning creek, a number of the
 
 20 FBONTIEK SKETCHES. 
 
 "Circle Bars" and "J V" men, who first found stock 
 carrying the "bar Y N" brand, as they named it. 
 The}^ found several steers and eighteen or twenty cows 
 bearing it, in the first bunch thej'^ rounded up and cor- 
 ralled at the Lightning Creek branding pens. The 
 markings seemed rather fresh, and the calves which 
 were running with the cows were not yet branded. 
 
 There was no little speculation in the camp that even- 
 ing, after the stock-book had been inspected by the 
 foreman, as to where these cattle belonged. It was 
 supposed that they must be strays from some recently 
 established ranch farther north — one probably that had 
 just run in a lot of fresh-branded stock and had not yet 
 advertised its brand. 
 
 As the camp moved north and made a new branding 
 pen on Old Woman Creek the bar Y N stock became 
 more numerous until it was calculated there must be 
 a hundred and fifty or more of them ; and the out-rid- 
 ing cowboys began to keep their eyes open for signs of 
 a ranch. 
 
 The mystery seemed to be solved one evening by the 
 appearance in camp just at supper time of a horseman 
 who reined up with a hearty " How do ? " and alighted. 
 He was a slim, dark-looking fellow, dressed in a well- 
 worn suit of corduroy, and wearing the regulation 
 slouch hat and high top boots. 
 
 " "Well, " said he, as the foreman of the camp came 
 forward, " "Well, I suppose you've discovered a new 
 brand on your range down hero, — the ' bar YN,' eh ? " 
 
 The foreman said they had, and then asked if he 
 represented that stock, to which the stranger replied 
 that he was superintendent of the ranch to which it 
 belonged, a ranch which had been newly established
 
 tRON'TIER SKETCHES. 21 
 
 on the Little Missouri range, that they had shipped 
 out a lot of Minnesota cattle in March, and driven 
 them down from the Northern Pacific, having hay 
 enough on hand to keep them from running down 
 until grass should start up fresh in April. 
 
 They had expected to hold them without trouble, 
 but there came a three days' blizzard, which the J Y 
 and Circle Bar men had experienced also, from the 
 north, caught a lot of them out, and ran them off to 
 the south. There were about seven hundred of these 
 new cattle gone from their ranch, he said, and they had 
 found them scattered all the way from Belle Fourche 
 to Hat Creek. 
 
 He then drew a Montana stock journal from his 
 breast pocket and pointed out his brand advertised as 
 the property of the " Minnesota & Montana Cattle 
 Company," and went on to say that he had brought 
 down three of his men to begin at the southernmost 
 point at which their stock was to be found, and work 
 back toward home, gathering the cattle as they went. 
 
 " We'll take what calves you leave us," he said, 
 laughingly, " for you will be through with your brand- 
 ing before we fairly get to work ! " 
 
 He remarked that his camp, temporary, of course, 
 was on a creek about twenty miles east, and that he 
 had merely stumbled upon the round-up by chance 
 while looking for his own brand. 
 
 His story, perfectly plausible and established by an 
 advertisement in an accredited stock journal, made him 
 heartily welcome at the cow-camp, where he was 
 immediately invited to take supper, and, as it rained 
 that evening, he shared the foreman's bed, under the 
 cover of a big supply wagon.
 
 S2 FRONTIER SKETCHES. 
 
 It was about a week after this that the round-up 
 broke camp, and in the meantime two other cow-men 
 were met in search of bar Y N stock. Rather 
 rough-looking fellows they were — hardly up to the 
 standard of "number one punchers" the men thought 
 them. Two of the J Y boys, " Griff " Moshcr and Tom 
 Dodd, with an extra pony and a week's supplies, were 
 left to look up several ponies which had strayed from 
 the camp at Indian Creek, v/liile the others moved to 
 another part of the range. 
 
 Griff and Tom " rustled " around lively for a few 
 days, picked up all of the ponies but two, five had 
 stra3'ed, and giving those up for lost had started from 
 Lightning Creek to go to the J V ranch on Dry 
 Wood. They were riding down into the deep valley 
 of a small run in search of water and a camp for the 
 first evening, when they came upon a large bunch of 
 cattle grazing upon the bottom and side hill. 
 
 Upon approaching they discovered the brand bar Y 
 N upon the nearest ones, and struck by the size of the 
 drove, rode through them to discover, if possible, 
 whether they all had that mark. It seemed so ; at 
 least, they could see no other markings except the new 
 moon looking remarkably fresh upon the right hip of 
 each creature inspected. 
 
 "Hum," said Griff, as they rode forward, "them 
 fellows hev rounded up a big lot of strays right here, 
 haint they now? Say, Tom, don't it 'pear sort o' 
 strange that they haint a spotted critter in the whole 
 bunch?" 
 
 Tom cast his eyes over the lot with some astonish- 
 ment. 
 
 " That's so," he admitted ; " not a one."
 
 FRONTIER SKETCHES. 23 
 
 "And say," said Griff, pulling up with sudden energy, 
 " if that big yellow steer there with the wide horns 
 haint the one we hed such a tussle with a-rebrandin' 
 him over at Old Woman last fall, I'll eat my hat." 
 
 Tom emphatically coincided with him. 
 
 " Yes, an' what's more," fairly shouted Griff, " I can 
 see a dozen cows I'd swear to as J Vs this minute ! 
 Here, cut loose the horses an' let's down that red heifer 
 thar with a fresh brand on 'er, an' hev a look at it !" 
 
 It was the work of three or four minutes for these 
 practiced " ropers " to catch the heifer, throw her, and 
 examine her brand. It also took but a hasty scrutiny 
 to discover that an old marking of J Y had been 
 changed to Y IST by adding fresh "lean tos"tothe 
 original letters, with a bar and the new moon to make 
 the deception more complete. 
 
 Griff and Tom wasted no time, but set their wits at 
 work, to plan a capture of the daring rascals, or, at 
 least, to take steps at once to prevent them from run- 
 ning off the stock, as — from the gathering of so large a 
 bunch — it was evident they intended doing soon. 
 
 Luckily, as they believed, the fellows had not 
 discovered their presence in the valley, and were 
 probably camped at no great distance above or below. 
 As there were known to be four of them at least, the 
 boys felt that it would be too risky to attempt to cope 
 with them alone, and they determined to ride to the 
 ranch at Dead Cedar Forks, and rally a crowd if any 
 men could be found there. 
 
 They mounted, passed through a narrow draw to 
 the creek and up another to the high ground beyond, 
 and then rode hard all night, changing ponies fre- 
 quently, and only stopping twice for water, and a
 
 S-i FRONTIER SKETCHES. 
 
 lialf-hour's rest at noon or a little before they reached 
 the J V ranch. 
 
 There was no one there except Lame Johnnie, the 
 cook, and he had not seen a man, he said, for five 
 (lays; didn't know where any of the boys were or 
 when they'd be in. 
 
 Johnnie himself could not ride on account of his 
 wretched legs; and while tiiey were off hunting up a 
 crowd the thieves might drive the cattle through to 
 Montana and sell them. 
 
 iN'ot an hour was wasted; the two bold fellows 
 determined to make an attempt to recapture the stock 
 unassisted. Arming themselves with Winchesters 
 from the ranch in addition to their six-shooters, and 
 selecting four of the best ponies from the corral, they 
 rode swiftly back over the route they had traveled in 
 the morning. 
 
 They gave themselves three hours' sleep that night, 
 and the next morning halted at the creek where they 
 had found the bunch of stock with the stolen brand 
 upon them. 
 
 As they had feared, the cattle were gone ; there was 
 not a creature except a few head of L Z and Circle 
 Bar stock to be seen in the region. But after two 
 hours' search to the northward of where they had 
 struck the stream, they came upon a well-defined and 
 fresh trail of a lot of cattle going north, and knew 
 they were upon the right track. The cattle had been 
 started the day before, as near as the boys could judge, 
 or the day after they had seen them. 
 
 They followed the trail at a racking gait until it 
 became too dark to trace it without diflBculty, then 
 picketed their tired ponies, ate a cold lunch, and gave
 
 FKONTIER SKETCHES. S5 
 
 themselves up to a night of refreshing and much 
 needed sleep. 
 
 All the next day they rode hard upon the trail, but 
 did not come up with the thieves, who, they concluded, 
 were pushing the stock at a terrible rate, probably 
 fearing that they were pursued, as, indeed, for aught 
 Griflf and Tom knew, they themselves might have been 
 within plain sight of some or all of the thieves, while 
 making the discovery of the fradulent brand. 
 
 It was easy to keep hidden among these breaks and 
 gulches. 
 
 It was not until late in the afternoon of the third 
 day's chase that they sighted the drove just descending 
 into a narrow and canon-like valley of a tributary of 
 the Belle Fourche. 
 
 Believing the thieves would stick to this narrow val- 
 ley in order to keep well hidden, the boys circled, rode 
 rapidly around them, and descended into the valley in 
 their front, as they could tell by the cloud of dust that 
 rose continually above the herd. They reached the 
 level of the stream at the mouth of a gulch about sun- 
 down. 
 
 Knowing that the cattle thieves would be on the 
 alert, the two cowboys had formed no plan save that of 
 immediate attack upon them from the nearest point of 
 vantage and the most unexpected to the attacked that 
 could be gained. 
 
 The spot they had happened upon was well adapted 
 to an ambush. They picketed their ponies some rods 
 from the mouth of the gulch and out of sight, and then 
 the determined fellows, with their Winchesters and 
 revolvers, and abundance of ammunition, placed them-
 
 26 FRONTIER SKETCHES. 
 
 selves behind a small bank and awaited the approach 
 of the robbers as they urged the stock along the canon. 
 
 TliG cloud of dust rolled down, and the leaders of 
 the herd came in sight climbing out of a gulch a few 
 rods distant. Yells and the cracking of stock whips 
 could now bo heard above the trampling and lowing of 
 the cattle. 
 
 It was growing dusk, and the thick dust which rose 
 from the dry, grassless soil of the canon made it 
 impossible to see more than a few rods with certainty. 
 But soon at the tail of the herd two horsemen appeared, 
 then another, then a fourth. They were riding not far 
 apart, the nearest about fifty yards away, and rather 
 dimly outlined in the dust and growing darkness. 
 
 Griff and Tom laid down their Winchesters, and 
 with self-cocking revolvers opened fire upon the 
 miscreants. 
 
 The first shots had no other effect than to cause the 
 thieves to leap from their saddles and get behind their 
 ponies. That they did not immediately ride out of 
 range was no doubt owing to the fear that they had 
 been surrounded, and that these shots were merelv 
 to drive them upon the muzzles of other guns upon the 
 other side or in the rear. 
 
 They were not altogether cowards, either, for they 
 returned fire at once, and for a few moments the canon 
 witnessed one of those fierce shooting affrays which 
 sometimes occur between the outraged citizen and the 
 desperado of the plains and mountains. 
 
 " Crack ! crack ! crack ! " the thieves fired across their 
 horses' backs at the heads and shoulders which Griff 
 and Tom offered as marks, while the incensed and 
 excited cowboys emptied their revolvers, and then
 
 "FRONTIER SKETCHES. 27 
 
 caught lip their Winchesters and " pumped " forty- 
 five's in rapid succession. 
 
 These last weapons settled the affair speedily, their 
 length and steadiness gave a better and truer aim than 
 could be got with revolvers. 
 
 First a pony went down, then one of the thieves got a 
 bullet in his leg and led his horse away while he limped 
 at his side. The man whose horse was shot took to 
 his heels and ran away. One of the others exposed 
 himself while mounting, and rode away hanging across 
 his horse's wethers. The other sprang upon his pony, 
 and galloped off up the caiion. 
 
 In three minutes from the time the firing began the 
 thieves were whipped, " cleaned out " in Western par- 
 lance, and gone, and the two plucky cowboys had come 
 off without a scratch. 
 
 They dared not attempt to follow up their advan- 
 tage, however, but rode immediately after the stock, 
 which they succeeded in getting out of the canon, and 
 twenty miles on the route toward home before morn- 
 ing. 
 
 After that they took it leisurel}^, only keeping a 
 sharp lookout, aud taking turns in guarding the stock 
 closely at night. They saw no more of the thieves 
 who had, no doubt, had enough of cattle stealing for 
 once. 
 
 The Cheyenne Cattle Company rewarded this bold 
 exploit as it deserved, by raising the wages of Griff 
 and Tom each from forty -five to sixty dollars per 
 month.
 
 III. 
 
 CORSON'S WIFE. 
 
 It would be hard to find in tlie Rocky Mountains a 
 rouglier stage road than tliat which runs between the 
 mining hamlets of Thunder Gulch and Squaw Forks. 
 Indeed, if a worse road could be found, there are few 
 persons who would care for a seat in the coach of the 
 most careful driver. 
 
 This road is twelve or thirteen miles lon^. A few 
 years ago a lady who ventured to ride over it called it 
 "The Twelve-Mile Horror," and by this name the road 
 is known to miners and travelers of the region. That 
 the name is deserved the writer can testify, for he 
 knows it to be truly a rambling thread over dizzy 
 precipices and among black, gaping canons. 
 
 There are ]ilaces along the verge of cliffs and around 
 the jutting points of yawning gulches where the coach 
 seems literalh' suspended in mid-air, and the rider, 
 glancing out over the wheels into the sheer, gaping 
 space below, hastily pulls down the " flaps," closes his 
 eyes, and leans dizzily back in his seat, not daring to 
 look a second time. 
 
 For five years Gideon Fletcher, or '' Gid," as he is 
 commonly called, has driven the stage once each day, 
 Sundays excepted, from Squavr Forks to Thunder Gulch 
 and back. Of course, he has occasionally missed a 
 trip, when slides or heavy falls of snow along the line 
 have prevented him from running. Yet during all his 
 fifteen hundred " round trips " he has never met with 
 
 28
 
 FRONTIER SKETCHES. 29 
 
 an accident serious enougli to cause the loss of life or 
 limb to his passengers. 
 
 So trusty and sure-handed a driver is he that the 
 *' contractors of the line" will have no other, and they 
 pay him double wages to keep him upon this particular 
 stretch of their route. Only once has a coach been 
 demolished or a horse killed under his management ; 
 but on that occasion he met with a double accident, 
 under circumstances so stirring and heroic as to be well 
 worthy of narration. 
 
 It was some two years after Gideon had begun driv- 
 ing the coach upon this road that one day, as he came 
 out from eating his dinner at "^ The Rough-and-Tumble 
 House" of Thunder Gulch, a pale-faced young woman 
 appeared at the rude gate, and beckoned to him. 
 
 "Are you the stage-driver that drives the stage to 
 Squaw Forks this afternoon ? " she asked, as he came up. 
 
 " I reckon I'm the chap yer lookin' fer, mum," said 
 Gideon. " Want ter go flown ? Start in half a hour." 
 
 The woman glanced about nervously, as though fear- 
 ful of being overheard, and then she said, hurriedly 
 and in a low voice : 
 
 " I'm from Corson's Camp. I'm Corson's wife ; but 
 he — they all — abuse me dreadfully, and the baby too. 
 Look here," and she threw an old bonnet she wore 
 back from her forehead, and showed a great fresh scar 
 across one temple. 
 
 "I got that last night. They do it when they're 
 drunk, and they're drunk most of the time. Night 
 before last one of 'em threatened to throw my baby 
 into a hot spring. He said he'd ' kill the little imp, he 
 would,' and oh, I can't, I don't dare to stay there any 
 longer! I'm the only woman up at the camp, and
 
 FKONTIER SKETCHES. 31 
 
 to-day the men are all up at Big Horn Spring pros- 
 poctin' for a new place, and so I've come to you to see 
 if you won't take me away from this dreadful place. 
 
 " I've no money with me, an' no friends nearer than 
 Denver. My folks live there, and I would have wrote 
 to 'em to come and take me away if I dared ; but I 
 knew if Corson got wind of it before they got here he'd 
 kill me and the baby, too ; for though he's my husband 
 he's the most horrid and' wicked man lever saw, except 
 the gang he keeps around him. Oh, will you let me 
 go with you ? " 
 
 " Wal, now, I sh'd smile ! " answered Fletcher, in his 
 hearty way. " You jest go 'n' git yer baby 'n' yor 
 fixin's, 'n' we'll git out o' these diggin's in a jiffy." 
 
 " Oh, I daresn't come here to start," she replied ; 
 " but in an hour I'll be down at the mouth of the 'Gap ' 
 below. If I should come here, Corson would find out 
 soon as he comes back that I'd started off with you, 
 and they'd like enough catch us before we'd got down 
 to the Forks. 
 
 "■ Some of 'em may be back any minute ; like enough 
 they're there now; but I'm going to sneak away with 
 baby somehow, if they are. There don't seem to be 
 anybody hangin' round here now. All off but the 
 women folks, I s'pose, and it looks like I'd have a good 
 chance to get off without anybody's knowin' how or 
 where I went," and with this she turned and sped 
 away. 
 
 " I'll wait for ye, sure," Gideon assured her as she 
 started. 
 
 He hung about the stable of the Rough-and-Tumble 
 longer than usual that noon, pretending to one of the 
 women that came out presently that he had to " fix "
 
 32 FEONTIER SKETCHES. 
 
 something about his harness before he started on the 
 return trip, 
 
 "Everybody's gone off crazy 'bout the new 2)lacer up 
 at Big Horn," they had told him at the table, " 'n lef 
 nobody but thcr women folks 't the Gulcli." 
 
 In about an hour from the time he had finished 
 dinner, Gideon and his coach were in waiting at the 
 mouth of Melcher's Gap. It was about half an hour 
 later when the woman, with her child in arms, came 
 hurrying breathlessly down to him. She looked behind 
 her frequently, and he saw as she approached that her 
 face was white with fear and suspense. 
 
 The baby, a wretched little year-old object, dressed, 
 like its mother, in mere rags, turned its poor and piti- 
 ful little face upon the driver with a wan smile that, as 
 he said, " fetched" him "clear to the boots." 
 
 " Oh, you 7nust drive fast," cried the poor woman, as 
 she clambered into the coach without waiting for the 
 proffered help, " for they've come back, as I was afraid ! 
 Corson and two of the men, and they're going to break 
 camp and move up to Big Horn this afternoon. They 
 daresn't trust me there alone, for I am some good to 
 'em in cookin' and keepin' camp. I knew tHis was the 
 last chance to git free, so I took the baby and started 
 down to the spring for a pail of water, and when I got 
 out of sight I just run for here, and you must go, go 
 for they'll sure be after us ! " 
 
 " I'll go fast enough," answered Gideon cheerily, 
 " an' don't you be afraid they'll ketch us neither on 
 them leetle mountain ponies." 
 
 But though he spoke with such assurance and deter- 
 mination, he did not feel at all sure of the outcome of a 
 race if the men at Corson's camp should soon discover
 
 FKONTIEK SKETCHES. 33 
 
 the woman's flight and follow. He felt that he had 
 taken an extremely hazardous exploit, considering the 
 dangerous route he had to drive over and the characters 
 of the men, who, he had not a doubt, would be upon his 
 trail within the next half hour. 
 
 The spring at Corson's Camp he knew was in a 
 ravine at the head of Melcher's Gap, and as this canon 
 was the only outlet in that direction, Corson could not 
 long remain ignorant of his wife's line of flight after he 
 had discovered, as he soon must, that she was truly 
 gone. 
 
 But the woman and her baby, in such evident and 
 distressing need of rescue, had "fetched him," and the 
 brave driver, looking to his revolvers to see that the 
 chambers were all loaded, drew in the lines and 
 urged forward his horses at as great a rate of speed as 
 the nature of the road would warrant. 
 
 For a half hour or more the coach rattled forward at 
 a dangerous ])ace, for these first few miles were the 
 roughest part of the road. Up and down it went 
 through deep gorges, scaling precipitous " hog backs," 
 and swaying far above the verge of cavernous canons. 
 From the point of every turn that commanded a view 
 of the trail behind, Gid cast anxious glances backward, 
 to note if anyone were yet in. pursuit. 
 
 At the " half-mile stone," which was supposed to 
 mark a spot midway between Thunder Gulch and 
 Squaw Forks, was a height from which a good portion 
 of the road for two miles back could be seen, and here 
 it was that the driver discovered, indeed, that Corson 
 and his men were following them. A single glance 
 sufficed to reveal them — three horsemen — riding- at a
 
 34 FRONTIER SKETCHES. 
 
 breakneck gallop over the crest of a long hog-back 
 some mile and a half in the rear of the coach. 
 
 '' A llight for life," thought Gideon, and he cracked 
 his long whip above the ears of the already fretted 
 stage-team. The horses were not imwilling to go 
 faster, however, on the contrary they seemed nervous 
 and frightened at such unusual driving, and sprang 
 forward at a pace which the driver soon found it 
 necessary to check by vigorous pulling at their reins. 
 
 " Are they coming ? Did you see them ? " screamed 
 the woman, frightened at the swaying and rocking of 
 the stage as they rounded a curve. 
 
 " Oh, we're all right ! " the driver shouted back, 
 evading a direct answer. "The road ain't bad, hyar! 
 An' I'm a-tryin' ter make up fer whar His. " 
 
 The coach tore along, pitching crazily down into 
 deep gullies, and swaying wildly above the crests of 
 abrupt cliffs or the sides of gulf-like ravines. 
 
