0 
THE BEAUTIFUL LADDER. 313 
As many as sixty in an hour were counted, or 
one each minute. Some of these blazing wan¬ 
derers were of gfeat magnitude, and passed 
through the skies with a hissing, rushing noise, 
like a large rocket, and with a similar detona¬ 
tion as they exploded, sending off a fiery rain 
as they did so. These statements can be relied 
on as strictly true, as it was made the special 
duty of the observer to watch the phenomenon 
and make a detailed entry in a record that was to 
be forwarded to the government at Washington. 
“ A large camp of Indians was located in the 
neighborhood, and the startling influence of this 
splendid phenomenon on their untutored minds 
was soon manifest by the beating of the sacred 
drum and the attending wail of the medicine¬ 
men. The whole village was put into the wild¬ 
est uproar, and so continued until the light of 
the following morning. Nor was the effect any 
the less powerful over the minds of the ignorant 
and superstitious half-breeds and Canadians who 
made up the villages on both sides of the river. 
In the morning they crowded around the house 
of the priest, each one eager to secure some relic 
or charm that would give security against the 
expected calamity. 
27 
