nder astray on them, and
I was the more terrified that I already hungered to no common degree.

There was something singular, too, in the circumstances that had brought
me into my present situation. The disappearance of the white steed--
although accounted for by perfectly natural causes--had left upon my
mind a strange impression. That he should have lured me so far, and
then eluded me in such a way! I could not help fancying design in it:
and fancying so, I could attribute such design only to a higher
intelligence--in fact, to some supernatural cause!

I was again on the edge of superstition. My mind began to give way and
yield itself to hideous fancies.

I struggled against such thoughts, and succeeded in rousing myself to
reflect upon some active measures for my safety.

I saw that it was of no use to remain where I was. I knew that I could
make a straight path for a couple of hours at least--the sun was in the
sky, and that would guide me--until near the meridian hours. Then I
should have to halt, and wait a while; for in that southern latitude,
and just at that time of the year, the sun at noon is so near the zenith
that a practised astronomer could not tell north from south.

I reflected that before noon I might reach the timber, though that would
not insure my safety. Even the naked plain is not more bewildering than
the openings of the mezquite groves and the chapparal that border it.
Among these you may travel for days without getting twenty miles from
your starting-point, and they are often as destitute of the means of
life as the desert itself!

Such were my reflections as I had saddled and bridled my horse, and
stood scanning the plain in order to make up my mind as to the direction
I should take.

CHAPTER TWENTY ONE.

A PRAIRIE REPAST.

In gazing out, my eye was attracted by some objects. They were animals,
but of what species I could not tell. There are times upon the prairies
when form and size present the most illusory aspects: a wolf seems as
large as a horse; and a raven sitting upon a swell of the plain, has
been mistaken for a buffalo. A peculiar state of the atmosphere is the
magnifying cause, and it is only the experienced eye of the trapper that
can reduce the magnified proportions and distorted form to their proper
size and shape.

The objects I had noticed were full two miles off; they were in the
direction of the lake, and of course on the other side of the barranca.