 It was quite a number of minutes before Gideon 
 caught sight of the pursuing horsemen again, but 
 when he did, as they came around the point of a 
 mountam spur, they had gained perceptibly upon the 
 coach, and the question of being overtaken had 
 narrowed to one merely of time. And now the driver 
 began to canvass the chances of making a successful 
 defense when he should be finally overtaken. 
 
 There w^as a point nearly two miles ahead, where, 
 if he could only reach it, the road ran along the foot 
 of a narrow ledge and above a precipitous gulch, and, 
 where he thought he might halt the coach behind a 
 sheltering point of rocks, and " stand off " their pur- 
 suers with his revolvers. He was now determined at
 
 FRONTIER SKETCHES. 36 
 
 every hazard to keep the woman and her child out of 
 the clutches of her pursuers. 
 
 With this goal and end in view, then, he drove with 
 a recklessness, which in any less urgent case would 
 have been mad, indeed. More than once the poor 
 woman screamed with fright, as the hack lunged for- 
 ward or careened over, and ran several yards on two 
 wheels. 
 
 But Fletcher kept a steady and strong rein on his 
 animals, and threw his weight to one side or the other 
 as the coach rocked and threatened to overturn. 
 
 Several minutes passed in this mad flight, when, 
 glancing back at a smooth turn, the driver caught 
 another view of Corson and his men ; they were now 
 pressing hard upon him. There was but a few min- 
 utes more to spare in racing, but Gideon had reached 
 a point where, if no accident should occur, he felt cer- 
 tain of gaining the narrow pass. 
 
 His horses were sweating profusely from fright and 
 exertion, but still seemed full of energy. 
 
 On, on, they flew. It was wonderful that the coach 
 kept right side up, while the poor frightened woman 
 inside clung frantically to her seat with one arm, and 
 to her babe with the other. 
 
 Another half-mile was passed safely, and Gideon 
 felt a thrill of triumph as he struck the mountain spur, 
 upon the other side of which he felt sure of making a 
 successful stand against their pursuers. Both at the 
 Gulch and the Forks, he was known as a "crack shot" 
 with his revolvers, and those three fellows, he thought, 
 with no little judgment, wouldn't care " to run up agin 
 'em," when once he had gained the shelter of the jut- 
 ting rocks on the other side.
 
 36 FRONTIER SKETCHES. 
 
 But just as he reached the point of the spur, and 
 when too late, he remembered a dangerous curve in 
 front, where, going at their present rate of speed, the 
 hack must inevitably be thrown off the ledge by its 
 own momentum. It was a short turn upon a steep 
 bench with a ledge above and a chasm below. 
 
 He threw all his weight in a backward pull upon the 
 lines, but the team, now thoroughly frightened and 
 wildly excited by their furious run, refused to obey the 
 reins, and plunged recklessly ahead. 
 
 They were now within a few rods of the fatal turn, 
 and Gideon, foreseeing instant catastrophe, dropped 
 the lines, sprang over the back of his seat, and catch- 
 ing both woman and child in his arms, jumped out with 
 them upon the upper side of the road. 
 
 They were scarcely out of the hack when the vehicle 
 " sloughed " ofif the road, overturned, and, as it did so, 
 wrenched the team off the narrow " dug- way." 
 
 The poor animals scrambled resistingly for an instant, 
 then one lost its footing and fell ; the other plunged 
 over it, and coach and all went crashing into the bottom 
 of the gulch below. Gideon had time to note this, as 
 he says, even while trembling with his precious freight 
 from the bank of the spur, against Vv^hich he had leaped, 
 into the road-bed. 
 
 Luckily the bank at that point was of earth instead 
 of rocks — the ledge was but a few steps further on — and 
 the three, though shocked and jarred, were unharmed 
 by their violent exit from the hack. 
 
 Gideon, however, did not stop an instant to note 
 whether the woman or her child were injured, but 
 gathering the baby on one arm and grasping its moth-
 
 FRONTIER SKETCHES. 37 
 
 er's arm with his free hand, ran forward, carrying the 
 one and fairly dragging the other. 
 
 Just a few steps beyond the ledge were several big 
 boulders on the lower side of the road. To gain the 
 shelter of those before Corson and his men came in 
 sight was now Gid's object. 
 
 Before the boulders were reached, he could hear the 
 clatter of hoofs around the curve. The men were in 
 close pursuit and riding hard, but by dint of great 
 exertion Gideon reached the rocks with his charges a 
 minute or two before the pursuers rounded the point. 
 
 "Set close behind hyar, " he commanded the woman, 
 "and hyar, take your babby 'n' keep es quiet 'n' es 
 cool es 3'e ken." 
 
 Then he drew a revolver from one of the holsters at 
 his hips, and dropping upon his knees at a spot where 
 he could peer through between two of the boulders, 
 cocked the weapon, and leveled it upon the road pre- 
 paratory to halting the fellows with a shot as soon as 
 they came in sight. 
 
 He had not a second to wait before the leader 
 appeared at a point just beyond where the stage and 
 team had gone off the bench and over the cliff. 
 
 It was Corson himself, but he had " slowed up, " and 
 before Gideon could make up his mind to fire, he sud- 
 denly drew rein, and gave utterance as he did so to a 
 loud and excited oath. 
 
 He had discovered what had happened to the stage 
 by means — as was afterwards proved — of a sheep-skin 
 seat cushion, which had been flung out of the hack as 
 it overturned, and had lodged on top of the ledge. 
 
 The other two men came up almost instantly and 
 halted, and then the three dismounted and talked
 
 38 FKONTIER SKETCHES. 
 
 excitedly together — though Gideon could not distin- 
 guish what they said — and one of them went forward 
 and peered long and intently over the ledge. 
 
 But either he dared not go near enough to the verge 
 of the precipice to see plainly to the base, or he could 
 not clearly make out the wreck on account of the 
 chaparral thicket below, for, after gazing a minute, he 
 shook his head decidedly, as though convinced that 
 passengers and all had gone over, and then all three 
 quickly remounted, wheeled their ponies about upon 
 the " dug-way," and disappeared as rapidly as they had 
 come. 
 
 " Uny hugh ! " grunted Gideon, with great satisfaction, 
 '•ye think ye've ran us over thar 'n' smashed the hull 
 outfit, don't ye, 'n' ye've skipped mighty sudden for 
 fear 't' sumun 'd come along 'n' diskiver yer deviltry, 
 haint ye ? " 
 
 Then he told Mrs. Corson to get up, and taking the 
 child from her arms — the scared little thing had slept 
 as quiet as a young partridge in hiding — helped her to 
 rise and led her out upon the road. 
 
 The woman had seemed like one dazed while lying 
 there in hiding, but now that she understood that the 
 man she so feared had really gone she plucked up 
 courage, and declared that she could easily walk the 
 remainder of the way to Squaw Forks — there being no 
 habitations at that time between the two points. 
 
 They reached the little town after a wearisome tramp 
 over the rough road. 
 
 Their arrival and the story of their adventure and 
 escape created great excitement among the miners, who 
 gathered at one of the stores that evening, and raised 
 two hundred dollars to give to the woman, besides pay-
 
 FRONTIER SKETCHES. 39 
 
 ing her stage fare in advance to the nearest railway 
 station where she could take a train for Denver. 
 
 The coach and the team were discovered the next 
 day, a shapeless wreck, having taken a clear plunge of 
 nearly one hundred feet. Only the mail was rescued. 
 
 Corson and his gang "■ pulled up stakes '' and left the 
 region immediately, and it was well for them that they 
 did, for as the story of the woman's sufferings became 
 known, the irate miners would surely have lynched 
 them if they had not taken themselves away. 
 
 (£^9
 
 IV. 
 
 THE "MOANING ROCK" AT BOGEY'S BEND. 
 
 A daily newspaper widely read in the West devotes 
 a page of each Saturday's edition, seven columns or so, 
 to collections of ghostl}'' doings, as related by local nar- 
 rators in various parts of its own and surroundins: 
 States. These tales and brief accounts are entirely 
 devoted to modern and, if many of them are to be 
 believed, "well-authenticated" ghosts, surprising as this 
 may seem to the reader who has not the advantage of 
 an acquaintance with the " spook " columns of the jour- 
 nal in question. 
 
 There are stories, indeed, of haunted houses in south- 
 western towns where even the electric light has failed 
 to "lay" their nightly and mysterious visitants. This 
 local revival in ghostly matters and beliefs gives good 
 proof of the strength and persistence of inherited ten- 
 dencies. 
 
 In the backwoods annals of forty or fifty years since 
 we expect to find strong traces of superstition, tales of 
 weird and supernatural happenings. It was the writer's 
 good fortune lately to listen to one of these old-time 
 accounts in a story of a haunted rock, the incidents of 
 which were told him by one who took part in the 
 adventure, and are well remembered by old inhabitants 
 about Bogey's Bend. 
 
 Bogey's IBend of the Wisconsin river received its 
 name from its earliest settler, a Canadian Frenchman, 
 who had married an Irish wife in his native province, 
 but after a time moved westward with a numerous 
 
 40
 
 FRONTIER SKETCHES. 41 
 
 family and finally settled upon a fine tract of land in a 
 sweeping bend of the Wisconsin, the only land fit for 
 cultivating, in fact, of several square miles contained 
 within the curve, the remainder being swampy, heavily 
 timbered, and subject to over-flow. Hence it was a 
 lonesome spot, and other settlers had been content with 
 the fertile valleys and plateaus of the bluffs which skirt 
 the river valley. A spur of those bluffs projects across 
 the valley at the lower end of Bogey's Bend, termi- 
 nating in a razor-like ridge, sharply descending and 
 abruptly ending at the river's bank. Numerous big 
 rocks, jagged, and broken, crown the "hog-back" of 
 this ridge, and at the very extremity, protecting this 
 bluff, indeed, from the wear of a swift current, stands 
 a pinnacled rock projecting about seventy-five feet 
 above the ridge and nearly twice that distance from 
 the water's edge. 
 
 To the right of this rugged sentinel, calling the river 
 its front, a densely-timbered swamp stretches for 
 several miles, while immediately at its left the earth of 
 the bluff has caved off, leaving an extremely high and 
 steep bank plainly bearing the marks of an old land- 
 slide. And it was told by the old trappers of the region 
 and also by an aged Winnebago chief, known as an 
 occasional visitor throughout the surrounding settle- 
 ments, that the caving off of this huge bank some 
 thirty years before had buried a party of adventurers 
 who, with a Winnebago guide, had drawn their canoes 
 in there and camped for the night upon the river shore 
 beneath the beetling bluff. 
 
 Ever since that time, so the trappers and the Indian 
 maintained, the spirits of these unfortunates had 
 hovered about the big rock— had made it their home,
 
 42 FRONTIER SKETCHES, 
 
 in fact ; and almost any night of the year they might 
 be heard moaning and sighing in a way that made the 
 listeners shiver. When the wind blew strongly up 
 river on a wet night, our old trapper claimed, it was 
 '' jes beas'ly terrible ter hear thar carryin's on." And 
 the old "Winnebago said : 
 
 " Heap spirit make um noise, scare Injun a heap." 
 
 The trappers and hunters, who in this locality, as in 
 all others throughout the Northwest, had preceded 
 the settlers', giving a nomenclature which has generally 
 stuck to prominent landmarks and streams, had not 
 failed in the matter of this mysterious rock, and its 
 name, " The Moaning Eock," still clings. The stories 
 which they told of the supernatural noises and sights 
 which were to be heard and seen — for some of them 
 claimed also to have seen strange things about the 
 rock — naturall}^ found a credulous reception among the 
 more ignorant of the settlers, and in fact for several 
 years the locality of the Moaning Rock was pretty 
 generally avoided. Even among those who " poohed " 
 at the idea of there being any ghosts at all, and boasted 
 of having been to the rock and that nothing of the kind 
 was to be heard or seen, very few, if anv. had ever been 
 known to go there in the night. 
 
 Some there were, of course, practical men, busied 
 with work and improvement upon their new farms, 
 who very sensibly paid no attention to any tales of the 
 sort that infested this rock, and who had no interest in 
 visiting the isolated spot. 
 
 Peter Bogey was one of these. He laughed when 
 his children or wife repeated with awe the accounts 
 they had heard of the " Moaning Rock," and would say 
 good-humoredly :
 
 PKONTIER SKETCHES. 43 
 
 ** Fools dey ees ticker es de guss'oppers." 
 But to his Irish wife and the young Bogeys the rock 
 was a veritable bugbear. The boys could scarce be 
 got to go in its direction in search of the cows when 
 the animals strayed that way. However, as " Al " 
 Bogey, the oldest boy, got well along in his teens and 
 began to extend his hunting excursions further into the 
 swara-ps, he grew — like his father — skeptical of the 
 ghosts and witches in which his mother firmly believed, 
 and at length became so bold in one of his hunts as to 
 track a deer directly up to the foot of the ledge above 
 the crown of which towered the redoubtable rock. He 
 had seen it once before from a height of bluff some 
 half a mile distant — a safe point of view — beyond 
 which few visitors ventured. 
 
 What he saw now was a steeple-like rock, triangular 
 in shape, with rough, jagged edges and sharp projec- 
 tions, and growing beside it in a sheltering fashion a 
 huge whiteoak-tree, some of the largest limbs of which 
 had been turned aside in their growth by its nearness. 
 Al could not but feel that it was a bold thing to stand 
 there surveying the rock, and felt not a little uneasy, 
 notwithstanding his lately-aroused skepticism. He 
 lingered for some time, and though he felt strongly the 
 influence of the old tales he had listened to, and the 
 weird lonesomeness of the spot, he neither saw nor 
 heard anything of an alarming nature. Yet he knew 
 that night was the real time to settle the matter — at 
 night, when the wind "blew strong up river." And as 
 he wandered towards home, having lost the trail of the 
 deer upon the hard dry soil of the ridge, he came to 
 the determination to find out for certain whether the 
 story of strange noises and sights at the " Moaning
 
 44: FRONTIER SKETCHES. 
 
 Kock" were true or not. He knew a young fellow, Jet 
 Ferris, over on Bear Creek, whom he was sure he could 
 get to go with him. 
 
 Jet was a great hunter, afraid of nothing, and would 
 as gladly be out all night as all day if there were any 
 fun or excitement to be had. 
 
 He said nothing at home of his visit to the rock or 
 of his plan, not wishing to arouse the fears and oppo- 
 sition of his mother, who beUeved in real ghosts and 
 wizards, and that only evil could befall those who tried 
 to pry into their affairs. 
 
 It was September, and Al had not long to wait for a 
 wet, drizzly day which freed him from work and also 
 promised the right sort of a night for his adventure, 
 the wind blowing " up river," or nearly so. As soon 
 as his morning chores were done he took down his 
 father's rifle and set out for the home of Jet, on Bear 
 Creek, four miles distant. Upon reaching young Fer- 
 ris's home lie was told that " Jet hed went up t' the 
 Birch Bluffs t' shoot pa'tridges," and was asked to 
 come in, " set by the fire an' dry yer clo's." 
 
 But he declined the invitation, saying: 
 
 " Wet clothes ain't nothin'." 
 
 And, well knowing that the game Jet was hunting 
 would be found that day upon the sheltered side of the 
 bluffs, he set out after the hunter again, and, after a 
 two hours' tramp, succeeded in finding him. 
 
 Jet, after his fashion, gave Al a boisterous greeting, 
 and then readily agreed to his proposal to spend the 
 night, or a part of it, at the Moaning Kock. 
 
 " I ben awantin' ter dew it, " said Jet, " fer a long 
 time, but I didn't know of nobody as I thought 'd 
 wanter go long 'th me 'n' I couldn't scrouge myself
 
 FKONTIER SKETCHES. 45 
 
 clean up ter the p'int of goin' alone ; but along of you 
 I ain't afeared. " 
 
 They spent a large part of the day in hunting, 
 returning to Jet's home with back-loads of pheasants 
 and squirrels. Then, after an early supper, or rather, 
 a late dinner, they started for the Moaning Kock — a 
 trip of four miles or more along the tops of the Bear 
 Creek Bluffs. 
 
 It was yet broad daylight when tliey reached the 
 rock. They went boldly up to it, walking along the 
 base and gazing up at the ragged sides and pinnacled 
 tops. 
 
 " No spooks up thar es I c'n see, " laughed Jet. 
 And then, as it still lacked some time of growing dark, 
 he proposed that they should go down into the swamp 
 with the dog and " see 'f he can't stir out a coon er a 
 wild cat. " 
 
 To this plan Al eagerly agreed. Having a lantern 
 with them to light their way home they set it down at 
 the base of the big oak to await their return. 
 
 After a half hour's unsuccessful beating about in the 
 nearer parts of the big timber swamp it began to grow 
 dusk, and they turned back for their night's vigil. 
 The wind, instead of " going down with the sun, " had 
 risen considerably, and was blowing stiffly among the 
 tree-tops as they emerged upon the river bank at the 
 foot of the big rock. There was a fine rain falling also, 
 and they started at once to pass around the base of the 
 rock and climb the ridge to the shelter of the big oak 
 which branched out partially on the leeward side of its 
 neighbor. They had not ascended one-third of the 
 way when a strange, weird sound broke out above
 
 46 FKONTIEK SKETCHES. 
 
 their heads — a long-drawn wail that wound up in 
 almost a shriek. 
 
 Al Bogey, who is now a man considerably past mid- 
 dle age, says though he fought three years in the war 
 he can remember no moment of his life of such terrible 
 fright and suspense as the one in which he first listened 
 to this wail from the Moaning Rock. He cowered 
 down to the very ground, expecting instantly some 
 awful vision to present itself. But Jet stood boldly 
 up and listened intently while yet another mournful 
 wail broke forth and quavered, at first low and plain- 
 tively, then increased to a shrill whistle, then 'died 
 away only to be followed by others, sounding some- 
 times singly, sometimes a number in unison, 
 
 " Notbin' in the worl' but the wind up 'mong them 
 snags 'n' jags of rock," he said presently, and in a 
 triumphant, conclusive tone that brought Al to his feet 
 with a heart that soon began to beat naturally with 
 the sudden conviction that Jet was right. He, too, 
 now that his " right mind " had returned, could recog- 
 nize the old familiar whistle ot the wind, as it had 
 sounded from his baby days around the chimneys and 
 the roofs of the log houses in which he had lived. 
 
 He was breathing easy again when suddenly an 
 entirely different and more appalling sound jarred 
 upon his ears, and once more sent a chill creeping over 
 him. 
 
 C-r-r-a-ai-k-h ! 
 
 It was a harsh, discordant scream, such as might 
 have issued from the mouth of the ugliest wizard of 
 all his mother's category. 
 
 " Mercy, Jet ! he exclaimed ; " what's thait ? " 
 
 "Huh !" grunted the stolid fellow, "a feller that
 
 FKONTIEK SKETCHES. 47 
 
 runs in the woods oughter know ihat sound ; it's two 
 o' them big boughs up thar that's growed crosswise a 
 gr-ittin' agin each other. I've hearn 'em do that a 
 hundred times in the woods. Now them sounds," he 
 went on, " is jest the long 'n' short o' the hull o' this 
 here sperrit business ; an' es fer seein' things, why eny 
 body es is too skeered ter know them sounds could see 
 a 'most any thing they 'magined, I sh'd jedge." 
 
 This made Al feel rather small, but he owned his 
 cowardly feeling. 
 
 "I was skeered. Jet, that's a fact, 'n' if I'd ben 
 alone," he said, "thet rock would 'a' ben howlin' with 
 sperrits." 
 
 "O, wal," replied Jet, with intent to comfort, "you 
 haint traipsed the woods es many years es I have, else 
 ye'd know'd them sounds. Thar she goes agin' — " 
 
 S-G-r-r-e-a-k ! 
 
 "Now let's go up," he concluded, "an git our 
 lantern 'n' strike fer home." 
 
 The wind whistled and screamed overhead as they 
 climbed, and when they reached the trunk of the old 
 oak a new wonder greeted them — the lantern was 
 gone ! 
 
 Although fast growing dark it was still light enough 
 to have discovered the lantern had it been near the 
 spot where they had left it ; it was a bright new one, 
 and its polished tin base could almost have been seen 
 in utter darkness. In vain they lit matches, and 
 finally built a fire from dry sticks gathered within 
 shelter of the rock ; their luminary was gone, and no 
 trace of it could be found. The wind could not reach 
 the spot where it had sat, and the dog had been at 
 their ^eels coming up from the hunt ; therefore some-
 
 48 FRONTIER SKETCHES. 
 
 thing or somebody unknown to them had taken it 
 away. 
 
 " Wall," said Jet, scratching his puzzled head, " this 
 here comes the neardest to speritool perceedin's of 
 anything I've hearn on 'bout this rock." 
 
 It was about this time that the dog began to show 
 signs of excitement. Suddenly putting his nose to the 
 ground he ran out to the river bank along the top of 
 the land-slide and began barking furiously. 
 
 The boys piled more sticks on the fire and then fol- 
 lowed the animal. 
 
 " That's whar our lantern's gone, " declared Jet. 
 "Don't know what's got it, but that dawg's follered it 
 fur's he could, sure. Thar's somethin' round here that 
 ain't no sperrit, fer that dawg don't foller nothin' that 
 don't make tracks ner leave no smell." 
 
 They cautiously approached the edge of the bank 
 where the animal was jumping about in noisy excite- 
 ment, and peered over into a black depth which the on- 
 coming night had made murky and forbidding enough. 
 
