28 ON THE FRONTIER. 



and a column of fire shot up towards the. sky. We were in 

 safety so long as our blaze lasted. 



We stood watching and waiting, hour after hour, as that 

 seemingly interminable multitude surged by, the ground 

 trembling, and the din ceasing not. Since that night I 

 have gone through many strange adventures, witnessed 

 many striking scenes. The din of conflict, the terrors of 

 an earthquake, the conflagration of a Western city. I have 

 stood on the deck of a ship a-flame in mid-Atlantic. The 

 murderous midnight rush of moccasined savages upon a 

 surprised camp has found me there. I have been startled 

 from deep sleep by the sharp firing of rifle balls, the quick 

 zip-zip of flying arrows, the death-scream of a slaughtered 

 sentinel, and the war-whoop of the Red Indian. But none 

 of those scenes recall themselves more forcibly to rne than 

 does that midnight crossing of the Republican river by that 

 mighty host of buffaloes in thousands. 



