that expanded directly over our heads, and devoted her maternal care to the sustenance of her fledglings. But her unwearied industry by day less commanded our admiration than the sweet melody of her nocturnal warblings.
Soon as the "pointers" told the "noon of night," her song commenced in all its variations, like the soft breathings of an angel's lute, nor ceased till the gray of morning broke from the empurpled east. Often have I listened half dreamingly to the bewitching notes that mingled with the harsh discord of the wilderness around me, and fancied myself guarded by celestial spirits against the assaults of harm.
With such kindly thoughts, who might not mount in his slumbers on the wings of imagination, and step from star, as 'mid the changeless realms of bliss.
CHAPTER XXXII.
Lost. Night on the Prairie. Head of the Kansas river. Mineral Country. Gold. Wonderful incident relative to a wounded bull. Indians. Join the Arapahos. Moving village. Country between Beaver creek and the Platte. Cañon. Reach Fort Lancaster. Fortune bettered. News from the States. Murder. Extraordinary instances of human tenacity to life. Arrival of Indians. Theft. Chyenne outrage. Return of Oregon emigrants. "Old Bob," and his adventures. A "Protracted Meeting," or Indian Medicine-making. Indian oath. Jaunt to the mountains. Mountain scenery. Camp on Thompson's creek. Wild fruits. Concentration of valleys. Romantic view. A gem in the mountains. Grand river pass. Salt lakes. Astonishing scope of vision. The black-tailed deer. Peculiarity in horses. Remarkable natural fortification. Return. Travelling by guess.
ONE day, on leaving camp in quest of game, I carelessly travelled till near sundown, without success. The hills, hollows, and ravines which intersected my way and continually changed its bearings, so completely bewildered me, that, as night shut down upon the cheerless expanse, I found myself far away from any suitable camping-place, and alone amid the realms of loneliness. Thus conditioned, I was forced to submit to circumstances, and accordingly accepted of such lodgings as nature afforded.
My lonely and dangerous situation, with the thrilling sensations experienced during the interval, gave birth to the following lines, which, by aid of a rude pencil formed from a bullet, were next morning traced upon a small scrap of paper. I submit them to the reader, not that they possess any intrinsic merit, but because they will enable him to derive some faint idea of the terrific wildness and beauty of the surrounding scenes.
