, horse and
rider both came up, the horse making for the shore, and the man for the
nearest sand bar.--The man lost his rifle and hat, which grieved him a
great deal; the horse lost his rider, which he did not seem to take to
heart at all. We drove about two miles after crossing and camped on the
bottom, with no fuel but buffalo chips. A stampede took place about
sunset, of 150 head of horses, mules and oxen, which was the largest
stampede that we have seen or heard of. We were just cooking our
supper. Our horses were quietly grazing around the camp; the men
gathering buffalo chips for the night, or idly lounging about the
fires, talking and smoking, and taking as much comfort as possible
after our hard day's work, when down the river came a sound, as of
distant thunder, yet more terrible to the ears of the practiced
emigrant on the plains; instantly every man was on his feet listening
to the approaching sounds; faintly above the noise could be heard the
cry of stampede! stampede! and a dark mass enveloped in the dust could
be seen moving down upon us with the speed of the wind. Instantly every
man sprang for the horses, knowing too well that if they were not got
inside of the correll of wagons, before that moving mass of terror and
phrenzy came up to them they were lost. The cooks threw down their
frying pans, the men their pipes, and bags of buffalo chips, and the
whole plain looked more like bedlam broke loose than a quiet camping
ground; some shouted and belabored the poor beasts, who already began
to feel the infection, others lugged away at the long lariets of their
mules who dogged and sullen, threw themselves on their reserved rights,
and braced back on all fours with their long ears turned back and their
eyes half closed, seemed to say to the unhappy knights who were so
energetically tugging them along, no you don't--you can't come it, if
you do, just let us know, but in they had to go, in spite of their
resolution and firmness. During this time, which occupied less space
than I have been in recording it, the infuriated mass kept rushing down
towards us, sweeping everything of stock kind along with them that came
in their way. The matter began to look serious for us, although we had
succeeded in getting all of our stock within the circle of our wagons,
when suddenly, when within a quarter of a mile of us they look a turn
and went dashing over the hills like a torrent, and a few minutes after
them went 30 or 40 m