OF A RANCHMAN 199 



that tried to avoid its path. Against the 

 dark background of the mass could be seen 

 pillars and clouds of gray mist, whirled 

 hither and thither by the wind, and sheets 

 of level rain driven before it. The edges 

 of the wings tossed to and fro, and the 

 wind shrieked and moaned as it swept over 

 the prairie. It was a storm of unusual in- 

 tensity; the prairie fowl rose in flocks 

 from before it, scudding with spread wings 

 toward the thickest cover, and the herds of 

 antelope ran across the plain like race- 

 horses to gather in the hollows and behind 

 the low ridges. 



We spurred hard to get out of the open, 

 riding with loose reins for the creek. The 

 centre of the storm swept by behind us, 

 fairly across our track, and we only got a 

 wipe from the tail of it. Yet this itself we 

 could not have faced in the open. The first 

 gust caught us a few hundred yards from 

 the creek, almost taking us frorp the sad- 

 dK . and driving the rain and hail in sting- 

 level sheets against us. We galloped 



