AN OMINOUS FORETASTE. 39 



ty and defence during the remainder of the 

 journey. It was from thence tliat the for- 

 mation of the Caravan was to be dated, and 

 the chief interest of our journey to com- 

 mence : therefore, to tliis point we all looked 

 forward witli great anxiety. The mterme- 

 diate travel was marked by very few events 

 of any interest As the wagons had gone 

 before us, and we were riding in a Ught car- 

 riage, Ave were able to reach the Round 



Grove, about tliirt}^-five miles distant, on the 

 first day, where we joined the rear division of 

 the caravan, comprising about ihvrty wagons. 

 On the folio A\Tng day we had a foretaste of 

 those protracted!, drizzling spells of rain, which, 

 at this season of the year, so much infest the 

 frontier prairies. It began sprinkling about 

 dark, and continued pourmg without let or 

 hinderance for forty-eight hours in succession ; 

 and as the rain was accompanied by a hca^y 

 north-wester, and our camp was pitched m 

 the open prauie, withoiit a stick of available 

 timber witliin a mile of us, i\ must be ahowed 



that the whole formed a prelude anything 

 but flatteruig to valetudinarians. For my 

 own part, finding the Dearborn cairiage in 



which I had a berth not exactly water-proof, 

 I rolled myself in a blanket and lay snugly 

 coiled upon a tier of boxes and bales, under 

 cover of a wagon, and thus nianaged to 

 escape a very severe drenching. 



It may be proper to observe here, for the 

 benefit of future travellers, that in order to 

 make a secure shelter for the cargo, agauist 



