456 FIRE IN THE PRAIRIE. Book III. 
I retain that name. The North-American and Texan 
maps call it Lion Springs, whilst the Mexicans apply this 
name — in its Spanish form, Ojo del Leon — to the first 
watering-place on the road from hence to the Presidio ; 
and they call the spot at which the road divides Agua 
Delgada. I imagine the older and more correct name 
has been retained by Mexican travellers. 
At this encampment we narrowly escaped a great 
peril. Our waggons had halted in the long and dry 
grass, in which there were occasional barren spots; on 
these we made our fires. Mr. K. feared that the grass 
might catch fire, and I was growing quite impatient at 
his continual expressions of fear, when suddenly my eye 
fell on a spot where the grass had just caught the flames. 
I ran to extinguish them, but could not master them, in 
spite of buffetting them till I was quite exhausted : no 
sooner had I smothered the fire before me, than it rose up 
behind. The hot air which I inhaled burnt my mouth 
and throat, and I nearly lost my consciousness : my 
hair and beard were burnt, and I should have been 
compelled to abandon the field to the devouring element, 
had not twenty or thirty men hastened up with blankets, 
who succeeded, at least, in arresting the flames on the 
side of the waggons, though unable to stop their course 
on the other side. The mules were driven to shelter in 
time, and we had now nothing more to fear. Had the 
assistance come a minute later, our waggons would most 
probably all have been burnt, and the lives of the whole 
caravan been in danger. How much further the fire may 
have spread I know not. 
I must relate our journey to El Paso more in detail, as 
it leads me upon new ground : it occupied twenty-eight 
days. 
