t was the fearful _carcajou_! Now, too, for the first
time, it seemed to be aware of our presence, and suddenly placed itself
in an attitude to spring. The next moment it had launched its body
towards Mary and the children!

"We all three fired as it sprang forward, but our feelings had unnerved
us, and the bullets whistled idly away. I drew my knife and rushed
after; but Cudjo was before me, and I saw the blade of his spear
glancing towards it like a flash of light, and burying itself in the
long hair. With a hoarse growl, the monster turned, and, to my joy, I
saw that it was impaled upon the spear, which had passed through the
skin of its neck. Instead of yielding, however, it rushed up the shaft,
until Cudjo was compelled to drop the weapon, to save himself from being
torn by its long, fierce claws. Before it could clear itself from the
spear, I had drawn my large pistol, and fired directly into its breast.
The shot proved mortal; and the shaggy monster rolled over, and
struggled for some minutes in the agonies of death. _We_ were saved;
but our poor ox, that was to have drawn us out of the Desert, lay upon
the grass a lifeless and almost bloodless carcase!"

CHAPTER FIFTEEN.

A FRUITLESS SEARCH FOR A TRAIL.

"Our hopes of being able to get away from the oasis valley were thus
crushed in a moment. The horse could not of himself draw the wagon, and
how could we travel without it? Even could we have crossed the Desert
on foot, he would hardly suffice to carry our food and water. But for
us to pass one of those terrible stretches of wilderness--by the
Spaniards called `jornadas'--on foot was out of the question. Even the
strongest and hardiest of the trappers often perish in such attempts;
and how should we succeed--one of us being a delicate female--and having
two children that must be carried in our arms? The thing was plainly
impossible; and as I reflected upon it, the thoughts of its
impossibility filled me with despair.

"But were we never to escape from that lonely spot? What prospect was
before us of ever being able to leave it? No human beings might come to
our relief. Perhaps no human foot except our own had ever made its
track in that remote valley! This was not at all improbable; and indeed
a party of hunters or Indians, on their journey across the Desert, might
visit the mountain without discovering the valley,--so strangely was it
hollowed out of the plain.

"I had but little hope