nett. "We shall soon know. See, Leblanc has gone forward
to ascertain who they are."

The guide in a short time returned, saying that the strangers were Red
River hunters; that they had just sighted buffalo, and would be glad if
any of the gentlemen of the party would join them.

Loraine and Hector were delighted to accept the invitation, and Allan
Keith and Maloney were anxious to try their skill as hunters. While
they galloped on to join the half-breeds, Burnett and his men moved
towards the spot which had been fixed on for camping at night.

The buffalo hunt need not be described, except to say that the young
Englishmen won the admiration of their new friends by their courage and
dexterity, each having brought a couple of the shaggy monsters to the
ground.

The travellers spent the evening with their new friends, the hunters,
who, as soon as the buffalo they had last killed had been turned into
pemmican, intended to return to the Red River. Next morning they
continued their journey westward, pushing on at greater speed than
usual, to make up for lost time, Burnett being very anxious to reach the
fort by the day he was expected.

The country was generally lovely, being well wooded, with numerous
lakelets, now rising into softly rounded knolls, and occasionally
opening out into a wide, fair landscape. The soil was of rich loam, and
the vegetation luxuriant, sprinkled with flowers of many tints.

They had been moving on for a couple of hours or more, when Loraine,
looking to the southward, observed a remarkable appearance in the
horizon, which wore an unearthly ashen hue. Pointing it out to Burnett,
he asked--

"Can that be produced by a prairie fire?"

"No; but if I mistake not, we shall have, before long, a flight of
locusts passing over our heads. That peculiar look of the sky is
produced by the light reflected from their transparent wings."

As he spoke, the whole sky appeared to be changing from blue to silvery
white, then to ashy grey and lead colour; while, opposite to the sun,
the prevailing hue was a silver white--perceptibly flashing, the air
seeming as if rilled with flakes of snow.

"The insects are flying from five hundred to a thousand feet above our
heads; and I hope we may get clear of them before we camp, or they will
play mischief with everything made of leather, which is left exposed,"
observed Burnett.

He was, however, disappointed; for, in a short time, the locusts
descended--t