* 
138 PRAIRIE ON FIRE. 
timore, Messrs. 8S. Wethered and J. R. Ware, 
had joined our caravan with one wagon and 
three men, making up the aggregate above- 
mentioned. We hadalsoacaballada of more 
than two hundred mules, with nearly three 
hundred sheep and goats. The sheep were 
brought along partially to supply us with meat 
in case of emergency: the surplusage, how- 
ever, could not fail to command a fair price in 
the United States. 
Instead of following the trail of the year 
before, I determined to seek a nearer and bet- 
ter route down the south side of the Canadian 
river, under the guidance of the Comanche; 
y which movement, we had again to travel 
a distance of four hundred miles over an en- 
tirely new country. We had just passed the 
Laguna Colorada, where, the following year, a 
division of Texan volunteers, under General 
McLeod, surrendered to Col. Archuleta, when 
head-wind blowing at the time, we very soon 
got out of reach of the conflagration : but the 
next day, the wind having changed, the fire 
was again perceived in our rear approaching 
us at a very brisk pace. The terror which 
these prairie conflagrations are calculated to 
inspire, when the grass is tall and dry, as was 
the case in the present instance, has often 
ness 
rights ep ae 
a therefore an excellent C sce pocket ing 
ee every part of the prairies, he was very serviceable as 