 Nothing was to be seen or heard ; the wind's roar 
 drowned even the swash of the current which ran 
 below. 
 
 " Thar's somethin' down thar somewhar," declared 
 Jet, positively. 
 
 " Shucks ! " said Al. " How could any thin' be down 
 thar on the sides of that slide ? " 
 
 Just then, as if in answer to the question, there 
 flashed out below a little to their left a thin stream of 
 light. It came from the bank and projected in a funnel- 
 shaped glare, like the light from a bull's eye lantern. 
 
 They weie startled, and yet the streak of light shone 
 out into the blackness with such a natural, cheerful
 
 FKONTIER SKETCHES. 49 
 
 g-leam that there could be no doubt of a genuine flame 
 behind it, queer as the situation seemed. 
 
 " What'd I tell ye ? " exclaimed Jet, triumphantly. 
 "Some feller down there with our lantern." 
 
 " Fishin' mebbe," suggested Al. " Must be farther 
 down than it looks." 
 
 "No," said Jet, " it's comin' right out o 'the centre o' 
 the bank not more'n forty feet below. Somebody's in 
 a cave or a hole down thar, 'n' if 'tw'a'nt fer this 
 howlin' wind I sh'd expect 'em ter hear the racket up 
 here 'n' be pokin' ther heads out." 
 
 The dog had suddenly left them again, and a moment 
 later they heard him barking directly below and nearly 
 beneath them. 
 
 'Thar — see ! " exclaimed Jet. " Thar's a path goes 
 down ; it's out here by the rock." And he ran to the 
 fire, and, gathering the unburnt ends of several flaming 
 brands, in his hands, arranged a torch. 
 
 " Now, come on," he said ; " let's find the path." 
 
 "Ain't you feared ? " asked Al. 
 
 " Shucks, no," replied the plucky fellow; "it's only 
 some ol' trapper that's got a good thing long of these 
 banks which nobody won't come near, 'n' the cute ol 
 feller's dug a hole down thar so's ter keep hid up." 
 
 This theory re-assured Al, and, hiding their guns under 
 a dry ledge, they passed around the rock to the edge of 
 the bank. After a moment's careful search the path was 
 found leading from between two boulders obliquely 
 along the steep incline. By the light of Jet's flaming 
 sticks they could trace the narrow roadway several 
 yards in advance. It had plainly been cut into the bank 
 by the aid of tools, but it proved a ticklish affair, barely 
 sufiicient for safe passage in daylight, and after descend-
 
 50 FRONTIER SKETCHES. 
 
 ing carefully the slippery way for a dozen steps or so, 
 Jet halted. 
 
 •' 'Taint safe," he announced to Al, who was cau- 
 tiously following, while he held the torch above his 
 head. "'Taint safe to go no furder, slippery 'n' narrer, 
 'n' what's more, the rain's goin' to put this light out 
 d'rectly." 
 
 All this time the dog had barked energetically 
 ahead, but as Jot finished there came the booming 
 reports of a gun, followed by a sharp canine yelp either 
 of fright or pain. It was evident almost instantly that 
 the animal was more frightened than hurt, for, peering 
 ahead under his waning light, Jet saw the dog bounding 
 up the path. Instinctively the torch-bearer threw him- 
 self back against the bank, and the dog sprang past, 
 brushing him smartly, but not pusliing him off his feet. 
 AI was not so lucky ; the brute, both frightened and 
 hurt, as it afterwards proved, struck him squarely upon 
 the legs, knocking his feet from under him. 
 
 Instantly the luckless lad was sent sliding down the 
 slippery incline at a rate of speed which took his 
 breath and left him no time for thought or action. 
 Luckily he started feet first, and instinct, of course, 
 made him clutch the earth of the bank with either 
 hand, thus keeping his body in the same position ; at 
 least he supposes so, for he had sense enough to feel 
 that he struck the water feet first, and, after a strang- 
 ling splash, was surprised to find himself standing up to 
 his neck in the current and up to his knees in mud. It 
 was the season of low water, and the stronger portion 
 of the current turned further out by the rock above 
 had allowed the water to fall awav from the bank and
 
 FKONTIEK SKETCHES. 51 
 
 intervening bed to fill partially with the earth washed 
 down from above. 
 
 As soon as he got his breath Al began the struggle to 
 free his feet, which it took some time to do, as the veloc- 
 ity of his " slide " had driven his legs into the sticky 
 material with no little force. He succeeded at length, 
 and then setting to work as best he could in such a 
 depth of water and such darkness, got off his boots and 
 most of his clothes and made a bundle of them. He 
 was a good swimmer, and as the water was not very 
 cold he struck boldly out into the current and swam 
 down stream, using one hand and his legs, while with 
 the other hand he clung to his clothes. 
 
 He had swum but a few minutes when he heard Jet's 
 voice hallooing at him from the bank above. He gave 
 an answering shout, to which Jet replied with a joyful 
 whoop. 
 
 " Down a leetle f urder here, Al," he shouted ; " here's 
 a good place ter climb the bank. And Al having 
 rounded the bluff came in shore by the aid of Jet's light 
 and was soon standing dripping upon the bank, while 
 Jet, holding a dimly-burning brand, danced around him 
 in a furor of delight. 
 
 " Hurray ! " he said, " I thought ye was a goner. 
 Mighty lucky there wasn't no stones ner stumps ter hit 
 agin. Now git on yer clo'es, fer we must be gettin' out 
 o' this. I brung down the guns, hopin' ye'd turn up all 
 right, fer 'twont be safe fer us ter poke round up thar 
 any more. They's a den o' thieves, er wuss, up thar in 
 that bank." 
 
 After a weary, stumbling tramp over the bluffs, they 
 succeeded in reaching Ferris's house in the valley. The 
 family got up to listen to their story, and the dog was
 
 52 FUONTIEK SKETCHES. 
 
 called in and carefully examined. Two slight buckshot 
 wounds in the jaw and shoulder attested the truth of 
 the boys' narrative. 
 
 By noon the next day nearly all the men and boys of 
 Bear Creek had assembled, each armed with some sort 
 of weapon, at the Moaning Rock. 
 
 But the inhabitants of the bank had flown ; their den 
 a roomy excavation with a small entrance just large 
 enough to crawl through handily, was found empty, and 
 the hay or grass which they had used for beds had been 
 scattered over the floor of the cavern and burned, thus 
 leaving no scrap of anything by which their business or 
 their number might be guessed. There were two 
 paths, one leading to the ridge above, and the other to 
 the water below, thus giving two avenues of escape, as 
 they had, no doubt, a boat in hiding upon the river. 
 
 The bank proved not to be so steep as it appeared in 
 looking from the top or bottom. The cave-dwellers, 
 whoever they were, were evidently aware of the super- 
 stition investing the Moaning Rock, and had taken 
 advantage of the protection it offered in seeking a base 
 for some secret and, no doubt, illegal traffic. 
 
 The settlers at once concluded that they were coun- 
 terfeiters, and probably they were right in so thinking, 
 for the country at that time was exceedingly pestered 
 with well-counterfeited bills of the State, or " Wild-cat " 
 banks, as they came to be called later. 
 
 As the rain had obliterated all traces of flight, how- 
 ever, no attempt was made to follow this band, for it 
 was evident from the size of the cave and the work that 
 had been done that there must have been a number of 
 them. That they had thought themselves discovered 
 and were prepared for fight, even before Jet and Al had
 
 FRONTIER SKETCHES. 
 
 53 
 
 returned from the swamp, seemed evident from the 
 taking of the lantern and their warning shot at the dog. 
 
 The cave remained a neighborhood curiosity for some 
 years, and was inhabited for a time by wolves, but at 
 length the wash of heavy rains wore away and destroyed 
 all trace of both path and cavern. 
 
 The episode above related, however, broke the spell 
 which had so long hung around the Moaning Rock, and 
 Jet and Al got, as they deserved, no little credit for 
 their plucky adventure.
 
 V. 
 
 MORTIMER HALLECK'S ADVENTURE. 
 
 Among the many adventurous incidents of our 
 frontier life in northwest Iowa, fifteen years ago, I 
 recall one that befell a boy neighbor, Mortimer Hal- 
 leek, in which his recklessness came very near causing 
 his death. 
 
 There were five of us boys, who formed a little com- 
 pany of tried friends and pledged comrades. We 
 hunted, trapped, boated, went skating and swimming 
 together, and, when the first frame school-house was 
 built, we occupied the two back seats, on the boys' side. 
 
 In our hunts after deer, wolves, badgers, and feath- 
 ered game, we found an exhilaration such as I never 
 again expect to experience in the tamer pursuits 
 of life. We even felt an exultant joy in the fierce 
 buffeting of the winter blizzards which annually 
 descended upon us from the plateaus of Dakota. 
 
 During the regular season of bird migration, the 
 resounding golunlc, golunk, of the wild goose, the 
 shrill hlil-la-la of the swift and warj'^ brant, the affec- 
 tionate qu-a-a-rr-Jc^ quack of the Mallard drake and his 
 mate, with the strange, inimitable cry of the whooping 
 crane, combined to form a sylvan orchestra, the music 
 of which thrilled us with more pleasurable sensations 
 than were ever awakened by the household organ or 
 the town brass band of later 3'ears. 
 
 In the early spring, during the alternate slush, mud 
 and freeze of the first thaws, there always occurred a 
 
 6i
 
 FKONTIKK SKETCHES. 55 
 
 short vacation from school and work, in which we 
 gathered a harvest of fun, fur and feathers. 
 
 At this season, the low, fiat valleys of the Little 
 Sioux and the Ochejedan rivers were covered six or 
 eight feet deep by the annual overflow; and torrents of 
 yellow snow-water, the melting of tremendous drifts, 
 rushed down creeks and ravines. 
 
 As soon as these impetuous currents had gathered 
 force enough to upheave the thick layers of ice in the 
 river-beds and break over the b;inks, out came beaver, 
 musk-rat and mink, driven from house and hole to take 
 refuge upon the masses of ice and drift stuff which 
 lodged in the thickets of tall willows that grew along 
 the beds of these streams. Here they were obliged to 
 stay until the water subsided, and here they often fell 
 a prey to the rifle or shot-gun of the hunter. 
 
 We owned three boats in common ; and as the men 
 of the settlement were not particularly busy during the 
 freshet season, we could easily persuade or hire them to 
 load our skiffs on their wagons, and haul us eight or ten 
 miles up the Sioux or Ocheyedan, for half a day's run 
 down home, in which scarcely the stroke of an oar was 
 necessary, after getting out into the main channel. 
 Floating leisurely down, we were able to hunt musk- 
 rat, geese and ducks, which were plentiful, on the water 
 or on the banks. 
 
 Beaver were scarce, but we occasionally got one. 
 A mink or two, a couple of dozen musk-rats, and a 
 goodly bag of feathered game were often the result of 
 a half-day's run with a single boat. 
 
 Mortimer Halleck, who at this time lived in the 
 fork of the rivers, and at a considerable distance from 
 the rest of us, owned a staunch skiff, which he had
 
 56 FRONTIER SKETCHES. 
 
 himself made, and in it went often alone upon the 
 rivers. It was upon one of these solitary trips that he 
 met with the adventure mentioned. 
 
 On a raw afternoon in Marcii, his father had taken 
 Mortimer and his boat on his double horse wagon six 
 miles up stream. At this point there was a great bend 
 in the river, and, by crossing the neck, the water dis- 
 tance to the fork was lengthened to fifteen miles. 
 Mortimer was thus set afloat with his boat, with a long 
 afternoon's run on the river before him. 
 
 For several hours the young hunter allowed his boat 
 to drift down with the current, then swollen to an 
 unusual height. His eyes, roving on either hand, were 
 now and then rewarded with the sight of a small brown 
 bunch of fur, resting on a bit of lodged drift. Then 
 followed a quick puff of smoke, and the echoing report 
 from the shot-gun. The troubles of the furry little chap 
 were at an end. The kinks would straighten out 
 of its small humped back, and, as a deft turn of the 
 oars brought the boat alongside, the hunter's hand 
 would reach over the edge, grasp the long, slim tail, 
 and fling the body of the sleek little musquash into the 
 boat. 
 
 Twice during the afternoon a flock of geese had 
 ventured low down over the drifting boatman, and 
 each time one of the flock had fallen a victim. The 
 others had hurried away in noisy confusion. He had 
 hardly expected to find beaver, yet as the night drew 
 on without a sight of one, he felt a little disappointed. 
 True, he had secured a profitable lot of game: two 
 geese, a mink, and more than a dozen muskrats. 
 
 But he wanted to show a beaver with the rest of his 
 bag, and he had about given up his hopes of it when,
 
 FEONTIEB SKETCHES. 57 
 
 just as the sun was setting and while he \vas passing 
 down the mid channel between two long lines of clus- 
 tering willow thickets, he espied the very object of his 
 desires directly ahead and within easy range. 
 
 The animal was rolled up in a rusty brown ball, lying 
 in a snug nest amid the bushy sprouts from an elm 
 stub which projected three or four feet above the 
 water. The tree had been broken off, and leaned out 
 from the summer banks of the river. It had grown, 
 as elm stumps often do, a dense fringe of short, tangled 
 brush about the end of the trunk. Among these sprouts 
 the beaver had fashioned a nest, and was lying curled 
 up, asleep when Mortimer, drifting silently down 
 within short range, raised his gun and shot at it. 
 
 But the beaver is a "hard-lived" animal, and, even 
 when shot at such close quarters, will quite frequently 
 flop off its perch into the water, and, clutching with 
 teeth and claws into roots or grass at the bottom, 
 remain there. In that case, the hunter's ammunition 
 is simply wasted. 
 
 This had happened more than once in Mortimer's 
 experience, and, fearing that it might happen again, 
 for he saw the beaver floundering heavily in its nest, 
 be brought the boat about in great haste, circled around 
 the stump, and jammed the bow into the sprouts. He 
 then dropped the oars, and sprang forward to secure 
 the game. 
 
 His haste was unfortunate ; for, though he grasped 
 at the small limbs quickly enough to have held the 
 boat in place if it had not been in motion, his impetus 
 was so great that the unsteady skiff recoiled backward 
 with a force that pitched him over the prow, upon the 
 very top of the stub. He lurched off to one side, and
 
 58 
 
 FKONTIER SKETCHES. 
 
 his feet and legs splashed into the water; but he 
 escaped a complete ducking by clenching the top of the 
 trunk with his left arm, while with his right hand he 
 grasped miefoot of the heaver! And then he glanced 
 around for his boat. 
 
 It was gone, and had left him in a most perilous 
 situation. The light skiff, impelled by the force of his 
 
 Mortimer looked after it in utter dismay. — Page 58. 
 
 fall out of it, had floated back into the current, and 
 was already more than a dozen yards out, moving down 
 stream. 
 
 Mortimer looked after it in utter dismay. 
 
 It was now too late to make a swim for it ; he could 
 never live in that strong, icy current long enough to 
 ronch it. 
 
 With a few cautious hitches he succeeded in gaining 
 a ticklish seat upon the broken top of the stump, where
 
 FRONTIER SKETCHES. 59 
 
 he maintained himself by resting his feet upon two of the 
 stoutest sprouts. Seated thus, ho could feel an unsteady- 
 quivering of the trunk, a trembling, wrenching motion, 
 that told, but too plainly, of the powerful force of the 
 flood, and of the uncertain tenure which he possessed 
 on even this comfortless refuge. 
 
 The lad was now thoroughly alarmed, and surveyed 
 his surroundings with a growing fear that gained not 
 a ray of hope from the prospect. The situation was 
 truly a grave one. 
 
 On all sides was the hurrying flow of the grim, dark 
 waters, which rushed swirHng and eddying onward, 
 The current swashed dismally among the slender, 
 swaying willows, on either side ; and beyond these, he 
 knew that there; was at least three hundred yards of 
 swimming depth before either shore could be reached. 
 
 If any one should happen to pass, he could not, from 
 the land, see Mortimer, on account of the willows. 
 The nearest house was three or four miles distant; and 
 a voice could be heard but a little distance, above the 
 swash of the flood and the rush of the cold wind. 
 
 Mortimer's parents did not expect him to return 
 until late in the evening, and they would probably 
 make no effort to learn of his whereabouts until after 
 midnight. The night, too, was already growing very 
 cold, with a raw, gusty wind that soughed drearily 
 among the willows ; his bare hands and wet feet were 
 fast becoming chilled and numb. 
 
 All the desolation, helplessness and misery of the 
 situation were forced upon him by that keen and 
 merciless power of reflection which so often attacks 
 the mind in moments of extreme peril or of sudden 
 disaster.
 
 60 FRONTIER SKETCHES. 
 
 He saw but too plainly that it was useless to look for 
 rescue before morning, and, clinging there to his bleak 
 and uncertain perch, he felt that he would assuredly- 
 chill to death in a few hours. 
 
 Looking out into the gloom of the coming dusk, with 
 the long, black, freezing night staring him in the face, 
 tears gathered in the poor fellow's eyes, and a lump of 
 choking misery rose up in his throat. Yet he was a 
 brave fellow, who had never been known to yield an 
 inch before any danger which must be met, when, the 
 balance of probabilities was adjusted with any degree 
 of fairness. In this case, the probabilititis were all on 
 one side, and that side was against him. 
 
 "There just aint any chance for me at all," he 
 groaned, at length. '' I'm in a much worse predica- 
 ment than the beaver and muskrats ; for if they do. 
 get killed, it's so sudden they don't know it, but I've 
 got to die by inches. I've just got to sit here and 
 freeze a little at a time, till I fall off and finish life by 
 drowning." 
 
 A wretched enough prospect! Yet that was the fate 
 which seemed certainly awaiting him. Wet as he was, 
 and already shivering, with no chance for exercise, 
 there seemed little chance of surviving the cold, dismal 
 night. 
 
 Sitting in hopeless suffering, he peered about him 
 again and again in the gathering darkness, in the vain 
 hope of discovering something that could give him an 
 atom of comfort. Then, whipping his numbed hands 
 about his shoulders until they tingled, he attemped to 
 remove his soaked and stiffening boots ; but, owing to his 
 shaky and uncertain seat, he was baffled in this effort 
 also.
 
 FKONTIER SKETCHES. 61 
 
 Then, with feet and legs growing every moment 
 more numb, he sat, clinging with one hand to the stump, 
 whipping the other, shouting at intervals, and waiting 
 for — he dared not think what. 
 
 An hour passed; then another; dumb, dreary despair 
 had settled upon his mind. Insensibly he fell into a 
 half-frozen stupor. He was beginning to think, in a 
 numb, way, that it did not make any particular differ- 
 ence to him what happened now. 
 
 An hour or more dragged by thus sluggishly, then 
 a sudden shock, accompanied by a grinding noise, 
 threw him partly off the stump. Instinctively he 
 clutched the sprouts with his chilled fingers, but slid 
 down, expecting to sink in the cold waters. 
 
 But he struck something solid and white. It was a 
 large ice-cake, which had come floating down the river 
 and touched the elm stump. The jar of his fall roused 
 the boy ; he staggered to his feet, feeling strange in his 
 head, and with queer and painful sensations about the 
 arms and shoulders. 
 
 He tried to step, but at first it seemed as if his feet 
 must be frozen ; yet, after stamping about for a few 
 minutes, they began to lose their feeling of lumpishness 
 and to prickle. 
 
 He then sat j^own upon the ice, and, after a struggle, 
 worked off his boots, squeezed the water from his socks, 
 and chafed and pounded his feet until they felt alive. 
 This done, he got up and looked around ; and hope 
 revived within him. 
 
 The ice-cake was a large and solid one, twenty feet 
 across at least ; and, owing to the falling of the river, 
 it was floating down the centre of the channel. He
 
 62 FRONTIKK SKETCHES. 
 
 was, at least, floating toward home; and there was 
 room to stamp about and keej) from freezing. 
 
 Mortimer's spirits rose with the renewed circulation 
 of the blood. lie shouted, beat his arms about his chest, 
 he even danced, the better to warm himself up again. 
 
 It seemed to liini now that he was being guided by 
 fate. He then became confused in mind— dazed, as it 
 were. In odd vagary, as his ice-raft floated on down 
 the river, he peopled the darkness about him with 
 imaginary foes, and " squared off" at them pugnaci- 
 ouslv. His blood warming with this exercise, he began 
 delivering in grandiloquent tones the address which he 
 had declaimed at school, when a voice from the dark- 
 ness near at hand brought him back to his situation. 
 
 '• Mortimer ! " 
 
 "Halloo!" 1)0 answered. 
 
 " Mortimer, is it you ? " 
 
 " Is that you, father ? " cried the young castaway, 
 '• have you got a boat ? " 
 
 " Yes," replied Mr. Halleck ; " but we have been 
 alarmed. What has kept — " 
 
 " Paddle your skiff this way, father. Here, this way; 
 I'm on a cake of ice. " 
 
 " On a cake of ice ! " cried Mr, Halleck. " I knew 
 you "were in some trouble. What has happened? I 
 borrowed Neighbor Wescott's boat, and was going to 
 cross over to see if you were at Morley's with Pete, 
 when I heard your voice." 
 
 Mortimer was astonished to find he had already 
 drifted so far. 
 
 " How much longer could you have stood it ? " Mr. 
 Halleck asked, in tones that trembled a little.
 
