nted to the vision when far, far beyond the
range of sight. Such strange apparitions, the consequence of refraction,
have led to the most absurd superstitions; and all the stories the
Germans tell you of their wild huntsmen are nothing to the tales every
trapper can recount of war parties seen in the air, and tribes of red
men in pursuit of deer and buffaloes, through the clear sky of an autumn
evening."

"And have you yourself met with these wild children of the desert?" said
Olivia; "have you ever been amongst them?"

"Somewhat longer than I fancied," replied Roland, smiling. "I was a
prisoner once with the Camanches."

"Oh, let us hear all about it,--how did it happen?" cried both together.

"It happened absurdly enough, at least you will say so, when I tell you;
but to a prairie-hunter the adventure would seem nothing singular. It
chanced that some years ago I made one of a hunting-party into the Rocky
Mountains, and finally as far as Pueblo Santo, the last station before
entering the hunting-grounds of the Camanches, a very fierce tribe,
and one with whom all the American traders have failed to establish
any relations of friendship or commerce. They care nothing for the
inventions of civilization, and, unlike all other Indians, prefer their
own bows and arrows to firearms.

"We had been now four days within their boundary, and yet never met
one of the tribe. Some averred that they always learned by the scouts
whenever any invasion took place, and retired till they were in
sufficient force to pour down and crush the intruders. Others, who
proved better informed, said that they were hunting in a remote tract,
several days' journey distant. We were doubly disappointed, for besides
not seeing the Camanches, for which we had a great curiosity, we did not
discover any game. The two or three trails we followed led to nothing,
nor could a hoof-track be seen for miles and miles of prairie. In this
state of discomfiture, we were sitting one evening around our fires, and
debating with ourselves whether to turn back or go on, when, the dispute
waxing warm between those of different opinions, I, who hated all
disagreements of the kind, slipped quietly away, and throwing the bridle
on my horse, I set out for a solitary ramble over the prairie.

"I have the whole scene before me this instant,--the solemn desolation
of that dreary track; for scarcely had I gone a mile over what seemed a
perfectly level plain, when the swelli