s at this camp, and some of the meat was nearly fit
for transportation, when a storm came suddenly upon us. About sunset the
whole sky grew as black as ink, and the long grass at the river's
edge bent and rose mournfully with the first gusts of the approaching
hurricane. Munroe and his two companions brought their guns and placed
them under cover of our tent. Having no shelter for themselves, they
built a fire of driftwood that might have defied a cataract, and wrapped
in their buffalo robes, sat on the ground around it to bide the fury of
the storm. Delorier ensconced himself under the cover of the cart. Shaw
and I, together with Henry and Tete Rouge, crowded into the little tent;
but first of all the dried meat was piled together, and well protected
by buffalo robes pinned firmly to the ground. About nine o'clock the
storm broke, amid absolute darkness; it blew a gale, and torrents of
rain roared over the boundless expanse of open prairie. Our tent was
filled with mist and spray beating through the canvas, and saturating
everything within. We could only distinguish each other at short
intervals by the dazzling flash of lightning, which displayed the whole
waste around us with its momentary glare. We had our fears for the tent;
but for an hour or two it stood fast, until at length the cap gave way
before a furious blast; the pole tore through the top, and in an instant
we were half suffocated by the cold and dripping folds of the canvas,
which fell down upon us. Seizing upon our guns, we placed them erect, in
order to lift the saturated cloth above our heads. In this disagreeable
situation, involved among wet blankets and buffalo robes, we spent
several hours of the night during which the storm would not abate for a
moment, but pelted down above our heads with merciless fury. Before
long the ground beneath us became soaked with moisture, and the water
gathered there in a pool two or three inches deep; so that for a
considerable part of the night we were partially immersed in a cold
bath. In spite of all this, Tete Rouge's flow of spirits did not desert
him for an instant, he laughed, whistled, and sung in defiance of the
storm, and that night he paid off the long arrears of ridicule which
he owed us. While we lay in silence, enduring the infliction with what
philosophy we could muster, Tete Rouge, who was intoxicated with animal
spirits, was cracking jokes at our expense by the hour together. At
about three o'clock in th