the rocks, pent back by the prostrate
animals. We fought thigh-deep in the gathering flood. The thunder
roared overhead, and the lightning flashed in our faces, as though the
elements took part in the conflict!

The yelling continued wild and vengeful as ever. The hunters answered
it with fierce shouts. Oaths flew from foaming lips, and men grappled
in the embrace that ended only in death!

And now the water, gathered into a deep dam, lifted the bodies of the
animals that had hitherto obstructed it, and swept them out of the gap.
The whole force of the enemy would be upon us. Good heavens! they are
crowding up, and our guns are empty!

At this moment a new sound echoed in our ears. It was not the shouts of
men, nor the detonation of guns, nor the pealing of the thunder. It was
the hoarse roaring: of the torrent!

A warning cry was heard behind us. A voice called out: "Run for your
lives! To the bank! to the bank!"

I turned, and beheld my companions rushing for the slope, uttering words
of terror and caution. At the same instant my eye became fixed upon an
approaching object. Not twenty yards above where I stood, and just
entering the canon, came a brown and foaming mass. It was water,
bearing on its crested front huge logs of drift and the torn branches of
trees. It seemed as though the sluice of some great dam had been
suddenly carried away, and this was the first gush of the escaping
flood!

As I looked it struck the portals of the canon with a concussion like
thunder, and then, rearing back, piled up to a height of twenty feet.
The next moment it came surging through the gap.

I heard their terrified cry as the Indians wheeled their horses and
fled. I ran for the bank, followed by my companions. I was impeded by
the water, which already reached to my thighs; but with desperate energy
I plunged and weltered through it, till I had gained a point of safety.

I had hardly climbed out when the torrent rolled past with a hissing,
seething sound. I stood to observe it. From where I was I could see
down the ravine for a long reach. The Indians were already in full
gallop, and I saw the tails of their hindmost horses just disappearing
round the rocks.

The bodies of the dead and wounded were still lying in the channel.
There were hunters as well as Indians. The wounded screamed as they saw
the coming flood. Those who had been our comrades called to us for
help; we could do nothing to save them.