A Trip on the Prairie. 217 



But by next morning every thing had changed. A 

 furious gale of wind was blowing, and we were shrouded 

 in a dense, drizzling mist, through which at times the rain 

 drove in level sheets. Now and then the fog would blow 

 away, and then would come on thicker than ever ; and 

 when it began to clear off a steady rain took its place, and 

 the wind increased to a regular hurricane. With its can- 

 vas top on, the wagon would certainly have been blown 

 over if on open ground, and it was impossible to start or 

 keep a fire except under the sheltered lee of the cliff. More- 

 over, the wind kept shifting, and we had to shift too, as fast 

 as ever it started to blow from a new quarter ; and thus in 

 the course of the twenty-four hours we made a complete 

 circle of the cliff at whose base we were. Our blankets 

 got wet during the night ; and they got no drier during the 

 day ; and the second night, as we slept on them they got 

 steadily damper. Our provisions were pretty nearly out, 

 and so, with little to eat and less to do, wet and uncom- 

 fortable, we cowered over the sputtering fire, and whiled 

 the long day away as best we might with our own 

 thoughts ; fortunately we had all learned that no matter 

 how bad things are, grumbling and bad temper can always 

 be depended upon to make them worse, and so bore our 

 ill-fortune, if not with stoical indifference, at least in perfect 

 quiet. Next day the storm still continued, but the fog 

 was gone and the wind somewhat easier ; and we spent 

 the whole day looking up the horses, which had drifted a 

 long distance before the storm ; nor was it till the morning 

 of the third day that we left our beautiful but, as events 

 had made it, uncomfortable camping-ground. 



