Colonel Palmer Sent For Me To Go Over
Also, And Major Bagley Came Twice For Me, Saying Our Tents Would
Certainly Fall, And That It Would Be Better To Go Then, Than In The
Middle Of The Night.
But I had more faith in those tents, for they
were new and pitched remarkably well.
Soon after we got here, long
poles had been put up on stakes all along each side of, and close to,
the tents, and to these the guy ropes of both tents and "fly" covers
had been securely fastened, all of which had prevented much flopping
of canvas. Dirt had been banked all around the base of the tents, so
with a very little fire we could be warm and fairly comfortable.
The wind seemed to get worse every minute, and once in a while there
would be a loud "boom" when a big Sibley tent would be ripped open,
and then would come yells from the men as they scrambled after their
belongings. After it became dark it seemed dismal, but Faye would not
go in a building, and I would not leave him alone to hold the stove
down. This was our only care and annoyance. It was intensely cold, and
in order to have a fire we were compelled to hold the pipe down on the
little conical camp stove, for with the flopping of the tent and fly,
the pipe was in constant motion. Faye would hold it for a while, then
I would relieve him, and so on. The holding-down business was very
funny for an hour or two, but in time it became monotonous.
We got through the night very well, but did not sleep much. The
tearing and snapping of tents, and the shouting of the men when a tent
would fall upon them was heard frequently, and when we looked out in
the morning the camp had the appearance of having been struck by a
cyclone! Two thirds of the tents were flat on the ground, others were
badly torn, and the unfinished log quarters only added to the
desolation. Snow was over everything ten or twelve inches deep. But
the wind had gone down and the atmosphere was wonderfully clear, and
sparkling, and full of frost.
Dinner the evening before had not been a success, so we were very
prompt to the nice hot breakfast Charlie gave us. That Chinaman has
certainly been a great comfort on this trip. The doctor came over
looking cross and sick. He said at once that we had been wise in
remaining in our comfortable tents, that everybody in the log houses
was sneezing and complaining of stiff joints. The logs have not been
chinked yet, and, as might have been expected, wind and snow swept
through them. The stoves have not been set up, so even one fire was
impossible. Two or three of their tents did go down, however, the
doctor's included, and perhaps they were safer in a breezy house,
after all.
The mail has been held back, and will start with us. The time of going
was determined at Department Headquarters, and we will have to leave
here on the first - day after to-morrow - if such a thing is possible.
We return by the way of Benton. It is perfectly exasperating to see
prairie chicken all around us on the snow. Early this morning there
was a large covey up in a tree just across the creek from our tent,
looking over at us in a most insolent manner. They acted as though
they knew there was not a shotgun within a hundred miles of them. They
were perfectly safe, for everyone was too nearly frozen to trouble
them with a rifle.
Camping on the snow will not be pleasant, and we regret very much that
the storm came just at this time. Charlie is busy cooking all sorts of
things for the trip, so he will not have much to do on the little camp
stove. He is a treasure, but says that he wishes we could stay here;
that he does not want to return to Fort Shaw. This puzzles me very
much, as there are so many Chinamen at Shaw and not one here. The
doctor will not go back with us, as he has received orders to remain
at this post during the winter.
FORT SHAW, MONTANA TERRITORY,
November, 1880.
THE past few days have been busy ones. The house has received much
needed attention and camp things have been looked over and put away,
ready for the next move. The trip back was a disappointment to me and
not at all pleasant. The wagons were very lightly loaded, so the men
rode in them all the way, and we came about forty miles each day, the
mules keeping up a steady slow trot. Of course I could not ride those
distances at that gait, therefore I was compelled to come in the old,
jerky ambulance.
The snow was still deep when we left Maginnis, and at the first camp
snow had to be swept from the ground where our tent was pitched. But
after that the weather was warm and sunny. We saw the greatest number
of feathered game - enormous flocks of geese, brant, and ducks. Our
camp one night was near a small lake just the other side of Benton,
and at dusk hundreds of geese came and lit on the water, until it
looked like one big mass of live, restless things, and the noise was
deafening. Some of the men shot at them with rifles, but the geese did
not seem to mind much.
Charlie told me at Maginnis that he did not want to return to Shaw,
and I wondered at that so many times. I went in the kitchen two
miserable mornings back and found him sitting down looking unhappy and
disconsolate. I do not remember to have ever seen a Chinaman sitting
down that way before, and was afraid he might be sick, but he said at
once and without preamble, "Me go 'way!" He saw my look of surprise
and said again, "Me go 'way - Missee Bulk's Chinee-man tellee me go
'way." I said, "But, Charlie, Lee has no right to tell you to go; I
want you to stay." He hesitated one second, then said in the most
mournful of voices, "Yes, me know, me feel vellee blad, but Lee, he
tellee me go - he no likee mason-man." No amount of persuasion could
induce him to stay, and that evening after dinner he packed his
bedding on his back and went away - to the Crossing, I presume.
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