442 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. 
at every jump; for as Dan glanced his frightened eyes around, 
he would see them straitened out with speed and their mouths 
wide open, coming to join the terrible route from every direc- 
tion over the prairie. He looks behind him—they were close 
upon his heels. The great part of them, particularly those in 
front, and who seemed most fierce and ravenous, were scorched 
nearly naked; and with the white foam flying, their long red 
tongues, their fiery glaring eyes, they presented the most 
hideous picture of unearthly terror that ever mortal lived, 
to be chased by unless by the horrible phantgsmagoria of 
madness ! 
He fired his pistols back at them, but it made no difference ; 
they only yelled the louder, and came on the more fiercely, 
while five joined their long train for each one that he had 
killed. If his horse should fall or give out, they would both 
be torn to fragments in an instant! This appalling convic- 
tion caused him to give all of eye and nerve that were left 
him in the mortal fright to steadying and guiding his horse, 
for the only hope now lay in him. He soon perceived, 
however, that he was leaving the pack far behind, for there 
is little comparison between the speed of a horse and that 
of the prairie wolf. 
He now began to feel something of hope; and as the 
frantic speed of his horse placed yet a greater distance 
between them, the unimaginable dread seemed to be lifting 
from his life. Now he could not hear their yells, and could 
barely distinguish, far in the rear, the long snake-like train 
yet moving on in the relentless chase, over the undula- 
tions of the bare plain. He sees timber ahead, and shouts 
in an ecstacy of joyful relief, for then he himself at least 
is safe! He can climb a tree—and in the delight of that 
thought, he has no time for thinking that his poor horse 
cannot climb trees! 
The horse sees, and is inspirited, too—for to all creatures 
on the prairies there seems to be a vague feeling of safety 
