en on horses which they had secured, riding madly
on to keep in sight of the terrified animals; on went the mass, and on
went the riders, over hill and gully through the darkness of night in
their "break-neck" career, until they came to the North Fork of the
Platte, when fortune favored the riders, for the stampede took down the
river towards the forks of the two rivers. Excitement reigned through
every camp that night. Many had lost all their stock, their sole
dependence for the prosecution of their journey, or even their safe
return to the States. Families, men, women and children thrown out in
the wilderness hundreds of miles from civilized beings, and their main
hope gone. Would those in pursuit recover the horses? or would they
dash on over these boundless plains in the frenzy of fear, growing more
frantic as they proceeded, as many had before them, until nature could
stand no more, and then drop dead in their tracks? These questions were
often asked, and many were the tearful eyes that night that sought
without avail rest and sleep. All night long the darkness was rendered
hideous by the blowing of horns, firing of guns, and the shouting of
men to warn, if perchance any straggler from the pursuing party should
be on his return, of the whereabouts of the camp, and few were the eyes
in those camps through which the stampede had taken its course that
closed in sleep that night. The stampede continued down the river until
it was stopped by the two rivers coming together, which once having
checked their mad career, they were soon surrounded by the pursuers and
safely secured, with the exception of one horse, which had broken his
neck. Reader, if you wish to realize all the anxiety and horror of a
stampede, go out in the plains hundreds of miles from help, where your
horses are as necessary to your safety as the ship is to the sailor at
sea. See a moving body of stock coming down towards your horses,
snorting, neighing, bellowing and braying, enveloped in a perfect cloud
of dust, making the earth tremble under their feet: witness the
distended nostril, the glistening eye, and the fierce snort and neigh
of your own horse as you cling to him for dear life, and as he kicks
and plunges as the stampede approaches, and the madness grows upon him
to break from you and join them in their mad career--go out and see and
feel all these things, when perhaps your life hangs upon the result,
and then you may have some idea of a stamped