& 



THRILLING INCIDENT. 23 



The forlorn band were at last reduced to the 

 cruel necessity of killing their dogs, and cut- 

 ting off tlic ears of their mules, in the mm 

 hope of assuaging their burnin 

 tlie hot blood. This only served to irritate 

 the parched palates, and madden the senses 

 of tlie sufferers. Frantic ^^'ith despair, in 

 prospect of the horrible death wliich now 

 stared them in the face, they scattered in 

 every direction in search of that element 

 which they had left beliind them, in such 

 abundance, but without success. 



Frequently led astray by the deceptive 

 glimmer of the mirage, or false ponds, as 

 Qiose treacherous oases of the desert are call- 

 ed, and not suspecting (as was really the case) 

 that they had already arrived near the banks 

 of the Cimarron, they resolved to retrace their 

 steps to the Arkansas. But they now were no 

 longer equal to the task, and would undoubt- 

 edly have perished in those arid regions, had 

 not a buffalo, fresh from the river s side, and 

 with a stomach distended ^vith water, been 

 discovered by some of the party, just as tlie 

 last rays of hope were receding from their 

 \ision. The hapless mtruder was immedi- 

 ately dispatched, and an in\dgoratuig draught 

 procured from its stomach, I have since 

 heard one of the parties to that expedition 

 declare, that nothing ever passed his Hps wliich 

 gave hhn such exquisite delight as his first 

 draus^ht of that filthy beverag 



This providential rehef enabled some of 



the strongest men of the party to reach the 



