ADVENTURES IN LOUISIANA. 165 



wild gallop. As Ave advanced the creek began to 

 widen ; in place of palmettos, clumps of marsh reeds 

 and rushes showed themselves here and there. An 

 unearthly stillness prevailed, only broken now and 

 then by the cry of a wild-goose ; and even that ap- 

 peared strange and unnatural in its sound. 



" What can be the meaning of this ? " cried Carle- 

 ton. " I am burning with heat, and yet I have not 

 the slightest moisture on my skin. All these signs 

 are incomprehensible. For God's sake, sound the 

 horn again." 



I did so ; but this time the sound seemed to be 

 forced back through the horn, and to die away upon 

 my lips. The air was so hot and parching that our 

 horses' coats, which a short time previously had been 

 dripping with sweat, were now perfectly dry, and the 

 hair plastered upon them ; the animals' tongues hung 

 out of their mouths, and they seemed panting for 

 cooler air. " Look yonder ! " cried Carle ton ; and he 

 pointed to the line of the horizon, which had hitherto 

 been of grey, lead-coloured vapour. It was now be- 

 coming reddish in the south-west quarter, and the 

 vapour had taken the appearance of smoke. At the 

 same time we heard a sort of distant crackling, like a 

 heavy running fire of musketry, and which was re- 

 peated at short intervals. Each time it was heard 

 our horses appeared scared and trembling. 



The creek was getting rapidly wider, and the 

 ground so swampy that it was impossible to proceed 



