rs for the night. 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