Yellowstone Jack: Trappers of the Enchanted Ground — page 4: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

2 some two miles in length; the arms a {hind dull leaden clouds, Far away, just trifle longer. The lower branch, or the one tending to the north-west, was the one along which the emigrants had wouncl. An hour previously, the day had been all that 1s expected of latter June; clear, warm, and inspiriting. But there came a sudden change. The sky darkened, the _ sunshine assumed a blood-red tinge, the air suddenly died away to almost suffocat- ing stillness. Men and cattle felt op- ressed. They breathed with difficulty. heir skins were dry and parched. The searing atmosphere prevented perspira- tion. .iInstead of being among the moun- tains, where their yearning gaze could eveh iben rest upon masses of cooling snow, they seemed to be‘ in:tie midst ofa cesert, beneath the -sintoon’s’ withering breath... .-- Ney aes Bob Harris, an old=4rapper who had been picked up by the way, wounded, ‘al- most starving, though he had managed to escape with his scalp from the Blackfeet who had robbed him of animals, traps, and. eltries, told John Warren that he be- lieved a storm—the terrible pouderee*— was brewing. The guids, Chris Camp, scoffed at this idea. A snowstorm in sum- mer—bah ! . “ Nobody but a fool—or wuss—’d want us to camp hyar, whar the reds, ef so be they're nigh to han’, ked bag us easy ’s fall- in’ off a log. They ked crawl up ’ithin forty foot o’ us, unseen—an’ squash us like tum'le-bugs under a waggon-wheel by roll- in’ rocks down on us from up thar. You say youre a frind, old man—you talk like one o’ them cussed white Injuns |” Warren checked the quarrel that threat- ened to end in bloodshed, by swearing hs would shoot the man who first struck a blow, and then the train slowly moved on. It was but natural that Camp should be believed before Harris, stnce he had been with the train from Council bluffs, while the other was a stranger. But as the party entered the main por- tion of the pass, the sky grew more and more threatening. The oppressive heat subsided. Instead, came an icy-cold cur- rent that chilled man and beast to the tone. The fitful gusts increased in power and frequency, strilang the emigrants fairly m the face, almost carrying them fromr their feet. ‘The sun was hidden be- *I spell this as it is pronounced; whether correctly or not, [do not know. ° - Ry YELLOWSTONE JACK, , eh Oe chapter. | A above the western horizon, could be seen — a black cloud, rapidly increasing in size, — Still Camp declared that they could reach the mouth of the pass in time. Uponthe ~ open ground, even if they had not time to — reach secure shelter, they would bo safer than in the narrow canyon where the hur- © ricane would be doubled in its force by the high walls. >, et See The cloud advanced with frightful rapidity. Then came a dull, rumbling © noise that resembled the thunders.of a. distant cataract, ever and anon breaking into: prolonged echoes like the roll of thun- der. The whirling gusts of wind blended — into one steady blast, cold as the breath © of an iceberg, seeming to pierce the very — marrow—to cut the sensitive flesh like a keen knife. Footmen were prostrated; horses and mules staggered back; the! © canvas tilts of the waggons were torn into shreds. . 5 eae eet ik Pas oh Then came an abrupt lull. This blast — was but the avant courier of the hurricane —ofthe pouderee. And in this interval © were spoken the words that head this The mouth of the pass was now im fi e: view, scarce a quarter of a milo distant. — Through it could be distinguished the — abrupt spur of another mountain ridge, rising almost perpendicularly from tho level. Under lee of this cliff the emigrants _ would be comparatively well sheltered — from the storm, a The first force of the pouderee struck the — projecting mass of verdure-clad rock. The — deep, sullen warning of the hurricane © abruptly changed its note—instead there now came the sharp, electricreverberations ~ of a prolanged roll of musketry, The stif, — stubborn trees upon the mountain side ~ were lashed furiously to and fro, then either broken short off or else torn up by — the roots and carried far from their birth- — place upon the mighty breath of the | storm demon, and strewn thickly over the plain. Huge boulders were wrested from: — their repose and sent thundering dona the sloping mountain side and hurled ~ bodily over the precipice, Clouds of dust, — leaves and broken branches filled the air,’ as though seeking to hide this dread de- solation from the eyes of man. | Then the cloud deepened—the moun-— tain spur faded from view—the veil wags | no. longer of dust. Jt was of snow, of © sleet, and ragged hailstones, . Eomicboo ; 6 ' . s cS . |S