" THAT NIGHT WAS AWFUL DISMAL." 371 



through the head, and sat thar noddin', and not 

 knowin' no one. I spoke to him once, and he kinder 

 started back, as if he see the Injun which shot him, 

 still thar. He wur a good surgeon, and all the boys 

 liked him. I hev got his gun down at my tent, all 

 full o' sand, whar it got tramped arter he fell. * 



" Culver lay dead on one side of our little island, 

 shot by an Injun that crawled up in the grass. Lots 

 o' others was wounded, and our chances looked as 

 dark as ther night which wur coming down on us. 

 But we was glad ter see daylight burn out, as it kin- 

 der gin us a chance to rest and think. 



" That night was awful dismal. The little spot o' 

 sand, down thar in the river's bed, seemed ther only 

 piece o' earth friendly to us, and we were clingin' to 

 it like sailors ter a raft at sea. The darkness all 

 around was a gapin' ter swaller us, and a hidin' its 

 blood-hounds, to set 'em on with ther sun. Night, 

 without any thin' in it more 'n grave-stones, is terri- 

 fyin' to most people, but just you fill it full of pan- 

 tin's for blood in front, and Death sittin' behind, 

 among the corpses, and watchin' the wounded, and a 

 feller's blood falls right down to January. It kinder 

 thickens, like water freezin' round the edges, and 

 your hands and feet get powerful cold, and you feel 

 as if you would n't ever be thawed out, this side of 

 the very place you don't want ter go to. 



" Toward midnight, Stillwell and Trudell crawled 

 out o' camp, to go for relief. They were to creep 

 and sneak through the Injun lines, and get beyond 



*I obtained the weapon that I had loaned our friend, and have 

 carefully kept it since, as a memento. 



