ne in the sleeping-room was up in a moment,
lights were procured, and the judge was seen upon his knees with his
hands upon his hinder quarters; his neighbour Fielding was dead, and the
same ball which had passed through his back and chest had blazed the
bark off the nether parts of this pillar of Texian justice.

When the first surprise was over, pursuit of the assassin was resolved
upon, and then it was discovered that, in his revenge, the father had
not lost sight of prudence. All the horses were loose; the stable and
the court-house, as well as the bar and spirit store of the tavern, were
in flames. While the Bostonians endeavoured to steal what they could,
and the landlord was beating his negroes, the only parties upon whom he
could vent his fury, our companions succeeded in recovering their
horses, and at break of day, without any loss but the gold watch of the
doctor, which had probably been stolen from him during his sleep, we
started for the last day's journey which we had to make in Texas.

As we rode away, nothing remained of Texian Boston except three patches
of white ashes, and a few half-burnt logs, nor do know if that important
city has ever been rebuilt.

CHAPTER THIRTY THREE.

We were now but twenty miles from the Red River, and yet this short
distance proved to be the most difficult travelling we had experienced
for a long while. We had to cross swamps, lagoons, and cane-brakes, in
which our horses were bogged continually; so that at noon, and after a
ride of six hours, we had only gained twelve miles. We halted upon a
dry knoll, and there, for the first time since the morning, we entered
into conversation; for, till then, we had been too busy scrutinising the
ground before our horses' feet. I had a great deal to say both to
Gabriel and to Roche; we were to part the next morning,--they to return
to the Comanches and the Shoshones, I to go on to the Mormons, and
perhaps to Europe.

I could not laugh at the doctor's _bon mots_, for my heart was full;
till then, I had never felt how long intercourse, and sharing the same
privations and dangers, will attach men to each other; and the
perspective of a long separation rendered me gloomier and gloomier, as
the time we still had to pass together became shorter.

Our five American companions had altered their first intention of
travelling with me through the Arkansas. They had heard on the way,
that some new thriving cities had lately sprung up