Chap. V. A STAMPEDE. 263 
surprise the sound of their wild flight over the plain was 
heard receding further and further into the far distance, and 
I found myself alone in the dark solitude of the prairie. 
The fires in the camp were extinguished, so that for the 
moment I knew not whither to turn nor what course to 
pursue. I soon, however, heard steps close to me, and 
stumbled upon one of my comrades on guard, then upon a 
second and a third, until I had rejoined the whole body 
of sentinels, with the exception of a Mexican lad, whose 
duty it was to lead the bell-mare. In a short time he also 
was discovered. He had nearly paid the forfeit of his life 
for a neglect of duty : in order to be able to sleep whilst on 
guard, he had tied the cord of the bell-mare round his leg, 
so that when the drove of mules suddenly ran away, he was 
dragged along with them for some distance. Fortunately 
the cord got loose and the lad was left lying on the prairie, 
the only damage done being tattered clothes and some 
bruises. Meanwhile the camp was astir ; the noise made 
by the mules running away had been heard by our men — 
some threw themselves on the saddle-horses, which were 
always tied up to the waggons, and the pursuit of the run- 
away animals was commence^ : fortunately they had stopped 
at no great distance, and their flight was easily tracked, 
from the nature of the soil on the banks of the river. In 
the course of half an hour they were all safely lodged again 
in the corral. 
What Greek herdsmen used to term " panic terrors " 
is called by the American waggoners a " stampede," and 
next to a surprise by the Indians, and a fire in the prairie, 
this is one of the greatest dangers incurred on a caravan 
journey through a North-American wilderness. Besides 
the fear, in such an occurrence, of a man's being run over 
and trampled to death by the whole drove of animals 
