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Show ( 38 ) seemed to inquire, "Why does not Waanataa love am] mal'ry Yo 1 ka?''-llut none of us durst utter this question aloud, even in Wa:~ natn·a's absence, fe arin~ to meddle in any way with that matter. \¥a a nata a stood in silence for a few minutes, as if listening to so n a unex pec ted noise or sound. At length he ~ai d, in, English, not unJerstooci by the squaws," Brothers! we shall soon have a t hu nde .. storm." The squaws rose almost simultaneously, and at once poi ntt..~ d lo the south-west saying some words to him, who nodded affirmatively, and continued speaking to us. "They also hear and see the thunder-storm coming from yonder mountains. Let us r)rerar~· nn.d pit.ch our· lodges i.n time!" None of us could hear or see any thtng hke the forebodmg of a thunder-storm, or the latleJ.· itse lf, nor even of a mere rain, as the sun shone brightly, an.d. the sky was cloqcJlcss, nt least fot· our eyes, although not for those of our Indian brothvr and sisters. We only felt a fresh breeze b-lowing from the moiJnl< lins in the sot1th-west, and we would scarcely believe what WaJnataa faretold us, and in. consequence of which our squaws made haste in pitching our lodges,. while he told Ned to secure our ani·· mals, as fast as possible. ' \fter some minutes, dnring which we communicated to each other our doubts of Waanat::m's and the squaws' corre-ctness in weatherprophecy, for t his time, at least, we hea!'d already a s]~o,ht roar ot: di!'Jtant thunder, and saw a curtain of dense clonds,.like bl~ck srnol<e,. r i~e fr~m beyond the mountains ; while the wind grew stronger and our antma}s more uneasy, at every moment. We had no time to· d.iscu~s now, and were not.dis~osed to rail or to laugh at our presc 11 t sttuatwn. But Waanaba tnspu·ed us aH with good hllrnou.r, by his unexpected remarlt to Johns: "Brother! now you may soon catetl a thun<ier-bolt, and use it as a playing ball P' Johns looked sulk\· and declined answering, althou~h we laughed a little at his expen .. ~~.' Jt was about noon, but the sky being so heavily covered with den e and black clouus, we were soon surrounded by an almost night l \' darkness, and scarcely able to distinguish af\y obj1ect beyon.d fi\·e hundred yards from our camp. If we had now had the misfortune to be attacked by a band of ~nim ical Indians, our chance £'O<r a victory woulJ have been very poor. Bu,t,. happily, there was no such dan ger for us at present; having sublime nature alone to contend with or rather, ~o make a compromise, by creeping under our tents an{l !odges, wh1ch we had safely fastened on the ground. Carrel, Do1vnmg and ~axle volunte~red to watch our camp Juring the thund erstorm, whtle Ned remamed faithful with om· animals. All t.he o the~' members of our company took refuge under cover, except Waan ntaa~ who had 0~1ly seen ~ onka safely lodged, and now join ed om· vol unteers, offertng to. rel1.~ve Maxie, who cleclined, however, to ret ire.· Donalson crept likewise out from under one of the tents cxclaimin1r ,, My mothe~'s only son ITIIJSt not hide ht~self, like 3 n\tle chick e~: under the w1~gs of a clucking hen. Where's ·John s ?" The oth er \'?lunteers pomted at one of the lodges, whither Donalson Im n~e!: hately went, opening it, and crying, "Halloo! brother Johns! Come out and catch thunder-bolts! 'I'hey'll soon be here, and jump about ( 39 ) ~ like grashoppers/' "Oh! let me alone!" replied Johns, '• I don 't feel well now!" "Ha! ha !" lau g,hed Donalson, unmercifully r ailing at him, "Johns has already caught the thunder-fever, beJore the arriv!'ll of the thunder-storm, just as mnny a young recruit catches the cannon-fever before a battle. Poor ft.llow !'' The merry volunteers' peal of laughter was instantly followed by a tremendous peal of thunder, simultaneous with a terrible flash of liJ,!;htning, by which our animals were so frightened tha.t th ey all jumped and danced ab?ut, as those M.andan n:ock-warrwrs .lately did. Carrel, apprehendmg that the ammals 1mght break the1r hal ters, and run away, commanded, "All hands out!" In a few ·moments, all our men, and even the four squaws, were out and ready to act, hy Carrel's command. "Let every one take hold of his muleb '" Every thing was done, accordingly. Ned also could, with the as~istance of the dogs, m~na~ e the other animals. The only real disagreeableness for us Jn this natural event was, that we were all deluged by a wholesale shower-bath, which followed immediately after the principal clap of th under. Poor Johns was not a little teased by our many questions Jbout thunder-bolts and thunder-fever, with which Donalson supposed hiin to be affected; consequently, he kept up. the _ge~ eral hilarity by proposing to Johns that he should protect h1msel£ w1t.h a portable lightning rod, made in imitation of Dr. Franklin's electrical kite, and wound, like a serpent, about Johns, from top to toe . . After the thunder-storm and rain, which lasted for half an hour, with uninterrupted vehemence, we had enough to do until e~enin)l;, in dryin(J' or rather in trying to dry, ourselves and our thmgs, as we had ~;o dry fue'l to make a fire. Carrel, therefore, judiciou:sly proposed, and we all agreed with him, that every p~rson of the comp: my should drink a small glass of good brandy, \'Vhtch we h~d taken along with us for such emergencies as the present. Thus fortified and warmed by a dram, which now was a real benefit, every one of Ul5 retired to his or her couch, covered by a tent, or a lodge, before night had set in, during which time our scouts were relieved every quarter of an hour. By this arrangement we were all equally kept in good spirits and in good health, which had always been excellent with us in ~eneral, since our first start together. It seemed that the thunder-storm-extraordinary in such a late season-was the precursor of snow and cold weather: for, after t ~at day, snow fell almost continually; and when we reached, on Chnstmas eve (Sunday 24th of December,) the mouth of the south fork of the Platte ri v~r, the snow w~s over one foot deep ! Till!~ we were under the necessity to stop our progress het~e, at lea.st. ~ nttl we .should be able to find a more convenient plnce 111 the VJCIIHty. · A proper 1'pot was rhosen, and cleared of snow by means of our shovels, of which each man of the comp<tny had one: anci, after two hours' labour, our ten(s and lodges were pitched. . . We soon became impressed with ~·h~ necesstty th.at our da1ly task would be, as long as the snow was f:tll.mg: to clear It away from our camp eyery morning and every evenmg, so that we '"''ould not be |