 FKONTIEK SKETCHES. 63 
 
 "Not another half-hour," Mortimer declared, and 
 probably he was ri^ht. 
 
 Next day be succeeded in finding his boat, safely 
 lodged among some willows ; but the beaver was miss- 
 ing, having probably been jarred off the nest on the 
 stub by the ice-cake striking against it. 
 
 The river had lowered considerably, and Mortimer, 
 while searching for his boat, saw numerous ice-rafts 
 moving down the channel ; yet he could not repress a 
 conviction that something more than mere good fortune 
 had directed the ice-cake to touch at his bleak and 
 comfortless perch in the nick of time to save his life.
 
 VI. 
 
 THE MYSTERY OF THE VALLEY. 
 
 Among the earliest settlers on the "Wisconsin river 
 was Robert Wheaton — now one of the wealthiest 
 farmers of the State — who, with his pretty young 
 wife, Jennie, came up into the Winnecon Valley to 
 make a home about the year 1850. There was 
 this difference between the Wheatons and many others 
 of the pioneers here : Robert and Jennie settled there 
 to stay, while too many of the " old Winneconers," 
 yielding to temporary discouragements, drifted away 
 with the ever-moving tide of Westward migration. 
 
 Robert, like all " old settlers," greatly delighted to 
 tell of the hardships of those early times, when he and 
 Jennie came to live in the new log-house in one of the 
 Winnecon " pockets," or side valleys between the 
 bluffs. 
 
 One midsummer evening, just at twilight, Robert sat 
 milking his cow in the little yard back of his shed, 
 when someone near the fence surprised him with, — 
 
 " Good-e'en, Meester Weiiton ! Ha' ye sean th' 
 broout baast yit? " 
 
 Robert knew the voice, and looking up, saw " Big 
 Jim " Hodgson, as he was known, leaning his elbow 
 upon the fence. Hodgson was an Englishman, with a 
 large family, and in person an enormous man of six 
 and a half feet in height, who spoke the North of Eng- 
 land dialect, in a voice as rough and guttural as the 
 rumbling of a cart-wheel. The Winnecon people 
 
 61
 
 FKONTIEK SKETCHES. 65 
 
 among whom he had settled had nick-named him " Big 
 Jim." 
 
 He was a brave, good-natured man, but somewhat 
 inclined to be superstitious. 
 
 "Hullo, Hodgson !" Robert exclaimed. "What 
 brute are you talking about ? I haven't seen any one." 
 
 Big Jim explained. There was a strong flavor of 
 hobgoblin belief in his gruff, deep tones, as he related 
 how a strange creature had been seen in the valley 
 roads and along the cow-paths during the past week. 
 One of the Carter girls had seen it up on the " bluff 
 path," between Cat Rock and the Twin Oaks. It 
 was a large, gvdy, shaggy creature, which, issuing from 
 the brush, had followed the girl as she drove home the 
 cows. She was naturally much terrified, yet she dared 
 not run, and the "^broout baast " had followed her 
 silently, until she had gone past the Twin Oaks, down 
 to the upper end of Carter's rye-patch. 
 
 There it had left her and walked off into the woods, 
 and she had rushed home with the cows, and gone to 
 bed in a high fever. 
 
 Continuing his account. Big Jim related how, on Sun- 
 day evening, the thing had followed the Mulrony boys 
 down through the gap road. 
 
 " They were on horse-back," he said, " a-coomen' doon 
 on a spaiirkin' veesit to Carter's ; and the brout baiist 
 'ad coom oop a-hint their 'orses, 'n' nigh seabed th' 
 seensus oot o' um." 
 
 Nor was that all, for last evening, just at dusk, his 
 own little girl. May, had seen it cross the turnip-patch 
 up in the " notch " on the side of the bluff above the 
 house. It went across the patch from one point of 
 timber to the other like a streak of gray light, seeming
 
 G6 FRONTIER SKETCHES. 
 
 not to touch the ground with its feet, and " hit warn't 
 uowt loike ony think at all slio 'ad e'er seiin." 
 
 " Waiit do Muster Weiiton think o' that, now ? " 
 
 The question had in its tones a strong touch of exul- 
 tation, for hadn't E.obert Wheaton always " toorned 
 up 's noiise at onythink at all as was onnaiiteral ? " 
 
 Robert laughed, not so much at the information, as 
 at Hodgson's tones. He soon grew sober again, how- 
 ever, 
 
 " We must look after that animal, I think, Jim," he 
 said. "I'm inclined to believe, from what you say of 
 the beast and its actions, that Ave've got a panther 
 sneaking about our neighborhood." 
 
 "Mought beii," returned Jim, a little miffed ; "but 
 I'se un as b'leiives traiips'U no hoiild un, an' bullut's'U 
 no hooi't un," and he walked off toward his home swing- 
 ing a heavy club as he went. 
 
 " Evidence in his hand against the belief in his head," 
 chuckled Eobert, who vrent in with his pail of milk, and 
 told Jennie about the " broout baast." 
 
 " Some stray panther, I expect," he said, in conclu- 
 sion, "or a big timber-wolf, that's prowling about after 
 pigs and chickens." 
 
 A week from the following Sabbath there was 
 " preaching " at the new log school-house. Rob and 
 Jennie attended, and after the service their ears were 
 filled with excited questions, and with remarkable 
 statements about the " broot baste," as the strange 
 creature had already come to be called, this name being 
 an American perversion of Big Jim's North English 
 tongue. 
 
 Every one wanted to know whether Robert had yet 
 seen the " thing." Not a few affirmed that they had
 
 FRONTIER SKETCHES. 67 
 
 seen it — always after dark — and it bad each time fol- 
 lowed silently a little way, and then, as they drew near 
 houses or openings, it had slunk away into the woods. 
 For a fortnight it had followed some one nearly every 
 night. Even the itinerant preacher grew interested. 
 
 '' Must be a dangerous creature of some kind, Robert," 
 he said, addressing Wheaton ; " a wild animal, of course, 
 and you had better trap it.'' 
 
 ISTothing, however, could convince Big Jim that the 
 creature was not an uncanny brute ; and old Granny 
 Bates, who was born before the Revolution, declared 
 her belief that it was " some creatur' bewitched," 
 
 Robert promised to try his hand at trapping it, and 
 went home. In less than a week he had seven large 
 double-spring traps, baited and carefully set at different 
 points in the bluffs where the strange object had been 
 seen. 
 
 He had to neglect his work somewhat in order to 
 make the round of these traps ; and as they were not 
 disturbed during the whole of this time, the affair 
 proved most annoying to him. At last he grew sceptical 
 about the matter, and took his traps home, declaring 
 that he " wouldn't trap for shadows any longer." 
 
 * Somebody," he said to Jennie, '* has started a 
 ridiculous story about the creature, and now everybody 
 that sees a dog come out into the road after dark imag- 
 ines, it's the ' broot baste.' I've found a few fresh wolf- 
 tracks, but there's no sign of any strange animal, that 
 I can see." 
 
 But tidings of the " broot baste " did not cease. 
 Scarcely a week passed that some one in the valley or 
 among the bluffs did not have a fresh story to relate of 
 the oddly -behaving creature. It was often seen close
 
 68 FRONTIER SKETCHES. 
 
 to houses, at night-fall, but generally made its appear- 
 ance to women and children. 
 
 As the creature never offered to molest any one, and 
 spared the pigs and chickens, people ceased to fear it 
 and only wondered what it could be. 
 
 But Robert remained sceptical as to its existence; 
 and the matter continued to be a mystery. 
 
 Late that fall, after the first snow, which came early, 
 there began to be heard strange yelps and cries nearly 
 every night among the hills. These were most 
 " unearthly noises,',' the people said who heard them. 
 Eobert only laughed at these reports. '' Wolves always 
 howl during the first cold snap," he said.' 
 
 But one night Jennie and he were awakened by what 
 was, in very truth, a most frightful yelping, which came 
 from the bluff, just above their stable. They listened 
 awhile; and Robert was compelled to admit that he 
 " never had heard such an outcry as that from any liv- 
 ing creature before." 
 
 The cries seemed to be half-way between the quick 
 yelps of a frightened dog and the prolonged howl of a 
 timber-wolf, only more wild, weird and mournful than 
 either of those sounds. 
 
 Robert took his gun and went out ; but the howling 
 stopped immediately, and it was so dark that he could 
 see nothing. 
 
 The next night the creature came and howled in the 
 same place, and earlier in the evening, but it became 
 quiet the moment Robert stepped outside the house. 
 Wheaton's curiosity was fair]}'- aroused. 
 
 He tried to find its tracks the next morning ; but the 
 snow had now nearly all melted and the ground was 
 frozen again. He said nothing to his neighbors, but
 
 FRONTIER SKETCHES. 69 
 
 determined to outwit and kill the beast, in some way. 
 But though he again set his traps and baited them 
 invitingly with fresh meat, night after night passed 
 and the howling increased, yet the traps remained 
 empty. 
 
 Then he tried hiding out in the brush, lying in wait 
 with his gun, but the animal did not appear, and that 
 stratagem failed. 
 
 But one night, early in December, the mystery was 
 explained in the most unexpected manner. " Young 
 John," a Winnebago trapper, solved it for them. 
 
 Young John, as he was called by the white settlers, 
 was an Indian who, for some offense, was under the 
 ban of his tribe, and who subsisted by trapping and 
 hunting along the Wisconsin. 
 
 He could speak broken English, and he evinced a 
 liking for Robert Wheaton, w^ho had taught him many 
 useful things. Hence he often came to Robert's place 
 and slept on the house-flooE at night. Generally he ate 
 supper w^ith Robert and Jennie, but he always left 
 before the latter awoke in the morning. 
 
 One evening, about three weeks after they had been 
 so disturbed by the bowlings of the " broot baste," 
 Young John came to the house, and, as usual, took 
 supper with them, having brought his blanket, pre- 
 pared to sleep on the floor. 
 
 After supper, when Robert had finished his " chores," 
 he sat by the fire with Young John, as they had been 
 in the habit of doing, telling stories, when on a sudden 
 the " broot baste " set up a series of its wild^ mournful 
 cries, in the same place on the bluff above the stable. 
 
 They had not heard it there for several nights; and
 
 70 FKONTIER SKKTCHK8. 
 
 Robert had not vet mentioned the creature's doino^s to 
 Young John. 
 
 On hearing the sounds, the Indian started and lis- 
 tened for a moment most intently, whiie Robert and 
 Jennie exchanged meaning glances. But Young John's 
 next move surprised them ; for after listening for a 
 moment or two, the Indian gave a most expressive gut- 
 tural grunt of mixed astonishment a]|^ satisfaction, 
 then abruptly strode to the door, threw it open, and 
 placing two fingers between his lips, blew a shrill, ear- 
 piercing whistle. 
 
 The bowlings stopped. 
 
 lie repeated the whistle, then stalked out into the 
 darkness. Robert and Jennie followed him to the 
 door, and peered out curiousl3\ 
 
 It was light enough for them to see the Indian, as 
 he stopped near the corner of the stable f^lnd then 
 they saw a strange, shadow}'' creature come bounding 
 down the hill and throw itself on the ground, with piti- 
 ful whines, at Young John's feet. 
 
 He stooped over and seemed to be petting it^ and 
 talking to it in the "Winnebago tongue, for a fetv sec- 
 onds. Then he came back to the house ; and the crea- 
 ture followed whining and leaping at his heels, until he 
 had nearly reached the door, when it slunk quickly 
 away out of sight again. 
 
 Robert and his wife were quite prepared for Young 
 John's announcement, as he came up to the door. 
 
 "Me dog," he said. " Me lose um las' spling clossin' 
 liver. Him heap 'fraid white man's." 
 
 He made no further comment, and his hearers said 
 nothing. They remembered perfectly well the shy, 
 large, gaunt, grizzled wolf-dog which had always been
 
 fBONTIER SKETCHES. 71 
 
 with him, and had always refused to come near the 
 house, on his previous visits. 
 
 Jennie at once offered the Indian some victuals, to 
 feed the animal , but Young John said : " No, him eat 
 plenty labbit." 
 
 The Wheatons had a quiet laugli over the solution 
 of the strange affair. Next morning the Indian and 
 his dog had disappeared. 
 
 The "broot baste" and its antics were from that 
 time forth things of the past ; and the neighbors 
 enjoyed th© explanation as much as did Eobert and 
 Jennie.
 
 YII. 
 
 FOLLOWED. 
 
 The most desperate and lawless men to be found in 
 the "West — I speak from twenty years' experience on 
 the plains — are the gamblers, confidence men and 
 robbers wlio follow the "end of track" when a rail- 
 way is pushing through new and unsettled territory. 
 
 At every side-track a new town springs into exist- 
 ence, so suddenly as to suggest the Western expression 
 " dropped there by a cyclone." At each of these new 
 communities the first-comers are usually men of the 
 kind I have mentioned. 
 
 Along the road-bed, wherever a siding is to be laid, 
 a dozen or more big tents, respectively labeled 
 " Saloon," " Dance House," sometimes very appropri- 
 ately, "Satan's Hole" or the "Devil's Den," are 
 always found set up in advance of the arrival of the 
 track-layers. 
 
 A certain harvest awaits the owners of these grog- 
 geries, as the "railroader," of a certain class, takes 
 his "time "from his foreman at frequent intervals, in 
 order that he may cash his "time check" at the 
 nearest saloon and gambling-place. 
 
 lie quickly squanders the proceeds of his check in 
 drink and play, or is robbed of them, lies about in a 
 stupid condition for a day or two, and then goes to- 
 work again, penniless. 
 
 Such a person accepts all the evils of this mode of 
 life with a philosophy that would be commendable if 
 shown under adversity of a different sort. A shirt, 
 
 72
 
 FRONTIER SKETCHES. t3 
 
 pantaloons, shoes, and a slouch hat usually comprise 
 the whole of his possessions, and so long as he can 
 get the means to satisfy a periodic appetite for 
 drunken excitement, he seems to be contented with 
 his lot. 
 
 This description of a large class of railroad laborers, 
 it should be distinctly noted, does not apply to the 
 many sober, steady fellows who save the large wages 
 they get, and often settle and become prosperous 
 citizens in the country they have helped to open to 
 civilization. 
 
 It is upon the earnings of floating, dissolute wage- 
 workers of the track and grade that the gambler, 
 whisky seller and assassin thrive, and, to secure their 
 plunder, they follow the progress of a new railway like 
 vultures in search of prey. 
 
 The day-laborer upon these pioneer roads is not the 
 only victim of the robber and sharper. It is unsafe for 
 any man who visits one of their mushroom towns to 
 let the fact be known that he has a considerable sum 
 of money in his possession. 
 
 Yet men who know the nature of the dangers about 
 them sometimes neglect to take proper precaution to 
 insure the safety of money in their charge, and thus 
 the writer allowed himself to be caught, two years 
 ago, in a " snap " that came near ending his career, and 
 that taught him a lesson in caution which he hopes 
 will never again be needed, at least by him. 
 
 I was acting as paymaster and chief commissary 
 clerk for a firm of grade contractors upon the North- 
 western road, which was then pushing through north- 
 ern Nebraska into the adjacent territory of Wyoming. 
 
 "We were doing some heavy grading and rock work,
 
 74 FRONTIER SKETCHES. 
 
 and with a large force were pushing the work day and 
 night in order to get out of the way of the track, 
 which had then advanced to a point within a day's ride 
 of us. 
 
 We had let pay-day shp by without paying the men, 
 and hoped to satisfy them by the issue of time-checks 
 until the track should overtake us, and our money 
 could come to us with little risk on the construction 
 train. But, three or four days after " paying-ofi " time, 
 some of the men began to grow suspicious and to 
 grumble, and threatened to quit work until their checks 
 were cashed. They were afraid we might somehow 
 slip up on them and they wouldn't get their money. 
 
 As we were in desperate need of every available 
 hand, it was necessary that the men should besatisfied. 
 So it was determined that I should go to Chadron, our 
 supply base and banking point, and bring up enough 
 money to pay the men their last month's wages, which 
 amounted to about four thousand dollars. 
 
 I decided to go alone. I set out that night on 
 horseback, and I reached the " end of track " at Craw- 
 ford siding the next morning in time to leave my horse 
 at a neighboring ranch corral and get aboard a supply 
 train which had just unloaded and was now going 
 back. 
 
 At Chadron the supply store of the main contractor, 
 a huge, roughly built shed, stood at a side traxk about 
 forty rods from the main street of the town. Here I 
 was accustomed to order supplies and get drafts for 
 money from the book-keeper from time to time. 
 
 That morning, after finishing my business with the 
 supply department, I went to the book-keeper to pro- 
 cure a draft. A crowd of railroad laborers were wait-
 
 FKONTIER SKETCHES. 76 
 
 ing before his window to get their time-checks cashed, 
 or secure passes to go up or down the road. I noticed 
 that two of these men were better dressed than the 
 others, but thought nothing of the circumstance. 
 
 I awaited my turn at the window, and handed the 
 book-keeper a shp of paper on which was written, 
 " Four thousand three hundred and forty-seven dol- 
 lars and fifty cents. Pay Roll — Eodney and Curtis." 
 He made me a draft for the amount named, folded it 
 carelessly, thrust it through the window, and took the 
 receipt which I had just written, and then turned to 
 the next man. 
 
 As I left the store I passed the two men whom I 
 had noticed at the window, and it struck me, upon a 
 more attentive view, that they were rather sharpers 
 than workingmen, although I had seen them cash two 
 time-checks and get passes for some point up the road. 
 The construction train did not leave until three o'clock 
 that afternoon, and I lounged upon the shady stoop of 
 the Chadron House watching the passers-by and chat- 
 ting with the landlord, who was an old acquaintance 
 of mine when I lived in the East. I had a pleasant 
 dinner with him, and after the meal was finished, I 
 walked across the square to Lake & Haley's bank, 
 at the corner of the two principal streets of the town, 
 where I cashed the draft. 
 
 The bills which I received I stuffed into various side 
 pockets of my clothes, and stowed a sack of silver 
 change into a small leather " grip " which I carried in 
 my hand. 
 
 I heard a locomotive whistle and, turning, walked 
 quickly out of the bank. As I reached the sidewalk 
 I was startled to see the two men who had before
 
 76 FRONTIER SKETCHES 
 
 attracted my notice step rather hastily away from the 
 sidewalk in front of the bank windows and walk across 
 the street. 
 
 I was satisfied that they had watched me as I cashed 
 my draft. My suspicions were thoroughly aroused by 
 this circumstance, and when, an hour later, I stepped 
 into the caboose of the construction train, and discov- 
 ered the men lounging upon two cracker barrels smok- 
 ing their pipes, it did not need their evident avoidance 
 of the direct stare I gave them, the moment I entered, 
 to convince me that they were after me. 
 
 I had heartily berated myself for not havmg exer- 
 cised greater caution while at Chadron. I should have 
 waited until I could see the book-keeper alone before 
 I obtained my check, and should have had my cash 
 made up by the clerk at the bank, and brought to my 
 room at the hotel, as might easily have been done. 
 But it is easy enough, after you have done a foolish 
 thing, to think how much better you might have man- 
 aged it. 
 
 "While I sat upon one of the hand benches in the 
 caboose, with my "grip" lying beneath the seat, I 
 considered how I should dodge the two fellows at 
 Crawford. There was no danger that I should be robbed 
 on the train, as there were at least twenty passengers 
 on board. Presently one of the men sauntered up to 
 my seat, sat down by me, and began to talk. 
 
 "See?" said he; "you'r with Rodney an' Curtis, 
 aint yeh, one o' their foremen ? " 
 
 I answered carelessly that I was in their employ. 
 
 " Paul 'n' I's goin' up the road lookin' fur a rock job. 
 We're strikers. Could ye hire us, d'ye think ? " 
 
 " Certainly," said I ; "we need more badly, especially
 
 FKONTIER SKETCHES. 77 
 
 good strikers. Will give you two dollars a day, and 
 you can work a part of the night shift, if you like." 
 
 Then, as unconcernedly as I could, I went on to tell 
 him about our work, and directed him how to find our 
 headquarters. I told him I should leave Crawford after 
 breakfast the next morning on horseback, and that he 
 and his partner could undoubtedly find a freight wagon 
 there on which to take passage for our camp. 
 
 After some further conversation with the man — a 
 young-looking, wiry, dark-faced fellow — he went over 
 to talk to his " pard," and no doubt they congratulated 
 themselves on his success in throwing me off my 
 guard. 
 
 On my arrival at Crawford I went to the company's 
 tent, where food and other supplies brought on the 
 construction trains were stored until they could be 
 shipped forward by wagon to points where our forces 
 w^ere at work. There I explained the situation to the 
 two clerks in charge of the tent, and said that I wished 
 to spend the night with them. 
 
 I was armed with a good " six-shooter," and the 
 clerks had each a light Winchester rifle. They said we 
 could guard the money without trouble that night, and 
 it was arranged that I should start for the grading 
 camp at three o'clock the next morning. By leaving 
 at so early an hour I believed that I could baffle pur- 
 suit by any robbers who might have conspired to fol- 
 low me. 
 
 My pony^ — a tough Oregon half-breed — was picketed 
 that evening behind the supply tent, and the clerks and 
 I took turns in sitting on guard at the opening of the 
 tent. I saw nothing of the two "strikers" after we 
 left the train, and no suspicious person approached the
 
 78 FRONTIER SKETCHES. 
 
 tent that night. I shifted the silver from my " grip " 
 into a pair of saddle-bags, and, armed with my revolver 
 and a borrowed Winchester rifle and a belt of cart- 
 ridges, mounted my pony at three o'clock the next 
 morning to complete my journey. 
 
