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Volume 3 (1858-1859) (592 pages)
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Page: of 592
6 HUTCHINGS’ CALIFORNIA MAGAZINE.
the party, being half frozen, slipped off
the tree into the stream, and narrowly
escaped drowning.
We had now been out three days and
two nights, and, as the third night was
fast approaching, with no friendly cabin
in sight, where we could take shelter and
find refreshment, the prospect looked
very dark and forbidding.
“ Let us camp,” suggested one.
“No, no!” replied the others; ‘“‘ we
would freeze to death before the fire was
lighted !””
So on, on we toiled until midnight,
when the foremost man gave a loud, exultant shout; he saw sparks issuing from
a cabin nearly buried in the snow. No
tongue could describe our feelings. One
long, loud “hurrah!” burst from each
~ and all, and rung over and echoed among
those snow-covered mountain tops and
sides. New life was infused into all of
us, and we hurried briskly on; but,
alas, alas! when we reached the spot
we found that it was only an old tree on
fire, smouldering and burning deep down
neath the snow. This was disappointment, indeed! yet, in the shadowy distance, in bold relief, stood a cabin, not
A SNOW-BURIED CABIN
~——
pend
for when we reached it, we found that it
was not only deserted, but the roof had
fallen in. On further examination, one
end of the rafters was discovered to be
resting on the side of the cabin, and at
the farther end was a fire-place. Ah!
but you had better believe that even this
gave us a feeling of joy which I can not
describe. To build a fire was but the
work of a few minutes, and after we had
all crept beneath this welcome shelter,
we counted noses, one by one, and discovered that two of the party were miss~
ing. These were found some distance
from the cabin nearly frozen to death.
In “prospecting” around, one of the
men found a few pounds of barley—the
only eatable thing we had seen for three
days. This was equally divided among
us, and, while some began to eat it raw,
others parched theirs in an old fryingpan, which we had found ; all were delighted—aye, overjoyed—at this most
opportune discovery.
Our bodies being warmed, and our
hunger somewhat appeased, we slept
soundly until the middle of the following
day, when, as we were pretty well aware
of our position, and knew that there was
a house about sixteen miles
below, where we could obtain
= rest and refreshment, we concluded that it would be better
to remain where we were till
the next morning, and then
push on while we had sufficient
strength remaining. During
the day, quite a number of
Zz others from Yreka, who had
ae
—_ followed our trail, came up
_—
. with us, and increased our
Sf party to nearly seventy.
As soon as morning light
= =
began to break, our gauntIS BETTER THAN NONE. looking and hungry little arover three hundred yards farther on. A . my started in Indian file for the house
new joy was again felt, but, like the
other, was of exceedingly short duration,
before alluded to—some of: us not having
tasted food, with the exception of the