118 A CLOSE CONTEST. 



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tives, he stripped the former of his arms and every other valuable, then no 

 longer needed (as he supposed) by their owner, and, mounting his horse, 

 started immediately for the nearest trading poet. 



On his arrival he recounted the particulars of the fatal occurrence, — 

 carefully concealing, however, his own criminal conduct. The story was 

 accredited, and the name of Glass found place upon the long catalogue of 

 those who had fallen a prey to wild beasts and savage men. 



Six weeks elapsed and no one thought of the subject of our sketch as 

 among the living. The general surprise, therefore, may be readily imag- 

 ined, on opening the fort-gates one morning, at finding before them the 

 poor, emaciated form of a man, half-naked, and covered with wounds and 

 running sores, and so torn the fleshless bones of his legs and thighs were 

 exposed to view in places ! and how this astonishment was heighten- 

 ed on recognizing the person of Glass in the illy defined lineaments of his 

 countenance — the very man so long regarded as the inhabitant of another 

 world ! A veritable ghost suddenly appearing upon the spot could not have 

 occasioned greater wonder ! 



But, sensations of pity and commiseration quickly succeeded those of 

 surprise, and the unhappy sufferer was conveyed within doors and received 

 from the hands of friends that careful attention his situation so much re- 

 quired. 



The story of his misfortunes was thrillingly interesting. When left by 

 his companion for dead, he was in a state of unconsciousness, with scarce- 

 ly the breath of life retained in his mangled body. But, the soft night- 

 wind stanched his wounds, and a slight sleep pariially revived him from 

 his death-like stupor. 



With the morning, the slight sensations of hunger he began to ex- 

 perience were appeased from the raw flesh of the carcase at his side; 

 and, thus strengthened, by a slow and tedious efTort he was enabled to 

 reach a near stream and quench his thirst. Still further revived, he 

 again crawled to the carcase at the demands of appetite. 



In this manner he continued for three days, when the putrescent 

 corse compelled him to abandon it. 



Then it was he commenced his tedious return to the fort, (some 

 seventy miles distant,) which he performed during an interval of forty 

 successive days ! The whole of this long stretch he crawled upon his 

 hands and knees, — subsisting, for the meanwhile, only upon insects, such 

 as chance threw in his way, but passing most of the time without one 

 morsel with which to appease the gnawings of hunger or renew his 

 wasted strength. 



Yet, great as were his sufferings and intolerable as they may seem, 

 he survived them all, and, by the kind attention of friends, soon recov- 

 ered. 



He still lives in the town of Taos, New Mexico, and frequently re- 

 peats to wondering listeners the particulars of this terrific and painful 

 adventure. 



One of our party, whose right hand was much disabled from the effects 

 of a wound, now told his story. 



For several years succeeding his first arrival in the Rocky Mountains, 