 Day was just breaking when I came to the fork of 
 the trail at Fort Robinson, two miles out from Crawford 
 siding. Both routes led to the grading camp, — one 
 trail lay through White River canon and the other led 
 to my destination by way of Driftwood. One of these 
 routes I must take, and as the men who were "shadow- 
 ing" me believed that I would proceed by way of 
 Driftwood I chose the White River caiion route, a 
 rough, new trail that for seventeen miles led through a 
 tumbled, rocky gorge or caiion in the bottom of which 
 rippled merrily the little streamlet that is the beginning 
 of the White River. 
 
 I urged my pony forward at a good pace until, after 
 sunrise, I passed a camp of freighters who were prepar- 
 ing their breakfast, and later met several wagons on 
 the move, which relieved the loneliness of my ride and 
 caused me to feel more secure. As the morning was 
 hot and oppressive I now proceeded more slowly. 
 
 About half an hour after meeting the freighters I 
 halted at one of the numerous creek crossings, and dis- 
 mounted to drink and to eat a part of the lunch of 
 crackers and dried beef which I had brought from the 
 commissary tent. As I had no cup I stretched myself 
 out upon the rocks at the edge of the current, and 
 buried my nose in the cool water of the spring-fed 
 stream. 
 
 As I lay drinking, with my head just above the water, 
 a distant sound of horses' hoofs struck on my ear. I
 
 FRONTIER SKETCHES. 79 
 
 ceased to drink, listened intently, and soon heard dis- 
 tinctly tlie noise of horsemen coming rapidly up the 
 canon. 
 
 I sprang to my feet in a^arm. My first impulse was 
 to mount my pony and apply the spurs, but as his gait, 
 a racking gallop, was a very slow one, I came to the 
 sudden conclusion to dodge into the brush and let the 
 horsemen, whoever they were, go by. There were a 
 few box alder-trees and several clusters of plum-bush 
 close under the rocks on the right. I grasped the 
 bronco's rein and led him in behind the thickets of 
 thorn and tied him. 
 
 I had little time to think or act before the horsemen 
 came up at a gallop ; I peered through the leaves as they 
 rattled on, and discovered that there were six riders 
 and that the two strikers were in the lead. They 
 passed my hiding-place without an apparent suspicion 
 that I was concealed there, and, though still much 
 alarmed, I was congratulating myself that I had out- 
 witted them when, just as they rode into the water, my 
 pony lifted up his head and uttered a shrill, inquiring 
 whinny. 
 
 The party instantly halted. Every rider turned his 
 face eagerly in my direction, and a half dozen rifles and 
 revolvers were jerked into readiness for action. My 
 pony whinnied again before I could get a grip upon his 
 muzzle, and I felt that unless some unexpectedly fortu- 
 nate circumstance intervened I should lose the money 
 and probably my life. The horsemen were determined, 
 villainous-looking men, and as I glanced about I saw 
 they had a great advantage over me. The scattered 
 patches of pine scrub on tlie steep bare sides of the 
 gorge offered me but little shelter for a retreat, and the
 
 80 
 
 FRONTIER SKETCHES. 
 
 " I thrust the Winchester through the tops of a plum bush and 
 fired." — Page 81.
 
 FRONTIER SKETCHES. 81 
 
 bushes behind which I stood were but a slight protection 
 against heavy bullets. At the second whinny of my 
 horse the men dismounted and stood behind their 
 animals. 
 
 "He's in there, sure," I heard one of them say. 
 " Spread out, boj^s, an' let's surround them bushes." 
 
 Without waiting to hear any more I thrust the Win- 
 chester through the tops of a plum bush and fired at 
 their nearest horse, aiming at its body back of tlie 
 shoulder. The animal went down with a groan, and 
 the man behind it sprang back with a fierce oath. 
 
 My only hope now was in swift action and certain 
 aim. A quick motion of the lever re-loaded and cocked 
 my Winchester, and almost before the horse had fallen 
 to the ground I had aimed and fired at the fellow as he 
 turned to run for cover. 
 
 He fell, but got up and ran again. Shifting my aim, 
 I opened a rapid fire upon the other horses and men. 
 The robbers returned a few hasty and ineffectual shots, 
 and then scattered in flight. When I had fired the 
 seventeen shots, which emptied my repeating rifle, three 
 horses lay on the borders of the canon at various dis- 
 tances away, and one man with a broken leg was 
 dragging himself toward the shelter of the creek bank. 
 His companions had fled down the caiion, two on foot 
 and the others on horseback. Three or four of 
 their shots had struck in the brush about me, but none 
 had hit me. 
 
 The sudden, fierce determination which had seized 
 upon me, and the swift, effective firing which followed, 
 were as much a surprise to myself as they could have 
 been to the "road agents," who no doubt believed there 
 was more than one shooter behind the bushes that
 
 82 FRONTIER SKETCHES. 
 
 sheltered me. I dared not stop to look after the 
 wounded man, who undoubtedly would have fired at 
 me if I had approached him. Mounting my pony and 
 keeping as much as possible under cover of bushes, 1 
 rode my animal at his best speed up the canon. 
 
 About five miles from the scene of the shooting I 
 came upon a grader's camp, and sent some of the men 
 to look after the wounded robber and to secure the 
 saddles of the fallen horses. 
 
 I afterwards learned that they got the saddles but 
 could find nothing of the man. 
 
 H. H. CUMMACK. 
 
 ^^
 
 VIII. 
 
 OLAP HELGERSON'S PAY. 
 
 There were rough times occasionally on the street of 
 Jiratovvn when big Olaf Helgerson and his friends 
 came in from the Upper Ussawau Lake and made 
 themselves drunk with alcohol and water — not that the 
 water stirred their blood or fired . their brains. The 
 Norse settlers of James county generally were of that 
 sober and industrious sort who have borne such a large 
 share in breaking up the great prairies of the North- 
 west and subduing this big wilderness. But among 
 this people, as among all others, there is more or less 
 " bad blood,-' only in this case it showed itself boldly 
 and badly in the carousings of Olaf and Gulik Helger- 
 son and their neighbors, the Larsens and Joraegs. 
 
 One blustering day in December some dozen years 
 ago they came, a half-dozen of them, to town, and 
 began drinking and soon grew riotous. Up and down 
 the single street of Jimtown they caroused from one 
 saloon to another, pouring down fiery alcohol until their 
 faces flamed and their brains reeled, and they swaggered 
 along the sidewalk kicking and cuffing at each other 
 and threatening everyone else who had the hardihood 
 to meet them. 
 
 The town people kept indoors, and no one thought of 
 making an arrest. The town depended for its main 
 support upon the Norse trade, and so a Norse frolic was 
 not to be interfered with. 
 
 That afternoon, though, matters "came to a head," 
 and the men came out of their stores and shops and 
 
 83
 
 84 FRONTIER SKETCHES. 
 
 overawed the rough Norwegians, drunk as they were. 
 It happened in this wise: Kneut Halvorsen, a Norse 
 lad living at the Lower Ussawau Lake, came in that 
 afternoon to get mail and some medicine for his 
 mother, who was ailing with rheumatism. 
 
 The post-office was kept at " Iliff' s" drug store, and 
 as Kneut stepped in there were a number of loafers 
 seated about the h\p' box-stove listeninajtooneof '* Old 
 Iliff 's " many stories. The old man paused in his nar- 
 rations and spoke to Kneut. 
 
 "Kneut," said he, "Helgerson and his crowd, I 
 s'pose jT^ou know, are in town t'day, but mebby ye 
 didn't know that they're drunk as loons and knockin' 
 everybody off the walks ? Better git yer mail 'n' go 
 right home." 
 
 " Faal," said Kneut," I ton't alfays pe koin to run afay 
 fou Olaf Helgerson. I kot me yust so koot a ride to 
 keep een te town uss he haf. 
 
 " Wall," replied the old man, " I was only givin' ye 
 fair warnin' ; " and he resumed his story. But his hear- 
 ers' interest flagged, in view of Kneut's combative 
 spirit, and while Tom Iliff, Jr., was " putting up " a 
 prescription for Mrs. Halvorsen's rheumatism they 
 watched the 3'oung Norwegian curiously. 
 
 Presently Kneut turned from his purchases and left 
 the store. 
 
 " There'll be a fight, sure," said one of the loungers ; 
 and he went to one of the front windows and scratched 
 the frost from a pane that he might look out upon the 
 street. 
 
 The quarrel of Helgerson with the Halvorsens had 
 long since become common stock in Jimtown's affairs 
 of local interest, and dated back to the first Norse set-
 
 FRONTIER SKETCHES. 85 
 
 tlement of James county, when Kneut and Gus Hal- 
 vorsen were lads. It came about by the death of widow 
 Halvorsen's brother, Eric Brakstead, who owed Olaf 
 Helgerson for a yoke of oxen. Eric's claim joined that 
 of his sister, and they lived together and helped each 
 other in improving their new land. Kneut and Gus 
 were old enough to drive teams, and the widow had two 
 yoke of oxen of her own, their interests being kept sep- 
 arate, although they worked often together. In the 
 spring Eric had bought a yoke of steers of Olaf Hel- 
 gerson, giving a note due in six months, when he 
 expected his wheat harvest would enable him to pay it. 
 
 Bad luck followed. In June one of the steers was 
 struck by lightning, grasshoppers came and devoured 
 the growing wheat, and that same autumn poor Eric 
 was taken with typhoid fever and died, leaving his 
 claim to be immediately jumped by the first land-seeker. 
 Helgerson went to the widow with Eric's note and 
 demanded payment when it came due. She informed 
 her neighbor that her poor brother had died owing her 
 money, and that it would be impossible for her to pay 
 his other debts ; but she told him there was the other 
 ox left, which, of course, she should expect him to take. 
 
 Erio went away in a great rage and immediately 
 brought suit against her. The jury, of course, returned 
 him his ox, but gave her the verdict. From that time 
 on Olaf Helgerson, a wild, rough, passionate fellow, 
 spared no pains to vent his hatred in all ways that he 
 dared against the widow and her boys. 
 
 He often threatened Kneut and Gus with terrible 
 threshings, but up till this December day he had never 
 touched either of them. The boys often met their 
 belligerent neighbor upon the road, at the Lutheran
 
 8G FRONTIER SKETCHES. 
 
 church between the hikes, or at other Norse gatherings. 
 However, they had for several years carefully avoided 
 going to town when they knew that Olaf would be 
 there, and as the road from Upper Ussawau to Jimtown 
 ran directly past their door they generally knew when 
 he went or returned. Indeed, they were very likely to 
 know when he came home, for he was nearly always 
 " in liquor " and would shout and curse at them or at 
 the house as he rode by. 
 
 But Kneut had grown large and strong as a man, and 
 he' had heard Olafs threats so often that they had 
 become tame; in fact, he had never been afraid of 
 Helgerson, but, knowing the latter's habit of drunken 
 brawling when in town, in keeping away he had acted 
 prudently and in accord with his mother's wishes. 
 Then, too, Olaf, who was a natural leader, had drawn a 
 rough crowd around him who generally shared his 
 drunken bouts and also his quarrels. 
 
 Kneut was of a peaceable disposition, a hard-working 
 and honest lad, who desired no quarrel with any one. 
 But this day as he stepped out of "Iliflf's " Olaf Helger- 
 son was coming down the opposite side of the street, 
 boisterously drunk and aggressive. He saw Kneut and 
 instantly started across, wading in the snow, wildly 
 swinging his arms and shouting all sorts of threats. 
 Gulik, Olafs brother, Ole Larsen, and Snell Joraeg 
 followed. 
 
 At sight of them and at the word " coward," which 
 they shouted at him, Kneut's young blood boiled. 
 Regardless of consequences he stepped down from the 
 sidewalk and threw off his big knit scarf, his overcoat, 
 and sheep-skin mittens, and with clinched hands awaited 
 them.
 
 FRONTIER SKETCHES. - 87 
 
 " Will you pay me seventy-five dollars ? " shouted the 
 drunken Olaf, as he came up ; he spoke in the Norse 
 tongue, and flourished his big fists at Kneut's face by 
 way of emphasizing the demand. 
 
 " No," replied Kneut ; and, fiercely clinching, the two 
 whirled round and round, wrestling and jerking each 
 other about in the snow. 
 
 Kneut was strong and sober, and, being a good 
 wrestler, as soon as he " got his head " gave Olaf a 
 sudden trip and flung the tipsy fellow headlong in the 
 snow and then sprang upon him. Then, I suspect, had 
 it not been for his brother, with Ole and Snell, all too 
 brutally tipsy to think of fair play, Olaf Helgerson 
 would have received a sound hammering from Kneut's 
 tough knuckles. But these three now pounced upon 
 Kneut, and, seizing him by the arms and legs, tore him 
 away from Olaf and began dragging him along the 
 street. Olaf staggered to his feet and came after them, 
 swearing loudly at Kneut and threatening dire venire- 
 ance. 
 
 But the man at Iliff's window, and a number of 
 others at various points on the street, .had seen the 
 scuffle, and by that magic which draws people so quickly 
 together at exciting scenes, a crowd gathered and at- 
 tacked Kneut's tormentors, wrenching them away and 
 driving them from him. The plucky lad was bruised 
 severely in many places, where Olaf had brutally kicked 
 him, but the townsmen were roughly sympathetic, a 
 number of them insisting, in spite of his declaration that 
 he "fan't mooch hoorted,"on taking him into "Iliff's" 
 to have his hurts examined, and, if need be, dressed. 
 Others hunted up the constable and assisted the officer
 
 88 FRONTIER SKETCHES. 
 
 to arrest the four drunken fellows and lock them in an 
 old coal-bin, which had been fitted up as a " calaboose." 
 
 Kneut's bruises were only black and blue spots on 
 his leirs and one arm, and after Tom Iliff had rubbed 
 them Avell with a patent liniment he went out, got on 
 his horse, and set out for home. 
 
 On the road he had time to think coolly — very coolly, 
 if the weather were to be taken into consideration — and 
 in spite of the indignities he had received, he began to 
 regret that he had not walked rapidly off, as he might 
 have done, and get out of the way of Olaf. 
 
 " 1 had no business fighting with drunjcen brutes like 
 the Helffersons and those other fellows," he thought, 
 " and it will make mother feel badly." 
 
 But before reaching home he had something else to 
 think of ; the wind suddenly increased to a gale,the clouds 
 thickened and grew dark, and the snow came down in 
 stinging scuds, driving directly in his face. The storm 
 had come on a blizzard, and his horse, a young colt, 
 snorted wildly and shook his head in a protest against 
 facing it. Kneut urged the animal forward, as he had 
 several miles yet to go, and knew from experience that 
 the storm was likely to increase in violence rapidly 
 until midnight or later. Keeping the colt at a stiff 
 trot, and bending forward to break the force of the 
 blinding drift, he managed to keep the road, which, 
 lying in the path of the wind, was in most places 
 swept bare. He had nearly reached the outlet at the 
 foot of Lower Ussawau, when a team with a sleigh 
 attached came dashing up and passed him. 
 
 He knew the team at a glance. It was Olaf Helger- 
 son's and Olaf was lying in the bottom of the sleigh, 
 too drunk, probably, to sit up, and one line was drag-
 
 FRONTIER SKETCHES. 89 
 
 ging. The horses were going at a keen gallop, and, of 
 course, without any control ; they ran with their heads 
 low, snorting loudly, and evidently keeping the road by 
 instinct rather than sight. They were young spirited 
 animals, which Olaf had raised and of whose speed he 
 boasted greatly. 
 
 "They'll break his drunken neck befere he gets home 
 with them," thought Kneut, " or they'll throw him out 
 Avhere he'll freeze to death." This last catastrophe 
 seemed so probable that Kneut, in alarm, forgot, 
 all other feeling toward Olaf Helgerson, and whipped 
 his colt into a run to overtake the sleigh. 
 
 He came up with it just at the crossing of the outlet ; 
 here, when the sleighing was bad on the road, Helger- 
 son sometimes turned off and went home on an old 
 " hay road" which led through the marshes on the east 
 side of the lake, and here his team, no doubt sheering 
 off to avoid facing the storm directly, took up the old 
 trail which led along the east shore of Lower Ussawau. 
 There were no houses to be met in that direction for 
 several miles, the land being a succession of swamps 
 separated by " hard-head " ridges ; the region, several 
 miles in extent each way, was known as Lonesome 
 Township. 
 
 Kneut, alarmed at being turned away from the main 
 road even for a moment, ran his colt alongside the run- 
 aways, and tried to reach the bridle-rein of the nearest; 
 but the colt he rode, only half-broken, was both " skit- 
 tish " and unruly, and, try as he might, he could not get 
 the animal near enough to let him grasp a rein or a 
 line. He then made a desperate effort to get in front 
 of the flying horses and stop them ; but again the 
 unruly colt, frantic with his lashing and the pelting of
 
 90 
 
 FRONTIER SKETCHES. 
 
 ^'Afe:^'';v}*v;:'f!#va«'^iii*^,, 
 
 ■^i; — 
 
 i'v'\-;: 
 

 
 FRONTIER SKETCHES. 91 
 
 the storm, proved intractable, and would only rear and 
 plunge in an effort to keep out of the way of the team. 
 
 Failing in this attempt Kneut reined up for a moment, 
 half tempted to let the team go with its helpless master, 
 trusting their instinct to get him home safely. But no, 
 he could not do that. Olaf was lying there like a log, 
 with his big buffalo coat on and also a robe thrown 
 partly over him ; but even if he were not freezing 
 already another half-hour of such stupor in a biting 
 storm, Kneut reasoned, would surely finish him. 
 
 The tipsy fellow had no doubt broken away from 
 his jail, or given bail, and had started for home, trust- 
 ing to his horses to take him through, as they had been 
 known to do on two or three occasions. No ; plainly 
 Kneut could not desert him in this howling storm, 
 with all that waste of country to traverse and no guide 
 but the instinct of dumb brutes. 
 
 All this came to the brave lad much more quickly 
 than I have written it, and no doubt in different form, 
 but, at any rate, he urged his colt forward in the trail 
 of the sleigh, determined to follow until a chance offered 
 for gaining control of the team. 
 
 Several times he attempted to ride alongside, with 
 the purpose of flinging himself out of the saddle and 
 into the sleigh-box, but the unmanageable- colt each 
 time foiled him by plunging and floundering and fall- 
 ing back in the rear. 
 
 Presently, striking a long flat where the ground had 
 been burned bare by the fall fires, and the covering of 
 snow was light, Olaf's team quickened their pace to a 
 stiff run, and then for some minutes there followed a 
 race in which Kneut could barely keep in sight of the 
 runaways. The old hay-road had disappeared entirely.
 
 92 PRONTIKR SKKTCIIE8. 
 
 and the storm was growing thicker every moment. 
 The snow whistled across, cutting Kneut's cheek as he 
 bent forward and filling space \vith a thick wiiite dust 
 through which lie had to strain his sight to penetrate 
 even the distance of a few rods. 
 
 It was a perilous, a despairing chase ; no road left, 
 the lake-shore out of sight, the direction no longer 
 certain, night coming on, and the furious blizzard grow- 
 ing thicker and colder each moment. Even should the 
 horses hold out, and all survive until the surrounding 
 settlement could be reached, darkness must first over- 
 take them, and through that blinding drift of snow no 
 light could be seen at a hopeful distance. 
 
 All this Kneut realized and was terribly frightened ; 
 but he pressed on heroically, digging his heels into the 
 colt's ribs and urging it on with his voice and manag- 
 ing to keep the sleigh and the flying team in sight. 
 The effort kept him warm. Suddenly the ground grew 
 rough and boggy and the colt stumbled and fell, pitch- 
 ing Kneut over its head and wedging him between two 
 hummocks so tightly that it took him some seconds to 
 extricate himself. He had clutched the bridle-rein 
 tightly, so tightly that it had broken at the buckle, and 
 as he struggled finally to his feet he still held the long 
 end in his hand while the colt snorted and floundered 
 about him among the bogs and snow. 
 
 Kneut hastily rebuckled the rein and mounted. He 
 could no longer see the sleigh, but there was still the 
 trail, though fast filling up, where the plunging team 
 had wallowed through the snow amid the bogs. He 
 followed for a few rods and came within sight of an 
 object which proved to be the sleigh without the 
 horses ; the beam of the front " bob " had struck solidly
 
 FRONTIER SKETCHES 93 
 
 against a frozen hummock and the runner had broken, 
 leaving the team free of burden. 
 
 Kneut hastil}'' tumbled off his horse, tied its halter to 
 a ring in the end rod of the sleigh-box, and hurried 
 around to Olaf, who lay motionless in a kind of heap 
 where he had been thrown by the jolt into the front 
 end of the box. 
 
 A moment's examination proved that Helgerson was 
 alive and not yet badly chilled, for his face was flushed 
 and he was actually snoring in a drunken stupor of 
 sleep. Kneut shook him roughly, and even pounded 
 him in an effort to arouse, but could only get him to 
 fling his arms about and mumble drunkenly while the 
 snow pelted down in his face. 
 
