rogeny, and the old negro hangman of
New Orleans had the honour of making, in one day, a close acquaintance
with a general, a colonel, a major, and a judge."

"What, talking still!" exclaimed the doctor, yawning: he had just awoke.
"What the devil can you have babbled about during the whole blessed
night? Why, 'tis morn."

Saying this, he took up his watch, looked at it, applied it to his ear,
to see if it had not stopped, and exclaimed:--

"By jingo, but I am only half-past one." The parson drew out his also,
and repeated the same, "half-past one."

At that moment the breeze freshened, and I heard the distant and muffled
noise, which in the West announces either an earthquake, or an
"estampede" of herds of wild cattle and other animals. Our horses, too,
were aware of some danger, for now they were positively mad, struggling
to break the lassoes and escape.

"Up!" I cried, "up! Gabriel, Roche, up!--up, strangers, quick! saddle
your beasts! run for your lives! the prairie is on fire, and the
buffaloes are upon us."

They all started upon their feet, but not a word was exchanged; each
felt the danger of his position; speed was our only resource, if it was
not already too late. In a minute our horses were saddled, in another we
were madly galloping across the prairie, the bridles upon the necks of
our steeds, allowing them to follow their instinct. Such had been our
hurry, that all our blankets were left behind, except that of Gabriel;
the lawyers had never thought of their saddle-bags, and the parson had
forgotten his holsters and his rifle.

For an hour we dashed on with undiminished speed, when we felt the earth
trembling behind us, and soon afterwards the distant bellowing, mixed up
with the roaring and sharper cries of other animals, were borne down
unto our ears. The atmosphere grew oppressive and heavy, while the
flames, swifter than the wind, appeared raging upon the horizon. The
fleeter game of all kinds now shot past us like arrows; deer were
bounding over the ground, in company with wolves and panthers; droves of
elks and antelopes passed swifter than a dream; then a solitary horse or
a huge buffalo-bull. From our intense anxiety, although our horses
strained every nerve, we almost appeared to stand still.

The atmosphere rapidly became more dense, the heat more oppressive, the
roars sounded louder and louder in our ears; now and then they were
mingled with terrific howls and shrill sounds, so unearthly