as far as human
companionship was concerned, nothing could be more utterly solitary and
desolate, yet the abundance of animal life, the bright tints of plumage,
and the strange concert of sound, afforded an unceasing interest.

Occasionally I came upon the charred fragments of firewood, with other
signs indicative of a bivouac, showing where some hunting-party had
halted; but these, with a chance wheel-track, were all the evidence that
travellers had ever passed that way. The instincts of the human heart
are, after all, linked to companionship, and although it was but a few
hours since I had parted with "mine host" of Brazos, I began to conceive
a most anxious desire for the society of a fellow-traveller. I had
pushed Charcoal for some time, in the hope of overtaking the Friar; but
not only without success, but even without coming upon any recent tracks
that should show where the party passed. I could not have mistaken the
road, since there was but one through the forest; and at last I became
uneasy lest I should not reach some place of shelter for the night, and
obtain refreshment for myself and my horse. From the time that these
thoughts crossed my mind, all relish for the scene and its strange
associations departed. A scarlet jay might have perched upon my
saddle-bow unmolested; a "whip-poor-will" might have chanted her note
from my hat or my holsters unminded; the antlered stags did indeed graze
me as they went, without my once remembering that I was the owner of
one of "Colt's sharp bores," so intent I had grown upon the topic of
personal safety. What if I had gone astray? What if I fell in with the
Choctaws, who often came within a few miles of Austin? What if Charcoal
fell lame, or even tired? What if--But why enumerate all the suspicions
that, when chased away on one side, invariably came back on the other?
There was not an incident, from a sprained ankle to actual starvation,
that I did not rehearse; and, like that respected authority who spent
his days speculating what he should do "if he met a white bear," I threw
myself into so many critical situations and embarrassing conjectures
that my head ached with overtaxed ingenuity to escape from them.

AEsop's fables have much to answer for. The attributing the gift of
speech to animals, by way of characterizing their generic qualities,
takes a wondrous hold upon the mind; and as for me, I held "imaginary
conversations" with everything that flew or bounded past. Fr