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Show 58 THE CALIFORNIA AND OREGON TRAIL. . h f: of the utmost surliness, while the u on our saddles Wit aces . p d f the vizors of our caps, and tnckled down water droppe rom . our cheeks. MY I.n d'I a-I. u bber cloak conducted twenty httle rapi.d stream1 e ts to the ground '. and Shaw's blanket coat was d 1.1 e But what most concerned us, was the saturate He a spong · . . si. ght of several pu ddles of water rap- idly accumulating ; one, In partw. u1 a r, that was gathering around the tent-pol.e , threatened to oversprea d the whole area within the tent, holding forth but an indifferent promise of a comfortable night's r est. Toward sunset, however, the storm ceased as suddenly as it began. A briaht streak of clear red sky appeared above the western verge b of the prairie, the horizontal rays of the sinking sun streamed through it, and glittered in a thousand prismatic colors upon the dripping groves and the prostrate grass. The pools in the tent dwindled and sunk into the saturated soil. But all our hopes were delusive. Scarcely had night set in, when the tumult broke forth anew. The thunder here is not like the tame thunder of the Atlantic coast. Bursting with a terrific crash directly above our heads, it roared over the boundless waste of prairie, seeming to roll around the whole circle of the firmament with a peculiar and awful reverberation. The lightning flashed all night, playing with its livid glare upon the neighboring trees, revealing the vast expanse of the plain, and then leaving us shut in as if by a palpable wall of darkness. It did not disturb us much. Now and then a peal awakened us, and made us conscious of the electric battle that was raging, and of the floods that dashed upon the stanch canvas over our heads. We lay upon india-rubber cloths, placed between our blankets and the soil. For a while, they excluded the THE ' BIG BLUE.' 59 water to admiration ; but when at length it accumulated and began to run over the edges, they served equally well to retain it, so that toward the end of the night we were unconsciously reposing in stnall pools of rain. On finally awaking in the morning the prospect was not a cheerful one. The rain no longer poured in torrents; but it pattered with a quiet pertinacity upon the strained and saturated canvas. We disengaged ourselves from our blankets, every fibre of which glistened with little bead-like drops of water, and looked out in the vain hope of discovering some token of fair weather. The clouds, in lead-colored volumes, rested upon the dismal verge of the prairie, or hung sluggishly overhead, while the earth wore an aspect no more attractive than the heavens, exhibiting nothing but pools of water, grass beaten down, and mud well trampled by our mules and horses. · Our companions' tent, with an air of forlorn and passive misery, and their wagons in like manner, drenched and wobegonc, stood not far off. The Captain was just returning fi·om his 1norning's inspection of the horses. He stalked through the mist and rain, with his plaid around his shoulders, his little pipe, dingy as an antiqua~ rian relic, projecting from beneath his moustache, and his brother Jack at his heels. ' Good morning, Captain.' 'Good morning to your honors,' said the Captain, affecting the Hibernian accent ; but at that instant, as he stooped to enter the tent, he tripped upon the cord at the entrance, and pitched forward against the guns which were strapped around the pole in the centre. 'You are nice men, you are !' said he:; after an ejaculation |