It was determined that Harrington must go for this needful assistance
just as soon as possible. He placed me on our little bunk, with plenty
of blankets to cover me. All our provisions he put within my reach. A
cup was lashed to a long sapling, and Harrington made a hole in the
side of the dugout so that I could reach this cup out to a snow-bank
for my water supply.
Lastly he cut a great pile of wood and heaped it near the fire. Without
leaving the bunk I could thus do a little cooking, keep the fire up,
and eat and sleep. It was not a situation that I would have chosen, but
there was nothing else to do.
The nearest settlement was a hundred and twenty-five miles distant.
Harrington figured that he could make the round trip in twenty days. My
supplies were ample to last that long. I urged him to start as soon as
possible, that he might the sooner return with a new yoke of oxen. Then
I could be hauled out to where medical attendance was to be had.
I watched him start off afoot, and my heart was heavy. But soon I
stopped thinking of my pain and began to find ways and means to cure my
loneliness. We had brought with us a number of books, and these I read
through most of my waking hours. But the days grew longer and longer
for all that. Every morning when I woke I cut a notch in a long stick
to mark its coming. I had cut twelve of these notches when one morning
I was awakened from a sound sleep by the touch of a hand on my
shoulder.
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