Page:The Prairie Flower; Or, Adventures In the Far West.djvu/34

 untly for

me, when, arrived at the hotel, I detailed what had occurred in my absence; and as deep his gratitude to the preserver of my life.

"Frank," he exclaimed, grasping my hand, "henceforth you go not alone, in the night, in a strange city."

The next day, though stiff and sore from my bruises, I found myself gliding down the Ohio on a splendid steamer, bound for St. Louis, where, in due time, we all ar rived without accident or event worthy of note.

CHAPTER Y.

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THE PRAIRIE SUNSET SCENE REFLEC TIONS OUtt FIRST CAMP COSTUME

EQUIPMENTS THE TRAPPERS, ETC.

THE prairie! the mighty, rolling, and seemingly boundless prairie! With what singular emotions I beheld it for the first time! I could compare it to nothing but a vast sea, changed suddenly to earth, with all its heaving, rolling billows. Thousands upon thousands of acres lay spread before me like a map, bounded by nothing but the deep blue sky. What a magnificent. j sight! A sight that made my soul expand with lofty thought, and its frail tern -ir^ni sink into utter nothingness before it. Talk of man his power, his knowledge, his' greatness what is he? A mere worm, an insect, a mote, a nothing, \vhcn brought, in compare with the grand, the sublime in na ture. Go, take the mighty one of cart;; the crimson-robed, diamond-decked mon arch, whose nod is law, and whose arro gant pride tells him he rules the land and sea take him, bring him hither, and place him in the center of this ocean of land far, far beyond the sounds of civilization and what does he become? Talk to him then of his power, his greatness, his glory; tell him his word is law tc ecmmimd. and he shall be obeyed; remind him of his treasures, and ten him now to try the power of gold! What Av.vi;jd be the re sult? He would deep'ij f>'--! the. mo'-kei-y of your words, and the nothingness of all he oti ce valued; for, alas! they would ,'uck the power to guide, to feed, or save him

from the thousand dangers of the wilder ness.

Similar ce iluiPe were my thoughts, as 1 stood alone, upon a slight rise of ground, and overlooked ;r.i!-.' upon miles of the most lovely, the most sublime scene I had ever beheld. Wave upon wave of land, if I may be allowed the expression, stretched away on every hand, covered with beauti ful, green prairie-grass, and the blooming wild flowers of the wilderness. Afar in the distance I beheld a drove of buffalo quietly grazing; and in another direction a stampede of wild horses, rushing onward with the velocity of the whirling car of modern days. Nearer me I occasionally caught glimpses of various other animals; while iiocks of birds, of beautiful plumage, skimming over the surface, here and there alighting, or starting up from the earth, gave the enchantment of hfe and variety to the picture.

It had been a beautiful day, and the su;a was now just burying himself in the far off ocean of blue, and his golden rays were streaming along the surface of the waving grass, and tinging it with a delightful hue. Occasionally some elevated point like the one on which I stood, caught for a moment his fading rays, and shone like a ball of golden tire. Slowly he took his diurnal farewell as- if loth to quit a scene so lovely and at la:; .t hid himself fiom my view beyond she western. horizon. Then a bright, golden streak shot up toward the darkenirg dome of heaven, and, wideiiir.t' on cither hand, gradually became sweetly blended whh the cerulean blue. Then this slowly faded, and took a more crim son color; then more purple; until, at last, a faint tinge showed the point where the sun had disappeared, while the stars began to appear in the gray vault above.

1 had stood and marked the whole change with that poetical feeling of plea sant sadness which a beautiful sunset rarely fails to awaken in the breast of the lover of nature. I noted every change thai was going on, and yet my thoughts were for, far away, in my native land. [ was thinking of the hundreds of miles that sep arated me from il e friends that, I loved. I was recalling the delight with which. I had, when a boy, viewed the farewell screes of day from some of the many r