Don't you hear anything?"
Our horses, indeed, were beginning to grow wild with excitement, and
thinking that their instinct had told them that wolves were near, I tied
them closer to where we bivouacked, and then applied my ears to the
ground, to try and catch any sound.
"I hear no noise," said I, "except the morning breeze passing through
the withered grass. Our horses have been smelling wolves, but the brutes
will not approach our fire."
The parson, who had a great faith in my "white Indian nature," resumed
the thread of his narrative:--
"To cut the matter short, I pass over my trip to New Orleans and
Galveston. Suffice it to say, that I was a gentleman preacher, with
plenty of money, and that the Texans, president, generals, and all,
condescended to eat my dinners, though they would not hear my sermons;
even the women looked softly upon me, for I had two trunks, linen in
plenty, and I had taken the precaution in Louisiana of getting rid of my
shin-plasters for hard specie. I could have married anybody, if I had
wished, from the president's old mother to the barmaid at the tavern. I
had money, and to me all was smiles and sunshine. One day I met General
Meyer; the impudent fellow came immediately to me, shook my hand in
quite a cordial manner, and inquired how my health had been since he had
seen me last.
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