This we
followed, and soon found ourselves on the summit of the ridge. There we
were again gratified at finding spread out before us a perfectly level
prairie, extending as far as the eye could reach, without a tree to
break the monotony of the scene.
We halted a few minutes to rest our horses, and for some time watched
what was passing in the valley we had left, now lying a thousand feet
below us. All we could perceive at the distance which we were, was that
all was in motion, and we thought that our best plan was to leave as
much space between us and the Cayugas as possible. We had but little
time to converse with the liberated Comanches, yet we gained from them
that we were in the right direction, and were not many days from our
destination.
At the moment we were mounting our horses, all was quiet again in the
valley below. It was a lovely panorama, and, viewing it from the point
where we stood, we could hardly believe that, some hours previous, such
a horrible tragedy had been there peformed. Softened down by the
distance, there was a tranquillity about it which appeared as if it
never had been broken. The deep brown skirting of bushes, on the sides
of the different water-courses, broke and varied the otherwise vast
extent of vivid green. The waters of the river, now reduced to a silver
thread, were occasionally brought to view by some turn in the stream,
and again lost to sight under the rich foliage on the banks.
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