rds the lake; twice or thrice the distant roars of the panthers
shewed that these terrible animals were quitting our neighbourhood, and
the fierce growling of the contending wolves told us plainly that, if
they were not strong enough to run, they could at least crawl and prey
upon their own dead. It has been asserted that wolves do not prey upon
their own species, but it is a mistake, for I have often seen them
attacking, tearing, and eating each other.

The warm rays of the morning sun at last dispersed the gloom and clouds
of night; deer, elks, and antelopes were all gone except my own stag, to
which I gave a handful of salt, as I had some in my saddle-bags. Some
few mustangs and buffaloes were grazing, but the larger portion,
extending as far as the eye could reach, were still prostrate on the
grass. As to the wolves, either from their greater fatigue they had
undergone, or from their being glutted with the blood and flesh of their
companions, they seemed stiffer than ever. We watered our horses,
replenished our flasks, and, after a hearty meal upon the cold flesh of
the bear, we resumed our journey to warm ourselves by exercise and dry
our clothes, for we were wet to the skin, and benumbed with cold.

The reader may be surprised at these wild animals being in the state of
utter exhaustion which I have described; but he must be reminded that,
in all probability, this prairie fire had driven them before it for
hundreds of miles, and that at a speed unusual to them, and which
nothing but a panic could have produced. I think it very probable that
the fire ran over an extent of five hundred miles; and my reason for so
estimating it is, the exhausted state of the carnivorous animals.

A panther can pass over two hundred miles or more at full speed without
great exhaustion; so would a jaguar, or, indeed an elk.

I do not mean to say that all the animals, as the buffaloes, mustangs,
deer, etcetera, had run this distance; of course, as the fire rolled on,
the animals were gradually collected, till they had formed the
astounding mass which I have described, and thousands had probably
already perished, long before the fire had reached the prairie where we
were encamped; still I have at other times witnessed the extraordinary
exertions which animals are capable of when under the influence of fear.
At one estampede, I knew some oxen, with their yokes on their necks, to
accomplish sixty miles in four hours.

On another o