362 CHARLEY 



No place could be more lovely and peaceful ; and after 

 making a hearty supper of perch and broiled duck, Catlin 

 went for a stroll to explore a little further. 



Five hundred miles is a long way to ride, and in the 

 course of his journey through the prairies Catlin had to 

 cross several of the big rivers which run into the 

 Missouri or the Mississippi. This was not always easy, 

 for there were no bridges to be found, and the streams 

 were often both deep and rapid. There was also another 

 danger to be feared, besides that of being drowned or 

 falling a prey to the Indians ; and this was the very deep 

 ditches or sunken streams, with their tops entirely hidden 

 by the long grass, into which a horse might suddenly fall 

 and injure himself and his rider. After a while, Catlin 

 learned to be on the look-out for these pitfalls, and to 

 know their signs, and as they had to be crossed somehow, 

 there was nothing for it but to go at them boldly, and to 

 trust to luck to getting out again. This was generally a 

 very difficult matter ; the streams were often full of mud, 

 and till you were in the middle of them you had no 

 notion how deep they were, and not always then. On 

 one occasion Catlin had ridden along the edge of a stream 

 of this kind, in order to find a ford, but as this seemed 

 hopeless, he plunged in at a place where it was six or 

 eight yards wide — as to the bottom, they never touched 

 that at all. They made for the bank, which was of clay, and 

 rose straight out of the water. Catlin managed to catch 

 hold of the top and drag himself up, clutching Charley's 

 bridle in his hand; but he saw directly it was quite 

 impossible for the poor horse to follow him. Still holding 

 the bridle, Catlin pushed his way for a mile through the 

 tall grass, that often closed in above his head, Charley 

 patiently swimming all the while in the thick nrnddy 

 water. At length it was clear he could not keep up much 

 longer, and his master, nearly as exhausted as himself, 

 was just about to drop the bridle, and leave him to his 

 fate, when they came to a spot where the banks had been 



