Full resolution (TIFF) - On this page / på denna sida - Sidor ...
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has never been proofread. / Denna sida har aldrig korrekturlästs.
But fear of the Indians was not completely allayed. One day
in the later part of December as we were cutting rails in the
woods, my companion went home early in order to prepare our
dinner. Reaching the cabin a little later, I heard several voices
and* loud laughter inside. As a good deal of 9now had just fallen
and we had not for a long time had any visits from palefaces,
1 wondered who the guests could be that were honoring us with
their company. When I entered the cabin, I found the room
crowded with Indians, who sat on the beds and chests as far as
Toom would permit; they amused themselves by cocking the
hammers of their rifles, and by aiming either at the roof or at
my companion.
The most prominent of the Indians stood up as I entered and
shook hands with me. One of them even brought greetings to
me from our former acquaintance, namely Papeska. They
remained our neighbors for about a week and erected fifteen
wigwams only a few feet from our house. Each morning they visited
us, and even their women were polite enough to visit us when
the men were absent. I paid them several visits in return; and
even Kempe accompanied me once to the Indian encampment,
but he refused to enter their tents even though the chiefs lady
invited him.
We both needed to send letters to Sweden; but how to get
to Red Wing wa9 the perplexing question, since the 9now was
three feet deep, with no tracks to guide us. Except for the visits
by the Indians, we had lived in isolation ever since our last visit
to Red Wing. I undertook to make this trip, and the start was
made on January 9, 1854. Thinking that it would be lonesome
after I had left, my companion accompanied me five or six miles
on the way and then returned home. On his way back he
discovered tracks made by the Indian poledrags which he thought
had been made by the Indians on their last visit. Thinking also
that they led to our home, he followed them in order to find a
better road; but after a while he noticed that these tracks led
down into a deep valley, and from that point in a directly
opposite direction to our home. He now became greatly worried
and regretted bitterly that his laziness had induced him to leave
our common path and take an unknown though less difficult
road. While reflecting on this he fortunately caught sight of
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
