rd. I gazed cheerfully around, persuaded that I should yet
escape from the peril in which I stood. As I did so, with what
astonishment and inexpressible delight did I perceive, not ten paces off,
the track of a horse!

The effect of this discovery was like an electric shock to me, and drew a
cry of joy from my lips that made my mustang start and prick his ears.
Tears of delight and gratitude to Heaven came into my eyes, and I could
scarcely refrain from leaping off my horse and kissing the welcome signs
that gave me assurance of succour. With renewed strength I galloped
onwards; and had I been a lover flying to rescue his mistress from an
Indian war party, I could not have displayed more eagerness than I did in
following up the trail of an unknown traveller.

Never had I felt so thankful to Providence as at that moment. I uttered
thanksgivings as I rode on, and contemplated the wonderful evidences of
his skill and might that offered themselves to me on all sides. The aspect
of every thing seemed changed, and I gazed with renewed admiration at the
scenes through which I passed, and which I had previously been too
preoccupied by the danger of my position to notice. The beautiful
appearance of the islands struck me particularly as they lay in the
distance, seeming to swim in the bright golden beams of the noonday sun,
like dark spots of foliage in the midst of the waving grasses and
many-hued flowers of the prairie. Before me lay the eternal flower-carpet
with its innumerable asters, tuberoses, and mimosas, that delicate plant
which, when you approach it, lifts its head, seems to look at you, and
then droops and shrinks back in alarm. This I saw it do when I was two or
three paces from it, and without my horse's foot having touched it. Its
long roots stretch out horizontally in the ground, and the approaching
tread of a horse or man is communicated through them to the plant, and
produces this singular phenomenon. When the danger is gone by, and the
earth ceases to vibrate, the mimosa may be seen to raise its head again,
but quivering and trembling, as though not yet fully recovered from its
fears.

I had ridden on for three or four hours, following the track I had so
fortunately discovered, when I came upon the trace of a second horseman,
who appeared to have here joined the first traveller. It ran in a parallel
direction to the one I was following. Had it been possible to increase my
joy, this discovery would have done