while the puckering-string gave way, and the wind swept
through the wagon, carrying everything that was loose before it,
including Ollie, who was just getting over the dash-board. He was
not hurt, but just then we heard a most pitiful yelping, as Jack's
blankets and pillow went rolling away from where the wagon had
stood. It was Snoozer going with them. The yelping disappeared in
the darkness, and we heard frying-pans, tin plates, and other camp
articles clattering away with the rest. The Rattletrap itself had
tried to run before the gale, but I had put on the brake and
stopped it. The three of us then crouched in front of it, and
waited for the wind to blow itself out. We could see or hear
nothing of the horses. There was nota cloud in sight, and the
stars still shone down calmly and unruffled, while the wind cut and
hissed through the long prairie grass all about us. It kept up for
about ten minutes, when it began to stop as suddenly as it had
begun. In twenty minutes there was nothing but a cool, gentle
breeze coming out of the southwest. We lit the lantern and tried
to gather up our things, but soon realized that we could not do
much that night. We found the unfortunate Snoozer crouched in a
little depression which was perhaps an old buffalo wallow, but
could see nothing of the horses. We concluded to go to bed and
wait for morning.

When it came we found our things scattered for over a quarter of a
mile. We recovered everything, though the wagon-seat was broken.
The horses had come back, so we could not tell how far they had
gone before the wind.

"I've read about those night winds on the plains," said Jack, "and
we'll look out for 'em in the future. We'll put an anchor on
Snoozer at least."

This intelligent animal had not forgotten his night's experience,
and stuck closely in the wagon, where he even insisted on taking
his breakfast.

The road we were following was gradually drawing closer to the
Niobrara, and we began to see scattering pine-trees, stunted and
broken, along the heads of the canyons or ravines leading down to
the river. There was less sand, and we made better progress. The
country was but little settled, and game was more plentiful. We got
two or three grouse. We went into camp at night by the head of
what appeared to be a large canyon, under a tempest-tossed old
pine-tree, through which the wind constantly sighed. There was no
water, but we counted on getting it down the ca