Nothing Could
Be Seen Ten Feet From Them When They Left The Last Fence, But They
Tried To Get Their
Bearings by the line of the fence, and closing
their eyes, dashed ahead into the cloud of blinding, stinging snow.
Major Pierce had expected to go straight to a side door of the store,
but the awful strength of the wind and snow pushed them over, and they
struck a corner of the fence farthest away - in fact, they would have
missed the fence also if Mrs. Elmer's fur cape had not caught on one
of the pickets, and gone out on the plains to certain death. Bright
lights had been placed in the store windows, but not one had they
seen. These storms kill so many range cattle, but the most destructive
of all is a freeze after a chinook, that covers the ground with ice so
it is impossible for them to get to the grass. At such times the poor
animals suffer cruelly. We often hear them lowing, sometimes for days,
and can easily imagine that we see the starving beasts wandering on
and on, ever in search of an uncovered bit of grass. The lowing of
hundreds of cattle on a cold winter night is the most horrible sound
one can imagine.
Cold as it is, I ride Bettie almost every day, but only on the high
ground where the snow has been blown off. We are a funny sight
sometimes when we come in - Bettie's head, neck, and chest white with
her frozen breath, icicles two or three inches long hanging from each
side of her chin, and my fur collar and cap white also.
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