284 A FIRE IN THE CA.MP. 



spirit and were worth nothing. A few were captured by 

 creasing ; but nearly all of these were of no use afterwards, 

 the wound in the spine seeming to have taken all life out 

 of them. 



We found Beaver Creek by no means so good a place for 

 game as the one we had left. The feed, too, was very bad 

 and the water half mud ; so we drove on to the Red River, 

 and were surprised to find this large stream utterly undrink- 

 able, the water being full of gypsum and causing violent colic, 

 though, curiously enough, the horses seemed very fond of it 

 and could hardly get enough, standing in it till you were tired 

 of waiting for them, and looking afterwards as if they would 

 burst. 



While on the Red River we were very nearly losing our 

 tent and all in it by fire. When making a camp-fire we usually 

 burned a space all round it, the sparks flying in all directions 

 and setting fire to the grass ; but as we had camped late, and 

 it was very cold, we neglected to take this precaution : 

 as the bottom was covered with long grass this caught, and the 

 flames spread so rapidly that by the time we got branches to 

 beat them out with they were beyond our control ; so we 

 rushed to the horses and let them loose, and then, by throwing 

 blankets on the fire, which was by this time close to the 

 tent, and stamping on them, we managed to save it, the 

 flames passing us and burning out the whole bottom below 

 us, where we meant to have hunted. It was a grand sight 

 the night being dark watching the flames, which were fifteen 

 and twenty feet high, rushing down the valley, the long 

 grass being very dry and burning like tinder; but it might 

 very easily have brought the Indians on us, and it put 



