Of all the dang fool greenhorn stunts to pull! Gettin' lost in a danged snowstorm! You'd think this was his first winter in the mountains! The old trapper paused and looked around, trying once more to make out any familiar landmark that might give him a clue as to where he was and where he might find enough shelter to hunker down for the night.
He had set out from his cabin early that sunny winter morning to hunt because he was plumb out of meat and a man's gotta have meat; meat and coffee; the two things the old trapper couldn't do without. He had shot a mule eared doe in the afternoon but kept going hoping to find buffler. And now here he was, fearsome turned around in a blinding snowstorm with night comin' on pronto. He looked around again. Nothin' but snow. His saddle horse and pack mule were gettin' mighty tired and they were goin' to need water and forage for the night.
He pushed on, keeping the wind at his back. He figured his cabin had to be west by south but if he could just blunder in to a creek bed with some cottonwoods and willows he could get a fire going and if there was no creek bottom grass for his animals he could peel some willow bark for them to put in their bellies. If only...
And now it was plumb dark. He had two choices. Either he could stop right here and hunker down under the buffalo robe that he carried on the pack mule and hope he didn't freeze to death before morning, or he could keep pushin'. He decided to keep pushin' on in the snowy darkness.
He took another look around...and there it was! In the distance, off to the left! A light shining through the blowing, falling snow! How could that be? His old eyes must be playin' tricks on him! He wiped his coat sleeve across his eyes. The light was still there, by golly! "Okay Red" he spoke to his horse, "let's go see if it's for real or if it's Ole Slew Foot playin' tricks on us. If it ain't for real, we'll probably die out there on the prairie tonight. Might as well go see, one way or t'other. Hep! Let's go boy."
As the old trapper rode farther out on the prairie, the light remained in the same spot, getting brighter the closer he got. What danged fool besides him would be out here?!
As he rode nearer, the ground started dropping off into a creek bottom and a nice big grove of cottonwood trees and, in the shelter of the trees, a nice big fire. He breathed a big sigh of relief. With a fire that big, it had to be white fellers for sure! But who could be out here on the prairie in the dead of winter? He rode on, and as he neared the light he yelled out "Helloooo the camp! Hello the camp!"
The strong voice of a young man answered, "Whoever you are you better come in by the fire and have some hot coffee! Come on in stranger!"
The old man rode up to the camp and couldn't believe his eyes! There was a covered wagon with the tongue standing straight up and a lantern hanging from the top of the wagon tongue! It was that lantern that had caught his eye. But the rest of the scene was beyond belief for the old mountaineer, for before him was a snug lean to with a nice warm fire before it, and in that lean to was a young woman with a baby in her arms! They were snug in a couple of wool blankets with a big buffalo robe over all. The young man was standing by the fire in a big buffalo coat, fur cap and mittens holding a steaming cup of coffee.
"Get down off your horse stranger and get up here to the fire! We've plenty of stew and coffee to share. And there's a good stand of tall grass here in the creek bottom for your animals. Come on man! You look nigh froze!"
The old man climbed stiffly down from Red's back and shuffled up to the fire where he gladly accepted the tin mug of hot coffee. "What in tarnation are you folks doing out here in the middle of nowhere in the middle of winter? I'm tastin' this hot coffee and I STILL can't believe my eyes!'
The young woman smiled brightly and the young man chuckled. "My name's Joe Benton and this is my wife, Mary. And that there in her arms is our new son, just born today! Haven't even named him yet, but he's a Christmas baby so he'll have a Bible name for sure!"
"He would have a Bible name anyway and you know it Joe!" Mary spoke for the first time. "And who might you be, stranger who rides in out of the snowy night?" she asked.
"Well ma'am, my name's Clive...Clive Nash. And all the years I've been out here in these mountains I ain't NEVER seen a purtier sight than that lantern hangin' from the top of that wagon tongue for I was for danged sure lost in the night and now I ain't lost no more! If this don't beat all I ever seen! A white woman and a new baby clean out here in the middle of nowhere in a Rocky Mountain blizzard and lookin' like yer a doin' just fine! Jim Bridger hisself couldn't make up a taller tale than this here! Like I asked ye before; what'r you folks doin' here?"
Joe smiled and began to explain, "Well Mr. Nash we..."
"Clive!" the old trapper said, "Just call me Clive."
"Well Clive" Joe began again, "we were on our way down from Fort Laramie to that new Denver City and..."
"I ain't never heared of that Denver City." the old trapper interupted. "Where that place be?"
"It's on the South Platte about another 50 or 75 miles on south from here I reckon" said Joe "and we're headed there to open up a new shop. I'm a gunsmith by trade and figured they could use my services down there. We left Fort Laramie about a week ago and were making good time with the weather being so good, until Mary here decided to have the baby earlier than we expected. We had just set up camp in this creek bottom when the young'n decide it was time. I hung that storm lantern up there on the wagon tongue so we would have plenty of light in camp. And then the snowstorm hit. Do they always blow in that fast in this country?"
"Yessir, most times they do fer sure!" said Clive. "It caught me too! I was out huntin' meat and ranged farther than I had planned lookin' fer buffler. I've been out here in these mountains for 30 years and never been lost until tonight. I come out in '29 with Billy Sublette and been out here ever since. You folks saved my bacon fer sure!"
It was then that Mary spoke up again. "Mr. Clive, it wasn't me and Joe that 'saved your bacon' as you put it! It was this baby. We would have been miles on down toward Denver City if the little guy hadn't decided to come today and we probably would have perished ourselves in this snowstorm if we hadn't found this place and got camp set up before the storm hit. All in all, I'd say that this baby is not only your savior, but ours as well. Quite fitting that he came into this world on Christmas day in this year of Our Lord 1859, wouldn't you say so Mr. Clive?"
"Christmas Day! Well I'll be danged! I had me no idea that it was Christmas! Y'see ma'am, I got me a cabin snugged up in them foothills of the mountains off to the west of here and I don't hardly see folks much 'ceptin' the Cheyenne and maybe a few 'Rapahoes now and then. Since beaver quit payin' nigh on twenty year ago now, I mostly trade with the Cheyennes fer buffler robes and then trade the robes fer my coffee and powder and lead and more trade goods to trade fer more buffler robes. Been tradin' em up t' Laramie fort fer the past dozen years or so. Down to Bent's mud fort before that. So, ya see ma'am, I had me no idea it was Christmas! And it danged sure is a Christmas miracle you folks are here cuz I'da froze ta death somewhere's out there on the prairie this night!"
Joe spoke up then. "Well Clive, you just get your stock taken care of and put with our four mules there in the cotttonwoods and then you get up here next to the fire and refill that coffee cup because we were just getting ready to read the story of the birth of Jesus Christ in the book of Luke in the Bible. I believe it is quite fitting this night."
"Folks" Clive said, "I don't believe I ever heared that story, but if it's anything near like the story of this here young'n and what he done fer us this night I cain't wait ta hear it!"
"Mr Clive," Mary spoke up with a twinkle in her eyes, "It's a much grander story than you could even imagine! I cannot wait for you to hear it!"
"Amen Mary!" Joseph said
Merry Christmas and may the true story of the birth of Our Lord and Savior touch your heart and brighten your lodge this season.
God Bless,
Max and Family
In the Turkey Creek Valley in the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand and Seventeen
