372 
JOURNEY ACROSS THE 
which I hoped might prove to be our lost oxen 
returning. This supposed sound led me to descend 
from my rock, and hasten to the south bank to know 
the truth. I reached a little eminence among the trees, 
from whence I could neither see our oxen nor men, and 
though there was not a breath of wind to cause noise, 
I could hear nothing stirring. On turning my ear 
northward I listened with deep attention, but could 
distinguish no sound, though sometimes I fancied I 
heard a distant roar of a lion, and at other times the 
bark of a dog. I turned my ear eastward, and west- 
ward, and southward, listened and listened again, but 
nothing was audible except the distant cry of the 
raven, or the still chirp of some solitary bird — no 
rattling of carriages, prancing of horses, or cracking 
of whips, as in Cheapside or the Strand ; no, a dead 
terrifying silence brooded aver the land. I hesitated 
for some time whether to resume my seat on the 
rock, or return to the waggons in quest of intelligence ; 
my inclination preponderating to the latter, I walked 
thither, but found nothing was known respecting our 
oxen. However, soon after, we determined to cross the 
Great River, and on the other side to wait for our 
missing cattle, for the river might possibly rise while 
waiting on the north side, and put a stop to our 
proceeding for many days. It was surprising we did 
not think of this sooner, as we had made so narrow 
an escape at our former crossing it. 
The bank of the river being between forty and fifty 
feet high, and almost perpendicular, our people 
