282 THUNDERSTORM. Book II. 
ten o'clock we reached the spot for our encampment just 
as it began. It was a wild scene— the drivers bringing up 
the waggons to form the corral — the unyoking and collecting 
the animals in the pitch darkness, and amid thunder and 
lightning. 
Scarcely was this business finished when the most fearful 
hurricane came sweeping from the north that I have ever 
witnessed in the North-American steppes. The violence 
of the wind, which shook even the heaviest waggons, 
baffled attempts to seek protection from clothing, and a 
doubled woollen coat of the thickest cloth, together with 
two blankets, in which I wrapped myself, were penetrated 
by the cold wind as if it was thin muslin. The mules 
trembled and crowded together, seeking shelter behind 
anything ; and whilst I was standing on guard one or other 
of these animals was constantly pressing against me, on the 
lee side, as a kind of shelter against the wind. At the 
same time the wind swept along mingled rain and snow, 
and the darkness was so great that we were knocking 
against carriages and animals without being able to see 
them. After two hours I left my post on guard, stiff with 
cold and wet through, and in this state I was obliged to 
pass the night, finding shelter only in our travelling-carriage. 
From my own experience as well as the example of others 
I have convinced myself that there exist in civilized life the 
most ridiculous prejudices as to what man can bear without 
injury to his health. 
The climate of the country around the Cimarron is in 
bad repute : it was here that, a few years ago, more than a 
hundred mules perished in one night from cold, belonging 
to Mr. Speier, a well-known trader to Santa-Fe and Chi- 
huahua. Their scattered bones are still to be seen. 
The middle springs are clear sources on the north side 
