R EC RE A TION. 



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MERRY CHRISTMAS. 



obliged to hold on the fence from which 

 we dare not moved for fear of being 

 blown away ; yet to remain there, mo- 

 tionless and exposed to the storm, as we 

 now were, meant death within a few 

 minutes. 



We shouted and yelled for help, but 

 could not make ourselves heard. Then 

 I thought of my pistol, which I managed 

 to get out of my coat pocket and fired 

 in rapid succession. This proved 

 effective and brought to our relief the 

 only man at the station. He assisted us 

 to the shack which was only fifty yards 

 away. After getting in we discovered 

 that our fingers and faces were frozen. 

 Liberal applications of snow, with vigor- 

 ous rubbing, soon relieved the pain and 

 our injuries proved not to be serious; but 

 we had had a narrow escape. 



The ponies broke loose from the sled 

 and were gone — no one knew where — 

 possibly following the herds of domestic 

 and wild animals we had seen on the 

 way. The mail sack, my valise and roll 

 of robes were found buried in a snow 

 drift near where the sled had upset. 



The blizzard continued with un- 



abated fury for several days, so that we 

 were completely snowed in. We had to 

 cut a passage, six feet deep, to get to the 

 wood pile. Fortunately there was a 

 good supply of wood on hand, and 

 plenty of deer and antelope meat, so 

 there was not much danger of being 

 frozen or starved in our arctic prison. 



The station — generally called a 

 "shack" in the west — was of a differ- 

 ent style from those already mentioned. 

 It was built of logs, but furnished about 

 the same accommodation as the others. 

 However, I felt thankful for so good a 

 shelter under the circumstances. I 

 found plenty of reading matter, in the 

 line of newspapers, and made good 

 use of them. Several sacks of these 

 had been left over, at different times 

 when the weather had been bad, and as 

 they were only tied with a cord it was 

 an easy matter to borrow such as one 

 liked and to return them to the sacks 

 again. I can hardly think the owners 

 would have been offended at the liberty 

 I took had they known of my otherwise 

 desolate situation. Illustrated papers 

 took the fancy of the drivers. I had 