 Kneut, finding it impossible to get him awake, ceased 
 trying, and looked about in desperation to see what, if 
 any thing, might be done to save him from freezing to 
 death — as he must soon, exposed in this helpless con- 
 dition. 
 
 The Korse lad did not stop to think of his own peril- 
 ous situation. A glance about him discovered the fact 
 that the sleigh had lodged at the edge of a slough and 
 that a dense growth of tall rushes was in sight a few 
 yards distant. They had been too green to burn when 
 the early fall fire had swept across them, and it was in 
 such rush brake, he remembered, that, years before, the 
 deer used to take refuge from the winter's cold and 
 storms. 
 
 His plan was formed at once, and, going to his colt 
 he deliberately stripped it of saddle and bridle and 
 turned it loose. " Save yourself if you can, Jan," said 
 he, and the animal plunged out of sight while he was 
 speaking.
 
 94 FKONTIEK SKETCHES. 
 
 Kneut then turned bis attention to Olaf. He 
 wrapped the buffalo-robe and blanket which lay in the 
 bottom of the sleigh-box about the stupid man, rolling 
 him in them; then, seizing him about the waist, lifted 
 his limp body out of the sleigh. Then, with a mighty 
 effort, he tugged his big enemy forward, dragging 
 Olaf's long legs among the bogs, through the snow and 
 in among the rushes. He pushed on, puffing and even 
 sweating with exertion, until he had reached a point 
 within the brake where the thicket became so dense 
 that he could no longer get on and carry his burden. 
 Then he dropped Olaf, and with his hands broke down 
 the rushes in front, making a path some rods further. 
 Here he oould scarcely feel the wind, and, thankful 
 enough to have found such fortunate shelter, went back 
 and dragged the stupid Helgerson to it. Then, clear- 
 ing away a little spot and piling the rushes at one edge 
 for iire-wood, he opened Helgerson's big coat and 
 searched the pockets of his inside garments, and luckily, 
 with a pipe and a package of tobacco, in one of them 
 was a box of matches. Then, rolling Olaf up in his 
 robe and blanket again, he got down over the pile of 
 rushes and managed to light them. 
 
 And now began a strange and wearisome night vigil. 
 
 Darkness was already coming on, and Kneut began 
 industriously breaking rushes for fuel. He broke them 
 upon the windward side and threw them in heaps upon 
 the fire. An armful of them would not burn three 
 minutes, but that made no difference; the fire must be 
 kept going, and undauntedly he worked on for hours 
 and hours. 
 
 He had laid Olaf as close to the blaze as he dared,
 
 FliONTIEB SKETCHES. 95 
 
 and occasionally he turned his huge bundle over that 
 the heat might get a chance at both sides. 
 
 Once and a while he pounded Helgerson vigorously 
 and then listened to his breathing, but he could only 
 spare a moment in each effort to awake the sleeper, as 
 the fire had to be kept going at all hazards. 
 
 The circle of open space in front of the blaze grew 
 wider as Kneut broke the rushes and threw them on. 
 They were so thick, though, that an armful could be 
 gathered without stepping out of his tracks. Steadily 
 he worked, while the storm whistled and howled about 
 his head, and the swaying rushes alternated with the 
 driving snow in dealing him stinging cuts upon the face. 
 
 It was nearly morning when Olaf, after a pounding, 
 came to himself, and, after rubbing his eyes and mum- 
 bling in a growling voice for a bit, sat up before the 
 fire. Curiously and half-dazedly he watched Kneut 
 coming and goings at the fire. 
 
 Presently Kneut threw on an extra large armful and 
 stopped in front of Olaf. 
 
 " Halloo, Olaf Helgerson ! " he shouted. " Do you 
 know where you are ? " 
 
 Olaf gazed at him earnestly for a minute. 
 
 " You are Kneut Halvorsen," he said. " How came 
 we here 1 " 
 
 And then, while feeding the flame lightly with a 
 fresh bundle of rushes, Kneut told his story. 
 
 When he had finished Olaf staggered to his feet and 
 threw his arms about Kneut. 
 
 "Kneut, Kneut?" he burst out, hugging the lad 
 close to him, " I've got my pay ! I've got ray pay ! " 
 And the big rough fellow, in his wonder and gratitude, 
 wept like a child, while Kneut supported his unsteady
 
 96 FRONTIER SKETCHES. 
 
 limbs. He had sobered suddenly and thoroughly, and 
 after Kneut had helped to walk him about a bit gained 
 the use of his limbs, and for the balance of the night 
 helped Kneut to keep the fire going. 
 
 While walking about Olaf told how he remembered 
 rushing against the door of the " calaboose," breaking 
 it down and running for his sleigh, but he could remem- 
 ber nothing further. 
 
 Morning came soon, and though it was still storming 
 hard, the air was not so filled with snow as it had been, 
 and they managed, by rightly calculating the direction 
 of the wind, to gain the lake shore, and from that 
 point it was an easy matter to find the way around to 
 Kneut's home, just above Elk Grove Point. Widow 
 Halvorsen's surprise was as great as her anxiety had 
 been ; and, when her son and her late enemy had 
 recounted their story while warming themselves at the 
 fire, her thankfulness was greatly increased to know 
 that the night's adventure had made them friends as 
 well as brought them safe out of the storm. 
 
 By almost a miracle of instinct or luck Olaf's horses 
 reached his house in safety and found their way into 
 his cattle-shed, where they spent the night among the 
 cows; but Kneut's colt perished in the blizzard, and 
 was found afterwards some five miles east of the lakes. 
 It had, no doubt, run until exhausted, and then lain 
 down to freeze. 
 
 Olaf replaced Kneut's loss Avith another horse, insist- 
 ing that even then he was, and always would be, 
 Kneut's debtor, and since that night his neighbors 
 declare that he has been a good neighbor and a decent 
 man.
 
 IX. 
 
 A WILD NIGHT-RIDE. 
 
 At nine o'clock one September evening in 18Y6 Itook 
 the coach which left Custer City — or Custer Village, 
 for the town consisted of twenty or thirty log struc- 
 tures — to go to Sidney, Nebraska. A coach, I suppose 
 it should be called, though on the plains this vehicle, 
 which has the driver's seat on the same level as the 
 passengers' seats, is called a "hack." 
 
 I had gone to the " Hills " to engage in mining, but 
 after four months of prospecting had decided to open a 
 general supply-store at the new town of Dead wood, 
 and was on my way to Omaha to purchase goods for 
 the venture. 
 
 A tin lamp, fastened in one corner of the " hack," 
 discovered to me two passengers within as I entered 
 and took my seat. , One was an old gentleman, appar- 
 ently weak and ill, for, although it was not a cold 
 night, he .was muffled in a coarse, heavy ulster over- 
 coat. Moreover, so much of his face as I could see 
 between a gray beard which almost covered it and the 
 rim of a slouch hat was pale -and thin, and the eyes 
 looked sunken and unnatural. At least, so it struck me 
 at a cursory glance. 
 
 The other passenger was a young fellow of twenty- 
 two or twenty-three years, I judged, decidedly dandi- 
 fied in his dress for that region. He wore a stiff hat 
 and a stand-up collar encircled by a neat tie, and had 
 on a dark suit, evidently custom-made, which was an 
 unusual '• get-up " for that region, and one which at 
 
 97
 
 98 FKONTIER SKETCHES. 
 
 once aroused my suspicion, for the only persons I had 
 seen about the mining towns dressed in anything Hke 
 that fashion were gamblers, a class of men I had made 
 it a point to avoid. 
 
 Just before setting out the driver came to the side 
 of the vehicle, thrust in a light Winchester carbine, 
 and placed it between my knees. 
 
 " I see you didn't have no gun," said he, " an' I keep 
 a couple of extra ones fer sech." 
 
 That was all. No further explanation was necessary 
 in those days. 
 
 I took charge of the weapon, although I was as little 
 expert in its use as I was in handling the Smith & 
 Wesson in my hip-pocket, which, indeed, I had never 
 yet discharged. 
 
 I knew enough of life in the mines to know that the 
 " bad man with a gun " is usually the man who gets 
 into difficulty rather than the peaceful and unarmed 
 citizen ; but a stage-ride from Custer to Sidney at that 
 time was a trip not altogether likely to be without 
 its adventures, and for once I regretted my unfamiliar- 
 ity with " shooting irons." 
 
 It occurred to me that if we were " jumped by road 
 agents," as the phrase went, the freebooters of the 
 route would have little to fear from the occupants of 
 the hack, whether they got much money or not. 
 
 There were usually valuables of some sort in the iron 
 box under the driver's seat. 
 
 The young man who sat opposite me nau a carbine 
 across his lap, but I fancied he knew even less of its 
 use than I did. As we started he sat, without noticing 
 me, twirling a shght mustache and humming a tune.
 
 FKONTIER SKETCHES. 99 
 
 " A fresh gamester, if one at all," I said to myself upon 
 a second look at him. 
 
 . The old man had no arms in sight. The driver no 
 doubt regarded him as out of the fight at any event. 
 
 As we rolled on up into Buffalo Gap I had a few 
 words of conversation with my companions. I learned 
 that the elder was an Iowa farmer who had come out 
 to see what he could do in the new mines, but he had 
 been ill with mountain fever,and afterward attacked by 
 rheumatism, so that he had been forced to abandon 
 his projects and return to the East, lie spoke freely, 
 and in the careless English of Western men. 
 
 The young fellow said he was from New York. " Neh 
 Yawk," he pronounced it. He was, he said, a student 
 of mining engineering, but be did not mention what 
 his business had been in that region; but that was not 
 strange, for we could not talk much. A jolting stage 
 bowling over a rough country at eight miles an hour 
 does not give the best opportunity for conversation. 
 
 I soon became sleepy, and leaning back in my cor- 
 ner, took siich momentary cat-naps as the nature of 
 the road permitted. At eleven o'clock we made a 
 brief halt at a temporary stage station, where the 
 driver's four-in hand team was exchanged for fresh 
 horses. 
 
 I peeped out, and got a glimpse of the teams, of two 
 men with a lantern, of a low structure of sod or adobe 
 faintly outlined, and of the black side of a pine-covered 
 mountain beyond. The night was quite dark, with 
 floating clouds and no moon. It became somewhat 
 lighter as we passed out of the gap a little later, as I 
 noted through a crack in the swaying " flap " opposite. 
 
 The road Avas now smoother, and I settled back in
 
 100 FRONTIER SKETCHES. 
 
 my corner, as my companions had done, to get a little 
 solid sleep if possible. I dozed off for a time, but was 
 awakened by the groaning of the old man beside me. 
 He seemed to be in great pain, and writhed about ner- 
 vously. I asked him what was the trouble. He 
 replied that the rheumatism in his legs was nearly kill- 
 ing him. 
 
 " I wisht the driver'd let me aout when we git t' th' 
 nex' crick. He'll water likely, 'n' I've jest got t' stretch 
 my legs er die. Ye see I'm troubled with cramp rheu- 
 matism, an' th' ain't no room in hyer t' get the cramp 
 out o' my legs." 
 
 I told him I would speak to the driver when we 
 halted, a few minutes later, at the bank of a stream — 
 "White River, I believe. I thrust my head out at the 
 side, and asked that the old gentleman might be let out 
 for a moment to stretch his legs. 
 
 " All right ! " said the driver, as he clambered down 
 from his own seat. "Tm goin' ter oncheck 'u' let the 
 hosses take a pull at th' drink." 
 
 I then helped the old man to dismount, steadying him 
 by the arm as he got down. He seemed to have a good 
 deal of difficulty in alighting, and groaned in a most 
 lugubrious fashion. The flap swung to after him, as I 
 had unbuttoned it all around to let him out. The young 
 man opposite me lay curled up on his seat, but I could 
 see that his eyes were wide open, and that he was eying 
 rae with a sharp, keen glance. My eyes probably 
 responded when they fell upon his, for he straightened 
 up in an alert fashion, and leaned toward me. 
 
 "Say," he whispered, "do you think that old chap's 
 all right? Strikes rae that groaning of his was put on. 
 What dy'e think ? "
 
 FRONTIER SKETCHES. 101 
 
 The question startled me no less than the young fel- 
 low's manner, and I was about to make some reply 
 when a gun or pistol shot rang in our ears, followed by 
 a yell either of pain or surprise, and a lurch of the hack 
 threw me forward against my companion's knees. 
 
 Either the shot or the yell had startled our team, and 
 we went down the bank and into the stream with a 
 lunge. I heard shots — one, two, three — as we splashed 
 through the water. Then more yells, loud and fierce. 
 
 My notion of what had happened or was happening 
 was confused for a moment, and then I saw my com- 
 rade — for the light still burned — crawling through to 
 the driver's seat as we went careening up the ODposite 
 bank. 
 
 A second later he had gathered the lines, which were 
 tied in front, and while he held them with one hand he 
 grasped a front rib of the hack with the other. Then 
 he" leaned out and glanced back. 
 
 Luckil}'- the horses, which were going at a gallop — 
 they were animals which needed no urging — kept' to 
 the road, and the cool-headed young fellow was not 
 pitched out. 
 
 " There's a lot of 'em," he shouted in at me a moment 
 later. " I can just see four or five getting onto their 
 horses. They've killed the driver, I guess, and after us 
 now! " 
 
 With that he gathered up the Ipng-lashed whip, 
 which lay in the boot, and dropping upon his knees 
 began yeUing and laying the whip upon the team. 
 
 In a moment we were going at a fearful pace, and 
 despite the excitement and fright of the moment I 
 noticed that our four horses caine to hand and ran
 
 102 FRONTIER SKETCHES. 
 
 with a steady, even gait which did credit to the young 
 man's driving. 
 
 " Get ready for 'em now ! " lie screamed back at me; 
 " they'll be down on us in a minute. Open the back 
 flap 'n' pour it into 'em with your guns, and when 
 they're empty get mine under the seat ! " 
 
 He was my captain as well as driver, and I obeyed 
 instinctiveh'^, for I certainly had formed no i)lan of 
 defense or action on my own account. 
 
 I managed to unbutton and roll up the leather 
 behind, and peering out, on my knees before the back 
 seat, I saw that we were indeed followed. It was 
 light enough to distinguish objects dimly at a hundred 
 yards, and there were at least five horsemen in our 
 rear, tearing along at the top of their animals' speed. 
 Knowing that they were Avithin rifle-shot I opened fire 
 on them over the seat. I worked the leter of my gun 
 as rapidly as I could, but made awkward business of 
 it. Presently I got a shell stuck, and began trying to 
 get it out. In the meantime our pursuers were gaining 
 with every second. 
 
 They were within fifty yards before I could get out 
 my shell and I was too excited to think of using 
 another gun. Suddenly the light in the hack went 
 out, and a hand upon my shoulder jerked me backward. 
 Then a voice yelled in my ear : 
 
 " Let me get at them ! Load the guns for me, 'n' 
 let the team go. We might's well smash as be riddled 
 by bullets. Here, here's two boxes of cartridges ! " 
 
 I dropped back to the other seat and gave place to 
 him. He threw his carbines over the back of the hind 
 ,seat and began firing. 
 
 Crack ! crack ! crack ! It seemed to me that a
 
 FRONTIER SKETCHES. 103 
 
 steady stream of fire poured out of the back of the 
 stage, and before I had filled the magazine of my gun, 
 his was empty. He snatched mine, however, and 
 thrust his own back at me. 
 
 Loading was awkward business at first, as I had to 
 feel for the feeder, but I managed soon to thrust them 
 into my gun as fast as he could work the lever of his 
 own. The men, whoever and whatever they were, rode 
 up to within twenty-five or thirty yards, and, spreading 
 out, opened fire on us. 
 
 " Keep close down in the bottom ! " shouted my com- 
 rade, as he kept on with his firing. 
 
 The " road agents " did not come nearer, evidently 
 fearing too great exposure to the stream of shots from 
 the hack, and my courage rose to something near the 
 level of my companion's. I caught glimpses, as I 
 glanced up now and then, of a plunging horse-man with 
 shadowy, outstretched arm, from which flashed blaze 
 after blaze of light. 
 
 All at once we began descending into a gulley, and 
 the hack bounced from side to side so violently that it 
 was impossible for us to do anything but cling to the 
 sides of the box. 
 
 "It's all right!" rang my companion's voice in my 
 ear, shortly after we had begun the descent ; " they've 
 quit. The}^ can't ride along the side of the gulch, and 
 daren't follow straight behind. There's a stage ranch 
 below, too. I remember the road." 
 
 Sure enough, the men had dropped back, and the 
 shots ceased. My cool, brave comrade now clam- 
 bered over me, and in some way got into the front seat 
 of the jumping coach. A moment later I noticed that 
 we were slowing up and running more steadily. Five
 
 104 FRONTIKR SKKTCHES. 
 
 minutes more we halted, what was left of us, safe and 
 sound in front of a stage station. 
 
 Our story was soon told, our horses exchanged and 
 a fresh driver, doubly armed, put with us. Such little 
 accidents did not stop stages in those parts. 
 
 There was no danger, they told us, from that same 
 gang. The three men who were left promised to go 
 immediately and look after our other driver. 
 
 It was only the darkness and the motion of the 
 vehicle and horses that had saved us from being hit. 
 
 We found several bullet marks about the coach next 
 morning; one of them, well aimed, had gone through 
 the back seat at an angle and into the front, and must 
 have passed directl}^ between us. My respect for my 
 young companion was greatly raised by the events of 
 that night, and was further increased by an after 
 acquaintance which discovered his real modesty and 
 worth. 
 
 On my return to the " Hills," I learned that our 
 driver had been picked up at the crossing of the creek, 
 badly wounded, and also that the brave fellow had 
 yelled to the team to go the very second he was hit. 
 lie had been carried to Sidney. As to the rheumatic 
 old man, he was, of course, a rascal in league with the 
 band who had attacked us.
 
 X. 
 
 CARLEN AND HIS COMET. 
 
 Several years ago, if one had been traveling through 
 Lake Township, in a county of eastern Dakota, and 
 had inquired who was its best known and most reputa- 
 ble citizen, the answer in almost every case would have 
 been Emmet Carlen, and almost any settler could have 
 pointed out on the level prairie, from his own door, the 
 house and buildings of the young JSTorwegian upon tLie 
 crest of " Tip-Top Knoll," at the head of Rush Lake. 
 
 Emmet began life in Lake Township as many other 
 IsTorseraen in many other regions of our New West 
 have done, with no possessions save a change of cloth- 
 ing ; but, at the end of a few years, he had, by his thrift 
 and industry, secured and improved a new farm, and 
 placed himself on the sure road to comfort and plenty. 
 
 At the time of which I write, however, it was not so 
 much his thrift that made him a marked man, but a 
 certain daring, cool-headedness which he had always 
 displayed when courage and intrepidity were demanded 
 
 Once, at his own great peril, he had carried food and 
 extra clothing to a school-teacher and a half-dozen 
 small children who were confined in a little school- 
 house, nearly a mile from any habitation, by one of the 
 fiercest blizzards ever known in that region. This 
 happened during the first year of his stay there, and 
 while he was working for his board and attending 
 school with the little ones whose lives he saved. 
 
 Strangely enough, he was again to figure as the 
 rescuer of two of these same children from another 
 
 105
 
 106 FRONTIER SKETCHES. 
 
 sweeping storm, one even more terrible than the dreaded 
 blizzard, a storm of fire, as it swept over the tall, dry 
 grass of the unbroken prairie. 
 
 To this exploit, however, there was another party, 
 Emmet's big steer, " Comet," without whose aid, indeed, 
 the children must have perished. 
 
 This animal was quite as noteworthy as his master. 
 " Comet " was a huge, long-legged, long-horned steer. 
 For two years Emmet had only his help in plowing 
 and cultivating the " Tip-Top " homestead, except that 
 the breaking of sod was done by hired " breakers," 
 
 The young Norseman hitched his steer to a heavy 
 cart, and drove him to market at the small but ambi- 
 tious town of Boomerang, eight miles distant. In win- 
 ter, when snow fell and the roads were good, a light 
 sled took the place of the cart. 
 
 Before the sled Comet soon gained a local reputation 
 for speed upon the road. His gait was a steady, long- 
 stepping trot, like that of an elk, and nearly as swift. 
 At any rate, it was soon an admitted fact that there 
 were no horses in the neighborhood that could pass 
 Comet in a trotting-match. This was abundantly 
 proved by many races along the road to town and 
 back, where the drivers of the teams or single horses 
 had tried and failed to " go by " the fleet steer. 
 
 Comet had taken his name from a former owner, and 
 it was given him because of his wonderful speed and a 
 habit of flying his long tail as a horizontal streamer 
 while "cutting"' away from the herd and the herder's 
 pony. The owner was willing to sell the animal cheap, 
 because he was unruly and hard to break. Emmet 
 heard of the chance to buy, and bethought him of the 
 plan, often adopted in Norway, of driving oxen singly.
 
 FRONTIER SKETCHES. 107 
 
 But he had no ready money. Although he had 
 strong objections to running into debt, he did so now, 
 and obtained Comet by giving his note for twenty dol- 
 lars. Then, having fashioned a yoke and harness of 
 the Norse pattern, he set to work with characteristic 
 patience and kindness to bring the big, headstrong ani- 
 mal " under the yoke." 
 
 His success, though won after a hard struggle, was 
 complete, and, in a few weeks Comet, hitched to a 
 vehicle made from two wheels of an old wagon, with 
 Emmet seated upon the axle, was driven to Boomer- 
 ang. There the young fellow bought a few boards at 
 the lumber yard, nailed together a rough box, secured 
 it by bolts and braces to the axle which had served him 
 for a seat, and rode home in triumph. 
 
