166 TEAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPOET. 



further. Seeing this, we agreed to return to the 

 prairie, and to try if it were not cooler among the 

 palmettos. But when we came to the place where 

 we had crossed the creek, our horses refused to take 

 the leap again, and it was with the greatest difficulty 

 we at length forced them over. All this time the 

 redness in the horizon was getting brighter, and the 

 atmosphere hotter and drier; the smoke had spread 

 itself over prairie, forest, and plantations. We con- 

 tinued retracing our steps as well as we could to the 

 spot where we had halted. " See there," said Carle- 

 ton ; " not half an hour ago those reeds were as fresh 

 and green as if they had just sprung out of the earth, 

 and now look at them the leaves are hanging down, 

 parched and curled up by the heat." 



The whole prairie, the whole horizon to the south- 

 west, was now one mass of dense smoke, through 

 which the sun's disc looked scarcely brighter than a 

 paper-lantern. Behind the thick curtain which thus 

 concealed everything from our view, we heard a loud 

 hissing, like that of a multitude of snakes. The 

 smoke was stifling and unbearable ; our horses again 

 turned panting round, and tore madly towards the 

 creek. On reaching it we dismounted, but had the 

 greatest difficulty to prevent them from leaping into 

 the water. The streaks of red to our right became 

 brighter and brighter, and gleamed through the huge 

 dark trunks of the cypress-trees. The crackling and 

 hissing grew louder than ever. Suddenly the fright- 



