268 SPORT IN NORTH AMERICA. 



awake, tlie tribe once more set out, whilst we con- 

 tinued our sjiort, as it were, on the wings of the 

 procession. On this day, we killed a great many- 

 prairie hens, a small feathered game which ran 

 about among the grass, and got up from under the 

 noses of our dogs with as little ceremony as a hen 

 in a farm-yard. On reaching the camp, we found 

 it pitched by the side of a wood, consisting of 

 dwarf oaks and cotton plants, with a stream running 

 close by. 



In the middle of the night, there was a terrible 

 alarm of fire, and we were awoke by the yells of the 

 Indians, who were flying northward in the greatest 

 confusion towards an eminence which rose from the 

 middle of a lake. For three miles behind us, the 

 prairie was on fire, and the flames advanced as rapidly 

 as a horse in full gallop, fanned by a wind which 

 threatened to rise to a tempest. Nothing could 

 equal the sublime horror of the spectacle. It was 

 like a winding-sheet of flame ignited with the rapi- 

 dity of gunpowder, and advancing with an infernal 

 crackling, throwing up the most fantastic forms, 

 and preceded by a multitude of all kinds of animals 

 flying for their verj'- life. 



When we arrived on the sandy shores of the 

 lake we were safe, for there was nothing com- 

 bustible around us. Gradually the flames dis- 

 appeared, as nothing was left to be consumed, 

 and fortunately none of our party was missing. 



