CHAPTER XII 



A BLIND GUIDE 



IN THIS story Mr. Enos A. Mills, himself one of 

 the most skilful and daring woodsmen in America, 

 tells of another man's Lou Crandall's thrilling 

 exploit: a "man hunt" that continued for three days 

 and two nights, during which time the hunted man 

 was without food. The knowledge which Crandall 

 showed of nature and of the craftiness of the red 

 men, and his wonderful memory which enabled him, 

 after he had become blind, to lead his lost rescuers 

 out of the wild and back to civilization, makes this 

 a story that ranks with John Colter's as an adven- 

 ture classic of the pioneer West. Mr. Mills obtained 

 the facts from Crandall himself while they were work- 

 ing together in the Independence Mine in Cripple 

 Creek in 1896. WALTER P. McGuiRE. 



FOR a time Lou Crandall and George Wil- 

 liams were busy with the windlass which 

 they were lowering into a prospect hole and 

 no watch was kept. Although not even a trace 

 of Indians had been seen, the instant the wind- 

 lass was in place Crandall paused and looked 

 cautiously around. This was in 1868. They 

 were on the Blackfoot Indian Reservation in 

 northern Idaho, from which the Indians had 

 twice driven them with the warning never to 



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