The Permian of Texas 215 



toward the northern barrier and toward the 

 south. 



There was plenty of fallen wood lying about, and 

 I devoted every moment and all my strength to cut- 

 ting it up and dragging it to the tent. I must have 

 got several cords together before I heard the wind 

 howling in the heavy timber to the north. I piled 

 up this supply of fuel at the opening toward the 

 green brier thicket, and built a big fire at the mouth 

 of the tent. 



Soon an awful storm was upon me, all alone, thirty 

 miles from any human habitation. How the wind 

 moaned through the creaking branches! A dense 

 darkness spread like a pall over the heavens, and 

 the shrieks and wails of the tempest echoed through 

 the woods like the cries of lost souls. Then snow 

 and sleet began to fall in fitful gusts, and beat upon 

 the thin canvas that was my only shelter. At such a 

 time a man loses much of his confidence in himself. 

 Pretty small I felt myself when measured with that 

 storm, which bent the great cottonwoods and elms 

 like reeds before it. 



After supper, tired out with my unwonted exer- 

 tions, I fell asleep. Whenever the fire sank down 

 and the cold became severe, I roused myself and 

 piled fresh fuel on the dying embers, and when they 

 blazed up again, dropped off once more. Three 

 days and three nights that norther lasted. I under- 



