om the green
lizard that scaled the shining cork-trees, to the lazy toad that flopped
heavily into the water, I had a word for all,--ay, and thought they
answered me, too.

Some, I fancied, chirped pleasantly and merrily, as though to say, "Go
it, Con, my hearty; Charry has stride and wind for many a mile yet!"
Some, with a wild scream, would seem to utter a cry of surprise at the
pace, as if saying, "Ruffle my feathers if Con 's not in a hurry!" An
old owl, with a horseshoe wig, looked shocked at my impetuosity, and
shook his wise head in grave rebuke; while a fat asthmatic frog nearly
choked with emotion as I hurled the small pebbles into his bath of
duck-weed. How strange would life be, reduced to such companionship!
thought I. Would one gradually sink down to the level of this animal
existence, such as it appears now, or would one elevate the inferior
animal to some equality of intelligence?

The solitude which a short time previous had suggested--T know not
now many!--bright imaginings, presented now the one sad, unvarying
reflection,--desolation; and it had almost become a doubtful point
whether I should not at once turn my horse's head and make for Upper
Brazos and its gruff host of the log-house, rather than brave a night
"al fresco" in the forest. It was just at the moment that this question
became mooted in my mind that I perceived the faint track of a wheel on
the short grass of the pathway. I dismounted and examined it closely,
and soon discovered its counterpart on the other side of the road; and
with a little further search I could detect the footmarks of two horses,
evidently unshod.

Inspired with fresh courage by these signs, I spurred Charry to a
sharper stride, and for above two hours rode on, each turning of the
road suggesting the hope of coming up with the Friar, who evidently
journeyed at a brisker pace than I had anticipated. The sailor's adage
says that "A stern chase is a long chase;" and so it is, whether it be
on land or sea,--whether the pursuit be to overtake a flying Frenchman
or Fortune!

The sun had sunk beneath the tops of the tall trees, and only streamed
through, in chance lines of light, upon the road, when suddenly I found
myself upon the verge of an abrupt descent, at the bottom of which ran
a narrow but rapid river. These great fissures, by which the mountain
streams descend to join the larger rivers, are very common in Texas and
throughout the region which borders on the Roc