upon them should
they be found unprepared. They advised me to accompany them, and
afterwards to try and make my way northward with any party of white
trappers or hunters who might be going in that direction.

Pablo strongly urged me to take this course. He had his reasons, he
said, for wishing to go to the northward, and would accompany me.
Though his appearance was not attractive,--for he looked more like an
old Jew pedlar than a son of the prairies, as he called himself,--I had
confidence in him. I should have said that my new friends were
accompanied by a small party of Indians, who acted as guides. To these
people Pablo had an especial aversion, the cause of which he did not
divulge to me; but I believe that his reason for wishing to quit the
party was to get away from the Indians.

The Spaniards remained a day longer than they intended; but we started
at dawn, and made considerable progress during the cooler hours of the
morning. The sun then came out with withering heat, and the air
appeared to me to be unusually oppressive; while, notwithstanding the
rain, the grass rapidly became as dry as before. A brown hue pervaded
the landscape.

We halted at night by the side of a stream, which, though very small,
afforded water for our horses. By this time I felt quite myself again,
and capable for any exertion.

The next day, about noon, I observed the Indian chief, who acted as our
principal guide, standing up in his stirrups and looking anxiously
towards the south-west. He exchanged some words with our white leader;
but still they advanced.

I now noticed a long thin line of what appeared like mist rising above
the horizon, but rapidly increasing in height and extending on either
hand. The rest of the party also began to look anxious. I remembered
the appearance of the prairie fire from which I had before so narrowly
escaped, and I now became convinced that we were about to encounter a
similar danger.

The clouds of smoke rose higher and higher, and extended further both
east and west. Here and there, however, there were gaps, and our
leaders seemed to consider it possible that we might make our way
through them. At all events, we continued to advance.

The Spaniards began to talk vehemently to each other, evidently not
liking the appearance of things. The gaps, towards the broadest of
which we had been directing our course, now began to close up, and
presently a number of deer came scampering by,