TO CORPUS CHRISTI 523 
in vain tried to restrain them. It was all to no pur- 
pose. Away they went, John Gilpin like, the wagon 
with six mules, followed by all the loose animals that 
were driven with the train, which had also partaken 
of the stampede. The herdsmen, in order to check the 
runaways, left the train and went in pursuit, making 
altogether the most exciting spectacle we had yet wit- 
nessed. The chase continued for a mile; for the 
mules in the wagon had become perfectly frantic with 
fear, surrounded as they were by equally frightened 
mustangs, and all bounded over the prairie at their 
utmost speed. Seeing the danger, our men put on 
the lash, and we hurried forward to render such aid as 
lay in our power. The men of the other party fired at 
the herd, which had the effect of breaking the line, 
and turning it in another direction. 
The frightened herd made directly for us, in the 
same long line, the termination of which we could 
not see, as it lost itself far in the distance. I now 
became alarmed, fearing a general stampede among 
our mules; for nothing can restrain these timid crea- 
tures when frightened. If they cannot take their 
wagon with them, they become so frantic that they 
will tear themselves from their harness and flee away. 
Our first precaution was to close up the wagons, so 
that only those in the first one would see the mustangs. 
The mules of the second were placed alongside of the 
foremost wagon, the next by the side of the second, 
and so on -to the last, each wagon thus protecting the — 
team that followed it. We now locked the wheels of 
all, and men stood by the leaders to restrain and quiet 
them. AsI had no inclination “ be carried off against 