 That autumn Emmet bought a small ten-inch stirring 
 plough, and turned over ten acres of sod. The steer 
 pulled the implement with ease after a short training. 
 
 The next year another ten acres was broken upon 
 the homestead, and Comet was still sufficient for all 
 Emmet's purposes. It was in October of this year 
 that the event which is the subject of this narrative 
 occurred. 
 
 Emmet was ploughing. The day was one of 
 those common to that season in new prairie regions, 
 smoky, with a strong northwest wind smelling of 
 burned grass, a fine dust of cinders sifting down, and 
 sun shining through smoke and dust with a dull red 
 glare. But as Emmet had sometime before burned a 
 broad "fire break ' around his shanty, grain and hay- 
 stacks, he noted these evidences of raging fires witiiout 
 uneasiness. They came at some time every autumn. 
 
 It was about the middle of the afternoon that little
 
 108 FKONTIKK SKKTCIIKS. 
 
 Jake and Lib Walker came into his field, bringing 
 some grain bags "which Emmet had lent their father to 
 use during his threshing the week before. 
 
 Walker lived at the foot of Eush Lake, about a mile 
 from the school house, where the young Norwegians 
 had taken lessons in English, and these little fellows, 
 Jake and Lib, had been his schoolmates when the " big 
 blizzard " came, cutting them off suddenly from home 
 and imperilling their lives. 
 
 " Hal-lo, Yakie ; hal-lo, Libbie ! You a koot fays 
 from home, aint it?" was Emmet's greeting as the 
 lads came up, each staggering under ?. back-load of 
 sacks. 
 
 "We've been a good deal further'n this more'n 
 once," said Jake, '' and we've got to go clear round the 
 lake 'n' drive the cows home yit to-night. They're 
 away over yonder," pointing across the lake, " where 
 the wild rice grows 'long the edge, and pa's gone to 
 town." 
 
 " Sit you ride town on t'em packs t'ere, " said Emmet, 
 " unt rest yo' leeks, unt I feel let Comet rest, too. I 
 did tink meppe as I coot feenish tot bloughin' py 
 night-time put I ton't know off I ken to ut. " 
 
 And then, seated on the plough-beam, he talked 
 pleasantly with the boys for a few minutes, then tell- 
 ing them that he would carry the sacks to the house 
 when he turned out, bade them " look out unt not ket 
 lost een t'em tall krasses, " — tall grass — as they trudged 
 sturdily away toward the upper end of the lake. 
 
 The lads had been gone from the field about half an 
 hour when Emmet noted with alarm that the smoke 
 which had pervaded the air all day had thickened, 
 until now the sun was almost clouded over, showing
 
 FKONTIER SKETCHES. 109 
 
 only a dull red disk. The smell of burning grass had 
 grown more pungent. 
 
 His fears were aroused wholly on account of the two 
 boys who had gone to the other side of the lake. The 
 field in which he was at work lay upon the south side 
 of the hill upon which his shanty stood, shutting off 
 the view to north and west, from whence the wind was 
 blowing. 
 
 He unhitched Comet at once, and drove him at a 
 trot to the top of the hill. 
 
 No sooner had he reached the crest than he saw 
 cause enough for alarm, Not two miles away to the 
 northwest dense volumes of smoke were rising and roll- 
 ing forward over a broad stretch of prairie. A big 
 prairie fire was sweeping down at a tremendous rate 
 of speed, the " head fire" lining out directly toward the 
 head of the lake. 
 
 What could he do to save those two boys ? was the 
 young Norwegian's first thought. They must be even 
 at that moment, he thought, well round the head of the 
 lake, wading through the tall grass of the fiat. There 
 was no bank to the lake upon that side; wild rice and 
 tall rushes grew far out into the water, and this swamp 
 growth would burn to its very edge. He could not 
 race wnth the fire on foot, and he doubted if even a 
 horse would be able to outstrip it, but he instantly 
 resolved to make the trial with Comet. 
 
 He had frequently ridden the big fellow, who had 
 become as docile and obedient as a dog, to and from 
 the field, hawing and geeing him about at will. Now, 
 if possible, he would ride the fleet-footed steed to some 
 purpose. To throw off the yoke and harness, tie a rope 
 around the animal's body to cling to, and another to
 
 110 FRONTIER SKETCHES. 
 
 either horn to serve as reins, was the work of a minute; 
 then, whip in hand, Emmet mounted and was off. 
 
 Comet, feeling a few stinging blows of the whip, 
 broke away at his swiftest trot. Although his gait had 
 more than once defied the best trotters of the settle- 
 ment, the big steer could hold it with ease for a length 
 of time that seemed incredible. In fact, as had been 
 proved when Comet ran wild among the settlement 
 herds, the animal was as nearly tireless as flesh and 
 blood could be. 
 
 But it was a rough ride, and Emmet was obliged to 
 cling tightly with one hand to the girth-rope, while 
 managing reins and whip with the other. 
 
 The whip, however, was not needed, and the rider 
 had only to yell '• Hi ! Hi ! " to keep the steer flying at 
 his best gait. With head up and tail streaming. Comet 
 rounded the point of the lake, some half-mile from the 
 knoll cabin, just as the ''head fire" reached the upper 
 end of the flat which lay to west and north of the lake. 
 
 That " head fire " was now not a mile distant, and 
 was coming directly down the flat which followed the 
 southeast trend of the lake. 
 
 The smoke had growni so thick that Emmet could 
 only see a few hundred feet ahead, but he kept well 
 within sight of the lake sliore, knowing that the boys 
 could not have gone far down as yet, and that they 
 were not likely to wander far from the lake's edge, for 
 fear of getting lost. Their cattle, too, would be found 
 along shore, feeding upon the rice-heads. 
 
 "Hi! Hi! Hi!" 
 
 Away they tore through the high grass, across 
 ditches, over rough, boggy spots, the rider gettmg a 
 terrible pounding, the steer possessed of but one instinct,
 
 FRONTIER SKETCHES. Ill 
 
 it seemed — to respond to those sharp yells with the 
 utmost possible strides of his long, fleet legs. 
 
 The tire meanwhile was gaining every moment, in 
 spite of his tremendous exertion. Emmet could see 
 that the smoke closed in thicker, and feel that the air 
 was growing hot and oppressive. 
 
 But suddenly two little dark objects appeared a few 
 yards ahead, bobbing above the waving grass. 
 
 Emmet gave a shout of delight ; it was the black 
 heads of Jake and Lib, nodding as they ran. Their 
 hats were off, and they were running as fast as the 
 wilderness of grass would let them. 
 
 In an instant Comet was alongside, and, with a few 
 sharp whoas and a hard pull at the reins, Emmet 
 managed to stop him but a few yards in front of the 
 boys. 
 
 They ran to him with eager shouts, their fright 
 turned to joy at the sight of him. But without wait- 
 ing to answer them he leaned forward, caught Lib by 
 the arm, and swung him up in front, then helped Jake 
 to scramble on behind. 
 
 " Hank tight to me, Yake," he said ; then, throw- 
 ing an arm around Lib and grasping the rope, he dug 
 his heels into Comet's ribs, and with a shrill " Hi ! 
 Hi ! " set the steer off again at a swinging pace. 
 
 The crackle and roar of the fire could plainly be 
 heard as they started, and Comet, either objecting to 
 his additional burden or uneasy at the smell and the 
 roar of the fire, began snorting and throwing his head 
 on either side ominously. 
 
 Emmet feared that the steer would become unman- 
 ageable, and as a last resort, determined to run hira 
 into the lake and make a swim for it. Somewhere
 
 112 
 
 FKONTIER SKETCUES. 
 
 not far below, he knew there was an arm of the lake 
 about one hundred yards wide, extending out a 
 considerable distance into the flat, and this arm, or 
 ba3^ou, he had hoped to reach. 
 
 He knew that Comet would not hesitate an instant 
 to plunge into it and swim, — the steer had been known 
 
 "Hank tight to me, Yake." — Page 111. 
 
 to swim clear across the lake itself, — and once upon 
 the other side, he could soon make his little party 
 safe. 
 
 Suddenly the smoke lifted, and he ventured a glance 
 backward. The sight was appalling! The smoke, 
 driven upward by the rush of heated air, was flying
 
 FRONTIER SKETCHES. 113 
 
 above their heads, leaving the jumping flames in plain 
 view. 
 
 The head fire was not a quarter-mile distant, Emmet 
 judged, and was bearing down on them with terrible 
 speed, the flames shooting higher than he had ever seen 
 them rise before. 
 
 Little Jake and Lib clung to him without a word, 
 while Comet threw his head about and snorted more 
 violently than before. 
 
 But suddenly there was a strip of water before them ; 
 the arm of the lake had been reached. A moment 
 more, and they were into it with a splash, and Comet 
 was swimming with his heavy burden and carrying it 
 more easily than he had been able to bear it upon land ; 
 but his body sank until the water came up to Jake's 
 waist, and nothing but the nose and horns of the steer 
 could be seen. 
 
 But swimming was much slower work than running 
 had been, and by the time the opposite shore was 
 reached the fire was already roaring at the other edge. 
 
 Emmet leaped off into the edge of the water, and 
 pulled Jake and Lib with him. 
 
 " Here ! " he shouted, giving them the ropes. " Hank 
 tite to 'im ; ton'fc let 'im loose off you can hold to 'im. 
 You yust so safe as to home now." 
 
 They obeyed manfully, and Emmet, drawing a 
 match-box from his vest pocket, dropped upon his knees 
 at the nearest dry place, and, lighting a match, held his 
 hat over it until the flame had touched the blades of 
 grass which he bent toward it ; then he stepped back 
 into the water and took charge of the steer again. 
 
 The flames on the other side had now reached the
 
 114 FliONTIEli SKETCHES. 
 
 water's edge, and bunches of burning grass were blown 
 toward them. 
 
 For an instant the heat was intense, ahnost scorch- 
 ing. Great tongues of angry flame lapped over among 
 the waters and reached out toward them. 'Then, with 
 a final cracking whish! they died out, leaving a black, 
 smoking surface beyond. 
 
 The fire swept on around the bayou, but mean- 
 while Emmet's small blaze sprang up and stretched 
 away, gathering force and speed as it swept a wider 
 space. 
 
 Comet took things quietly after his swim, which had 
 cooled his skin, and his dripping coat of hair served to 
 protect him from the violent heat which reigned for a 
 moment. 
 
 " Fall," said Emmet, when the coast was clear, " Fall, 
 little poys, ve kin ko to you' house now." 
 
 Walker's house was only a mile distant, but they 
 reached it long after the fire had passed, and found 
 that Mrs. Walker had been nearly wdld about her boys 
 until she saw them coming. 
 
 " I might have known you'd save 'em," she said to 
 Emmet, while grateful tears ran down her face, as she 
 listened to the story of their escape. Their cattle had 
 taken fright and come home about an hour before.
 
 XI. 
 
 CAUGHT IN A BLIZZARD. 
 
 The tremendous hurricane of snow and wind which 
 swept over our great, level Northwest in January, 
 1888, was accompanied by incidents tragic, thrilling 
 and heroic, that will no doubt become a part of the 
 history of the vast region over which the storm 
 swept. 
 
 In northwestern Iowa the blizzard descended with 
 a suddenness and fury which made the early settlers 
 shudder as they thought of the barren, unprotected 
 prairies of fifteen or twenty years before. " If 'twasn- 1 
 for our maple and Cottonwood groves and big fields of 
 cornstalks," said they, " wouldn't we ketch it ?" 
 
 Happily, we had these protections, and suffered 
 neither loss of life nor great inconvenience, though we 
 complained more or less because our daily mails were 
 cat off and our freights delayed even for a short 
 period. But really our most important grievance when 
 we are visited by these occasional fierce storms in 
 winter is the stoppage of hay hauling, pressing and 
 sliipping, which is our chief industry at that season. 
 
 It was in connection with hay hauling in one of our 
 marshy, unsettled townships that there occurred an 
 incident of extreme peril, of fortitude and intelligent 
 exercise of the faculties amid great danger, which, at 
 the time it came to light, was almost lost sight of in 
 our interest in the widespread calamities which fell 
 upon our unprepared neighbors on the more newly 
 settled prairies of the North and West. 
 
 115
 
 116 FKONTIEU SKETCHES. 
 
 The little railway station of Dupont, in one of tho 
 thinly settled districts, was built entirely in the inter- 
 ests of the hay -pressing business, for which the unin- 
 habited flats of Lowland and Gull Lake townships 
 furnish thousands of tons of grass. 
 
 The land in these townships is mostly owned by 
 Eastern speculators, who obtained it cheaply under the 
 first Entry Laws and the Swamp Land Act. Although 
 much of it is excellent farm land, these owners have 
 held the price so high as to keep off the actual settlers 
 entirely. This they have been able to do by renting 
 the lands for pasturage and haymaking, and getting 
 enough out of the rent to pay the taxes, and even in 
 some cases a fair interest on the first investment, which 
 was extremely small. 
 
 Over this tract, a dozen miles in extent, as far back 
 from the railway as hay can be hauled with profit, are 
 scattered every summer the camps of the ha^'makers, 
 and the low ricks or " stacks " grow and accumulate 
 until they dot the prairie so thickly as to become for 
 the time the distinguishing feature of the landscape. 
 
 There are at the station large hay barns, containing 
 steam presses, to which, from September until April, 
 the hay is hauled, stowed and baled, ready for ship- 
 ment. 
 
 Among those who were hauling hay at the time of 
 the great storm were Dick Jordan and his small 
 brother Orr — named after an Iowa statesman — a little 
 fellow, too young to attend school regularly, who went 
 along on pleasant days to tramp down the hay in the 
 frame of the big rack. 
 
 It had been pleasant enough for Orr to go on every 
 trip that week up to the night of the blizzard, and the
 
 FRONTIER SKETCHES. lit 
 
 day was so warm and fine that Dick's sisters, Jeanie 
 and Carrie, younger than himself but older than Orr, 
 obtained the permission of their teacher to go home at 
 recess, in order that they might go with their brothers 
 for a ride to the hay -field. Their mother had promised 
 that they should go upon the first warm day after 
 sleighing came. 
 
 They arrived at. the house just as Dick and Orr 
 drove up for a lunch, before going after their last load 
 for the day, and, as it would be dark before they could 
 get back, the girls, too, got each a slice of bread and 
 cold meat to munch on the road. 
 
 Dick spread two heavy horse-blankets, which were 
 always carried in winter to throw over his horses when 
 standing, upon one of the bottom boards of the rack, 
 and seated Jeanie and Carrie upon them. Then, little 
 dreaming what was before them, the brothers and sis- 
 ters drove swiftly out upon a new sleigh road, which 
 led them for several miles over a prairie almost as level 
 as a barn floor. 
 
 The haystacks were reached, and while the boys 
 worked at their loading, the little girls raced about, 
 tumbled in the hay, or rolled snowballs as they pleased. 
 
 The load of hay was taken from the bottom of a 
 stack around which the snow had drifted, thawed and 
 frozen until much of the outside hay had to be cut 
 loose with an axe or freed with a shovel, both of which 
 implements Dick carried for that purpose. It took 
 much longer than usual to load upon this occasion, and 
 evening was already drawing on when finally the little 
 girls were helped upon the load and the team was 
 turned toward home. 
 
 It had been mild and thawing all day, so mild,
 
 118 FRONTIER SKETCHES. ' 
 
 indeed, that Dick had feared that this would be their 
 last trip with a sleigh until snow should come again ; 
 but as he climbed upon the load to start for home, he 
 noticed that a heavy gray bank had formed across the 
 western sky, and that it seemed to be growing thick 
 overhead. The air had suddenly become rather chilly. 
 
 He told his brother and sisters that it would snow 
 before they got home, and that they bad better " cuddle 
 down" in the hay and throw the horse-blankets over 
 their laps. He drove forward for a few minutes, urging 
 the horses to a half-trot, and uneasily glancing toward 
 the dense gray bank, which rapidly overcast the west 
 and north, and threw a gloom and cold in advance, as 
 it approached. 
 
 The darkness came on rapidly, and soon the roar of 
 a high wind broke upon Dick's ears. 
 
 " It's a blizzard! "he thought, with alarm, for he had 
 been bred upon the JSTorthwest Prairies, and knew the 
 danger of being caught out upon that mowed flat, so 
 far from any houses, for the nearest dwelling was that 
 of a farmer across Gull Lake, two miles and a half to 
 the southeast. 
 
 He had not much time to think or to exercise his 
 fears before the great storm was upon them. 
 
 It was nothing less than a hurricane from the begin- 
 ning, and at the first fierce gust the big unwieldly rack 
 careened with its load so that the little girls screamed 
 with fright, and the horses stopped and stood turning 
 their heads away from the pelting sleet which drove 
 down at the first burst of the storm. 
 
 The air was filled instantly with the driving ice. 
 
 Dick shouted at the animals and slapped at them 
 with the lines, but they could not be induced to turn
 
 FRONTIER SKETCHES. 119 
 
 their heads against the storm. They stood as if para- 
 lyzed by the fierce blast of wind and sleet. Another 
 and more furious sweep of the hurricane came almost 
 immediately, and this time the rack was lifted com- 
 pletely off the sled and overturned with hay and riders. 
 
 Fortunately, there was a considerable drift of snow 
 beside the road, and neither Dick nor the younger 
 children were hurt by the fall. They had all, with a 
 common impulse, jumped from the top of the load as 
 it careened over, and so fell, or rather tumbled, outside 
 the sweep of the rack. 
 
 As they scrambled to their feet the stiff wind was so 
 filled with hay and snow that they could scarcely dis- 
 tinguish each other. The rack turned bottom side up, 
 and, as it was built in the shape of a " figure four " 
 quail trap, held most of the hay securely beneath its 
 frame. 
 
 Dick still held to one of the lines, and the horses 
 stood shivering with fear and cold, for the temperature 
 had suddenly dropped far below the freezing point. 
 
 " Get behind the rack out of the wind! " he screamed 
 to the younger ones, who were clinging to each other 
 in the endeavor to stand up before the raging wind. 
 They obeyed him, and, hugging close against the frame- 
 work, found themselves protected from the cutting 
 blast, but snow and sleet whirled over the top and 
 about the ends in blinding scurries. 
 
 Dick knew instinctively that to attempt to get those 
 children on the bare sled and to drive them to a place 
 of safety only meant certain death to them all. In the 
 first place, it would require all their strength to cling 
 on. Moreover, they could not endure a half-hour even 
 of such exposure to the storm. "With darkness coming
 
 120 FKONTIEK SKETCHES. 
 
 on find the air filled with driving snow, there was the 
 barest possibility of his being able to find a house — it 
 could only be found by running against it or into a 
 yard — even if he should be able to drive and keep the 
 children alive all night. 
 
 His plans were quickly made, and a man twice his 
 age could not have made them with greater good sense, 
 or have shown a braver spirit in their execution. 
 
 He stripped the harness from his horses and turned 
 them loose. Then, without waiting even to see which 
 direction the animals took, he ran to his brothers and 
 sisters. 
 
 Although it had been so warm when they started 
 from home, their mother had insisted that Jeanie and 
 Cari'ie should dress warmly, and take cloaks and com- 
 forters with them. These they had put on before the 
 storm came, and Dick, after digging in the hay for a 
 few minutes between the boards of the rack, discov- 
 ered the horse-blankets upon which the children had 
 fortunately been siCting when the load overturned. 
 
 "While digging for them he had prepared a " nest," 
 as he termed it, for the three small ones, and he now 
 ordered them to get in there while he tucked the 
 blankets around them. Frightened and hushed by the 
 terrific storm, they obeyed without a murmur, and the 
 brave young fellow told them that they must " cuddle 
 close together and never peep outside " till they heard 
 him call them. 
 
 He said that he would go and bring them something 
 to eat as soon as he could get back from Mr. Walde- 
 man's across Gull Lake, and then after the blizzard 
 was over they would all go home. 
 
 He knew the snow would drift over them in a very
 
 FRONTIER SKETCHES. 121 
 
 few minutes, and believed that if they kept quiet their 
 breath would warm the "nest" and no doubt keep 
 them alive for many hours. But he knew also that 
 such blizzards have been known to last with unabated 
 fury for two or three days, and that there was little 
 likelihood of their being able to outlast such a storm. 
 Therefore, his only hope was to reach help if possible, 
 and get it to them the moment it should be possible to 
 breast the blizzard. 
 
 Gull Lake lay over a mile distant, directly to the 
 southeast. It was one mile and a half across it, and on 
 the other side lay Waldeman's ranch, a large group of 
 buildings, dwelling, barns and shedding for stock, 
 enclosed by a large yard which stretched along the lake 
 shore for forty rods or more. 
 
 Dick hoped that he might be able to reach this ranch 
 and to find it. 
 
 Buttoning his overcoat tightly about him and pullino- 
 a " ITorwegian cap " which he wore tightly down over 
 his ears, he set out, going directly with the storm, 
 which came from the northwest. 
 
 He started at a stiff run. The wind nearly lifted 
 him off his feet at every step, and cut the backs of his 
 legs and the sides of his cheeks icily. 
 
