‘A BLEAK NORTHWESTER. 145 
one of our animals: the horse which broke 
away at the first onset, doubtless made his 
escape; and a mule which was too badly 
wounded to tra travel, was dispatched by the 
muleteers, lest it should fall into the hands of 
the savages, or into the mouths of the wolves; 
and they deemed it more humane to leave it 
to be eaten dead than alive. We also expe- 
rienced considerable damage in our stock of 
sheep, a number of them having been de- 
voured by wolves. They had been scatter- 
ed at the beginning of the attack; and, in 
their anxiety to fly from the scene of action, 
had jumped, as it were, into the very jaws of 
their ravenous enemies. 
On the 12th of March, we ascended upon 
the celebrated Llano Estacado, and continued 
along its borders for a few days. The second 
night upon this dreary plain, we experienced 
one of the strongest and bleakest ‘ northwest- 
ers’ that ever swept across those prairies; 
during which, our flock of sheep and goats, 
being left unattended, fled over the plain, in 
search of some shelter, it was supposed, from 
the furious element. Their disappearance 
was not observed for some time, and the 
night being too dark to discern anything, we 
were obliged to defer going in pursuit of them 
till the following morning. After a fruitless 
and laborious search, during which the effects 
of the mirage proved a constant source of an- 
noyance and disappointment, we were finally 
obliged to relinquish the pursuit, and return 
to the caravan — finding one of them. 
VOL. Il. 
