A FORCIBLE EJECTMENT. 123 



day collecting beetles and other insects in the 

 dense, shady pine forests, close to a small stream 

 called the Selece, that flows down the western 

 slope of the Cascade mountains : boxes, bottles, 

 bags, even my hat, indeed every available locality 

 about my person was appropriated to the stowage 

 and transport of the proceeds of my hunt. My 

 mustang had been tethered close to the water, and 

 had thus kept clear of the Breeze-flies during my 

 absence ; soon, however, after mounting him to 

 return, emerging from the forest, I came on a 

 small patch of open prairie land, but no sooner 

 was I clear of the timber than the pests were at 

 us. My beast commenced practising every 

 species of jump and leap that it was possible for 

 a horse to execute, and several of them of a nature 

 so extraordinary that one would have thought no 

 animal that ever went on four legs could a.com- 

 plish ; he pranced, shied, kicked, leaped forward, 

 backward, sideways in a word, performed such 

 demoniacal pranks, that, although a practised 

 horseman, I found it a most difficult matter to 

 keep my seat. As a finale, off he went like a 

 mad creature, caring nothing for all my efforts 

 to stop him : then, as if from sheer madness caused 

 by the punctures of the flies, that followed like a 

 swarm of enraged bees, he stopped suddenly short, 