 He soon found it impossible to tell whether he was 
 going directly with the wind or not, as it blew in 
 changeful gusts and whirled violently about him. But 
 there was a mile of lake shore in front, and he reached 
 it at length and found himself upon the ice. 
 
 It had now grown dark, and amidst the pitchy 
 blackness of night and the thick drift of snow he could 
 no longer make use of his eyes. In fact, he was 
 obliged to shut them and allow himself to be carried
 
 122 FRONTIER SKKTCHES. 
 
 over the ice by the wind. A part of the time he was 
 able to keep his feet, but often he was thrown forward 
 and actually blown over the rough ice for rods. The 
 skirt of his overcoat occasionally blew over his head, 
 and the bitter wind pierced every part of his body. 
 
 It was a rough and terrible experience getting across 
 the lake, and he was glad he had not attempted to take 
 his brother and sisters with him. 
 
 When lie at length reached the southern bank, he 
 was so chilled and exhausted that he could scarcely 
 keep his feet at all. The bank was high at the point 
 wliere he reached it, and he knew it could not be 
 opposite the ranch fence, as the high bank was west of 
 that. So he turned, and alternately walked and 
 crawled eastward, guided in that direction by the wind. 
 
 For a long time he forced his way along the edge of 
 the ice, which was swept bare, guided by the sense of 
 feeling and the direction of the wind, but at length he 
 stumbled agamst something and joyfully discovered it 
 to be a fence. 
 
 As it afterward proved, it was an extension of the 
 cattle-yard, a corner of which was built down into the 
 edge of the lake to afford water for the stock, and had 
 he missed it by even a few feet he would undoubtedly 
 have perished. 
 
 The discovery of it gave him new life at once and 
 aroused all his faculties. He climbed over the fence so 
 as to get inside the yard, and then, by feeling, followed 
 it until he came to a connection with the cattle-sheds. 
 
 Once in the shelter of these, he whipped his numbed 
 arms and stamped his chilled feet until circulation was 
 partly restored, then felt his way along to the barn, and 
 at length managed to reach the ranch dwelling, guided
 
 FRONTIER SKETCHES 123 
 
 by the glimmer of a light which he could see through 
 the storm. 
 
 He was welcomed and warmed and fed, and promised 
 that by every possible effort that could be made the 
 men should help him to rescue his brother and sisters 
 when daylight came. 
 
 Dick found that he had escaped with only a slight 
 frosting of his face and fingers, but his anguish on 
 account of the little ones he had left buried in the hay 
 was intense. He did not sleep at all, but walked the 
 floor of the ranch kitchen, where he was allowed to 
 keep a roaring fire all night. Every few moments he 
 would go to the windows, scratch the frost, and 
 endeavor to peer out into the storm. 
 
 He could gather no encouragement until daylight, 
 when he discovered that the snow was no longer fall- 
 ing, and that the sky would soon be clear. 
 
 He roused the ranch hands at once, as two of them 
 had agreed to go with him. 
 
 In a short time the men were up. Some hot coffee 
 was drunk, a jug of it was filled from the pot, and a 
 sharp-shod team was harnessed. The horses were 
 blindfolded, their heads wrapped in blankets to protect 
 them from the blinding drift, which was still driving 
 hard from the northwest. 
 
 This team was hitched to a double sleigh filled with 
 robes and wraps. Then, muffling themselves in the 
 bottom of the box, the party set out across the lake in 
 the very teeth of the wind. 
 
 The horses were old and steady, and, after some 
 snorting and tossing of the heads, as a protest against 
 the novelty of complete " blinds," took a steady hard 
 trot over the corrugated ice.
 
 124 FKONTIER SKETCHES. 
 
 On reaching the farther shore of the lake and 
 ascending to the prairie, Dick, with his head completely 
 muffled to the eyes, took a standing position and, 
 bracing himself, directed the movements of the driver. 
 The short distance of a mile and the steady direction 
 of the wind enabled him to hit the hay-road at a point 
 so close to the overturned rack that he caught sight of 
 the top of it as they were passing some rods distant. 
 
 A moment later they had halted and tied the team, 
 and Dick had pointed out the spot where his compan- 
 ions were to dig. Then, utterly overcome, he threw 
 himself upon the drift and buried his face in his arms. 
 Ilis grief and suspense at that moment were almost 
 beyond endurance lie had no idea that the cliildren 
 could have survived such a fearful night. But five 
 minutes of silent digging occupied his companions, and 
 at the end of that time both of them gave a trium- 
 phant shout. 
 
 They had uncovered the nest and a cloud of steam 
 rose up from tlie blankets. Dick was on his feet 
 instantly. A moment later the three young Jordans 
 were dragged forth, alive, but stupid with cold and a 
 drowsiness which would not have left them alive many 
 hours longer. Yet they had escaped any serious frost- 
 bite, and a dexterous rubbing, shaking and jouncing 
 restored their circulation and their senses. They were 
 bundled into the sleigh amid robes and comforters, and, 
 despite the severity of the weather and the drifting 
 snow, were taken immediately toward home, where 
 their welcome must be imagined 
 
 One of Dick's horses perished in the storm, but the 
 other turned up alive and well the next day at a far- 
 mer's stables twelve miles south of Gull Lake.
 
 XII 
 
 A FORTUNATE CYCLONE. 
 
 " Ben down to 'Squire Brennan's, Mose ? " 
 
 The speaker was a sturdy farmer, who stood mop- 
 ping the moisture from his brow just outside the lane 
 fence which divided his snug farm from that of his 
 nearest neighbor. 
 
 Moses Bently drew the reins tightly across the neck 
 of his dripping horse, and with a sharp " "Whoa ! " 
 flung himself out of the saddle. 
 
 "Yes," said he; "I've ben thar;" and pulling a 
 huge bandanna from his pocket, he took off his hat 
 and followed the example of his neighbor across the 
 fence. 
 
 " Jones," exclaimed he, with vehemence, " but ain't 
 this a scorcher ? Never seed sech hot weather in the 
 last of August, Cuttin' up corn, air ye ? Bless me, 
 man ! you'll drop fust ye know, an' hev to be laid in 
 the shade." 
 
 "Not's long's I can keep up a sweat," replied Jones, 
 coming forward from the corn shocks and leaning 
 upon the fence. " But say, Mose, what's that rumpus 
 'bout over in your neighborhood ? "What's the row 
 'tween Blake an' Miller, anyhow ? I hear they've ben 
 down to Brennan's lawin' it to-day." 
 
 "Yaas," returned Moses, " they've ben tliar lawin' 
 it, an' they^re likely to keep on lawin' to the end o' 
 ther days. But mercy, Jones ! I can't stand in this 
 hot sun tellin' ye 'bout it." 
 
 " Come under the shadder o' this plum-tree here," 
 
 126
 
 126 FRONTIKK SKETCHES. 
 
 walking toward a large branching plum which stood, 
 loaded with fruit, just iiisido the fence. " Here's a 
 good place to set down an' cool yerself off," he added, 
 as Mose finished tying his animal and climbed over the 
 fence. 
 
 " Yaas," said Moses, again, as he seated himself beside 
 Jones at the foot of the tree, lifted his broad-brimmed 
 straw hat and drew one hickory shirt sleeve across his 
 beady forehead. " Yaas, they'll law it now s' long's 
 they live, an' in the end all they'll have'll go to pay up 
 costs. I left their lawyers argyin' 'fore Squire Bren- 
 nan, an' a picked jury that didn't know nothin' 'bout 
 the case, nor nothin' 'bout anything else if I'm any 
 judge ; jest like most o' the men that gets on juries, 
 though ; lot o' loafers, reg'lar nuisances, that's just got 
 pride 'nougli t' keep 'em out o' the poorhouse. 
 
 " Squire Brennan did his best, jest as he al'ays does, 
 to get 'em to settle ; but bless ye ! 'twa'n't any use. 
 They're madder 'n hornets, both of 'era. I went down 
 as a witness, but what I knew didn't amount to 
 nothin' 'n' I jest got disgusted with their wranglin', 
 an' when they was done with me I come away an," — 
 
 " But what's it all about ? " broke in Jones. "Air 
 the}^ fightin' 'bout that new survey ? " 
 
 " Waal, yaas, that's at the bottom of it, but they 
 wouldn't had no trouble 'bout that, 1 guess, if 't hadn't 
 been for them harvest-apple trees on Blake's line, that 
 he set out when he first moved onto the place. There's 
 only five or six of em, and they don't bear a great 
 sight of apples, either ; but they're good, what there is 
 of 'em, an' dead ripe now. You see, Blake sot 'em out 
 right on his south line, or jest as near as he could, an' 
 not have 'em grow so's to spread acrost. Wall, the
 
 FRONTIER SKETCHES. 127 
 
 Gov'ment surveyors was jest as drunk when they run 
 the lines over Section Twelve as they was when they 
 laid out the rest o' this township, an' so this new sur- 
 vey sets them, apple-trees jest inside Miller's north 
 line. 
 
 " There ain't any question, of • course," continued 
 Moses, " not the least sprinklin' o' doubt that Miller's 
 got a legal right to them apple-trees, ef the last survey 
 is c'rect, an' he's mean enough — which it seems he is — 
 to claim 'em. But it seems that Blake hadn't no idea 
 that Miller would lay any claim to the apples, or that 
 he re'ly intended to have the line-fence sot over, bein' 
 as 'twas only a matter of two feet or so, an' 'specially 
 so long's there was a chance to dispute the last lay-out 
 an' set up the old Gov'ment one agin. 
 
 "The new survey, ye know, was made last June, an' 
 the change o' lines 'tween Blake an' Miller was so 
 leetle that Blake never thought o' speakin' of it, only 
 jest in a jokin' way. Ye see, the west line o' Section 
 Twelve was changed much as three rods ; but as the 
 odds was all in favor of both of 'em, an' had to come 
 out o' the public road, which hadn't ben used but four 
 years, they both felt toler'ble good over it. 
 
 " But as I was sayin', Blake hadn't no idea that 
 Miller'd make trouble about the middle line, as there 
 was a good solid fence that they'd both built atween 
 'em ; but when his apples got ripe, he went down one 
 day an' begun pickiu' some off'm the earliest tree. 
 An' while he was a-pickin' of 'em, here comes one o' 
 Miller's boys, with a bag slung over his arm, an' climbs 
 over the fence. 
 
 " ' 'Mornin', Joe ! ' says Blake, unsuspectin' as could 
 be. ' Got through harvestin' ? '
 
 128 FRONTIER SKETCIIKS. 
 
 " ' Yes,' says Joe. ' Thought we 'd better git some 
 o' these apples, now they're gittin' ripe. Pop says they 
 belong to him now, but you can have half of 'em this 
 year, bein' as you put out the trees ; or he'll pay ye for 
 your trouble in settin' 'em out.' 
 
 " 'He will, hay?' snaps Blake, settinMown his pail 
 an' starin' at young Joe sarcastical like. ' Your dad's 
 a mighty generous fellow, aint he, now? He'll give 
 me half the apples ! Give 'em to me, will he ? "Waal, 
 I guess he will, for I sh'll take 'em, the whole of 'em, 
 not only this year, but ev'ry year, and don't ye forget 
 that now, sonny ! ' 
 
 "At that, Joe, he kinder bridled up a leetle. *■ I guess 
 my father's got a right in the Ian',' says he. 'An' he 
 told me to pick some o' these apples, an' I'm goin' to 
 take some of 'em home now,' and eyin' Blake kind o' 
 cautious-like, he reached up for a big yaller one that 
 hung a-tempting his jaws just above his head. 
 
 " ' Don't you touch that ! ' yells Blake, starting for 
 him in a way that made the boy dodge from under the 
 tree an' scramble for dear life over the fence. 
 
 " Waal, of course Miller was madder 'n a hornet, an' 
 so, with his new survey back of him, he goes down to 
 Squire Brennan's and sues Blake for trespass, an' sence 
 that time each one of 'em's had one o' their boys 
 watchin' them apples, day an' night, to see 't other'n 
 didn't steal 'em. They mount guard out there like a 
 couple o' roosters, one on one side the fence an' the 
 other on t'other. One of 'em's afraid to touch the 
 apples, an' the other dasn't." 
 
 " What'll be the outcome, think?'* asked Jones, as 
 Moses paused in his narrative, and again made use of 
 the huge bandanna.
 
 FKONTIER SKETCHES. 129 
 
 " The outcome ? Bless you, man, there won't be no 
 outcome to it. Squire Bremian can't decide the case, 
 an' if he did, 'twouldn't amount to nothin', an' no 
 decidiu' ever will so long's there's a higher court to 
 carry the tiling through, an' then they'll take a fresh 
 start an' go through agin. This is a case, ye see, for 
 trespass, but how're they goin' to make trespass out of 
 it till they can prove who the land belongs to ? " 
 
 " I see," said Jones ; " goin' to be a nice wrangle, 
 ain't it?" 
 
 " I s'li'd say so," muttered Moses. " But, Jones," 
 he added, getting upon his feet, "I must be goin'. 
 Do you see that black cloud off in the southwest? 
 Shouldn't wonder if we'd git another reg'lar old twister 
 when that comes up, an it's a-coinin', too." 
 
 " Thought I heard it thunderin' an' kind o' rumblin 
 somewhar a bit ago,'" said Jones, rising. '* I'm 'fraid 
 you're right, Mose, and I don't know but it is a good 
 plan for a feller to be gettin' around close't to his 
 suller." 
 
 " Taas," returned Moses. " My wife and the young 
 ones have jest about half-lived in my dug-out this sum- 
 mer. Every time they see a cloud, they skedaddle for 
 * the house of refuge,' as Sarah calls it." 
 
 " Beats all how many o' them tornadoes goes ragin' 
 over this country lately," said Jones; "'pears like a 
 man ainb safe nowheres," and bidding each other good- 
 day, the two men separated. 
 
 " Twister," as a word in Western parlance, has 
 attained an entirely new signification within the last 
 two years, especially throughout the now famous storm.
 
 130 FRONTIER SKETCHES. 
 
 belt extending from central Kansas in a northwesterly 
 direction beyond the southern boundary of Minnesota. 
 
 The prevalence of those terrible storms known as 
 tornadoes, cyclones, and throughout this region as 
 " twisters," has become so alarming of late that in 
 some of tlie counties of Iowa tlie citizens take refuge 
 in their cellars during the summer season at the appear- 
 ance of every dark and threatening cloud. 
 
 In this region a large proportion of the farmers and 
 many of the townspeople dig out-of-door cellars, or 
 "under-ground houses," in which to shelter themselves 
 from the violence of these atmospheric disturbances. 
 
 On nearing one of their dwellings, one notices, but a 
 few yards to one side, a heaped-up mound of earth, 
 with an opening in one end disclosing the frame-work 
 and top of a heavy door, the bottom of which is 
 reached by a flight of steps cut into the earth in front. 
 The whole is constructed much after the pattern of the 
 summer milk-house of more Eastern farmers, and 
 indeed, most of the dug-outs are used for that purpose 
 also. 
 
 The genuine tornado, or " twister," — the one which 
 tears up everything in its track, — is generally preceded 
 by a short time of hot, ''muggy" weather, and at 
 such times, when the feather-edged, dark-centred 
 nimbus floats lazily a mile or two above the farmer's 
 head, small spiral-shaped projections are often seen 
 suddenly darting downward from their centres, curl- 
 ing, twisting, steadily shooting ahead, sometimes 
 almost reaching the earth. Then, Avith a peculiar, 
 writhing motion, these snake-like columns of vapor 
 break up into little sections, or separate puflfs, and 
 disappear as quickly as they were formed.
 
 FRONTIER SKETCHES. 131 
 
 Sometimes a dozen or more may be seen at a single 
 glance. On such days it is necessary to be on the look- 
 out, and if the cloud above one of those darkcolunms 
 grows suddenly black and emits flashes of lightning, 
 followed by the rumble of thunder, the " dug-out " is 
 the only safe retreat. 
 
 About three o'clock on the particular afternoon and 
 near the locality of which we write, the thermometer 
 at various places indicated 98*^ Fahrenheit in the 
 shade, and away towards the horizon in the south and 
 west could be seen piled-up masses of silver-tinted 
 thunder-clouds, their lowering bases sinKing almost 
 out of sight behind the distant woods and fields. 
 
 " My ! what whoppin' old thunder-heads ! "' thought 
 Billings Blake, as he sat sweltering beneath the shade 
 of one of the disputed apple-trees ; " guess Clem 
 Miller 11 get sick of his bargain sittin' over there on 
 the south side of the fence. He dasn't come over here, 
 though," he soliloquized, '' 'cause he knows I c'n lick 
 'im the best day he ever saw, an' he knows I will, too, 
 if he comes." 
 
 Clem did have a pretty hard place, to be sure ; for, 
 to tell the truth, he was afraid of young Blake, and 
 so, as there were no trees on his side, he was obliged 
 to content himself with the small shelter afforded by 
 the green corn-stalks which grew beside the fence. 
 
 " I wish pa'd never made any row 'bout these misera- 
 ble old apple-trees," he grumbled, as he held his broad- 
 brimmed hat high over his head in order to shelter 
 himself from the scorching rays which would find their 
 way down through the corn leaves ; " I don't want to 
 be melted into taller a-watching them old apples that'll
 
 132 FRONTIER SKETCHES. 
 
 rot in two days after they're picked. I don't like the 
 looks of them clouds," he added, a moment later. 
 
 " Haloo, Clem ! " 
 
 Could he believe his ears ? Yes, it was surely young 
 Billings Blake calling him. 
 
 " Want's me to come over there, and then lick me," 
 growled Clem. 
 
 " I say, Clem," bawled young Blake again. " Clem, 
 jest get up an' look over the hill yender. I believe 
 there's a twister a-comin'." 
 
 Clem got up and looked. 
 
 '"Tis sure enough, Bill," he answered. "Do ye 
 reckon it will come this way sure ? " 
 
 "Dun no," said Billings. "I say, Clem, come over 
 here an' let's watch the thing! " 
 
 It is curious how a common danger transforms the 
 bitterest enemies into the best of friends. Clem got 
 over the fence without the slightest hesitation, and in 
 a moment the two boys, who just before would not 
 have deigned to speak to each other, stood together, 
 gazing in common fear and wonder upon a scene that 
 once witnessed is never forgotten. 
 
 Away to the southwest, several of those silvery- 
 edged, harmless-looking clouds had grown together, 
 and were rapidly approaching. Their sun-tinted col- 
 umns had suddenly changed color, and, black and 
 angry, they were tumbling together in ugly broken 
 masses, while forks of jagged lightning darted across 
 their lowering sides, and the distant growl of thunder 
 could be distinctly heard. 
 
 The wind sprang up, and began to stir the leaves of 
 the apple-trees, and to rustle the broad blades of corn, 
 while black masses of vapor swept hurriedly across the
 
 t^KONTIER SKETCHES. l33 
 
 sky, obscuring the sun, and hurling themselves into the 
 very midst of the huge pile, thus constantly swelling 
 its already enormous proportions. 
 
 " Mercy ! " said Clem, catching at his hat as a fresh 
 gust of wind swept past. " Mercy ! Bill, the wind's a- 
 blowin' from ev'ry direction, an' jest look at them 
 clouds ; they're a-comin' from every way, an' goin' every 
 where. Don't ye think we'd better git for shelter ? " 
 
 "Where sh'll we go, Clem, to better ourselves?" 
 asked his companion. " Ye can't tell where she'll strike 
 the hardest, and fer one, I'd rather bo in the open 
 field than in the woods when there's a hurricane comin'. 
 But jest look at 'er." 
 
 Even as he spoke, the roar of the approaching hurri- 
 cane drowned his voice, and a round black column, 
 darting down from the center of the hurrying mass, 
 struck the timber across the hill with a roar and a crash 
 that was fairly deafening. 
 
 " Eun, Clem ! Git for the field ! " yelled Bill ; and 
 the frightened boys scurried away toward the north, 
 and the fifty yards' run which they were then able to 
 make probably saved their lives. 
 
 On came the twisting, writhing storm, tearing the 
 earth, trees, grain and fences in its track, and filling 
 the air with a hideous din. Swiftly as the boys ran, 
 they were not fleet-footed enough to escape the effect 
 of the fearful side wind which accompanied the whirl- 
 ing cloud. 
 
 Clem felt his legs suddenly wrenched from under him, 
 and in a trice found himself turning the most astonish- 
 ing summersaults he had ever dreamed of. His hat 
 and shirt were literally torn away from him, and a 
 moment later, scratched, bruised, and lacerated by
 
 134 FRONTIER SKETCHES. 
 
 the corn stubs over which he had been tumbled, he 
 found himself lying on his back in a deep, dead furrow, 
 with six inches of muddy water slushing around him. 
 
 Bill had fared but little better, as, spattered with 
 mud and bleeding from half-a-dozen bruises, he picked 
 himself up from between two corn rows, where he had 
 been carried bodily. 
 
 '• We are in a bad fix, sure," said Bill, " But jest 
 look down yonder in the track of 'er, will ye ? There's 
 a strip forty rods wide where there aintathing standin', 
 an' the ground's all ploughed ready for winter wheat. 
 Yes, an' — an' — an' — can I believe my eyes — tlie apple 
 trees are goneP'' 
 
 " If they haint ! " answered Clem. " Hurrah, Bill ! 
 your dad an' mine'll quit their quarrellin' now, won't 
 they, an' we'll all be friends an hunt ducks together 
 like we used to ? "
 
 l5 
 
 LIBP