in pursuit of the game. They said they had seen no Indians, but only
"millions of buffalo"; and both R. and Sorel had meat dangling behind
their saddles.

The emigrants re-crossed the river, and we prepared to follow. First
the heavy ox-wagons plunged down the bank, and dragged slowly over the
sand-beds; sometimes the hoofs of the oxen were scarcely wetted by the
thin sheet of water; and the next moment the river would be boiling
against their sides, and eddying fiercely around the wheels. Inch by
inch they receded from the shore, dwindling every moment, until at
length they seemed to be floating far in the very middle of the river.
A more critical experiment awaited us; for our little mule-cart was
but ill-fitted for the passage of so swift a stream. We watched it with
anxiety till it seemed to be a little motionless white speck in the
midst of the waters; and it WAS motionless, for it had stuck fast in a
quicksand. The little mules were losing their footing, the wheels were
sinking deeper and deeper, and the water began to rise through the
bottom and drench the goods within. All of us who had remained on the
hither bank galloped to the rescue; the men jumped into the water,
adding their strength to that of the mules, until by much effort the
cart was extricated, and conveyed in safety across.

As we gained the other bank, a rough group of men surrounded us. They
were not robust, nor large of frame, yet they had an aspect of hardy
endurance. Finding at home no scope for their fiery energies, they had
betaken themselves to the prairie; and in them seemed to be revived,
with redoubled force, that fierce spirit which impelled their ancestors,
scarce more lawless than themselves, from the German forests, to
inundate Europe and break to pieces the Roman empire. A fortnight
afterward this unfortunate party passed Fort Laramie, while we were