Indeed there was still danger, for the wind was high, and carried before
it large sheets of flames to the opposite side, where the dried grass
and bushes soon became ignited, and the destructive element thus passed
the chasm and continued its pursuit.
We congratulated ourselves upon having thus found security, and returned
thanks to heaven for our wonderful escape; and as we were now safe from
immediate danger, we lighted a fire and feasted upon a young
buffalo-calf, every bone of which we found had been broken into
splinters[25].
[Footnote 25: I have said, at a venture, that we descended more than a
hundred feet into the chasm before we fairly landed on the bodies of the
animals. The chasm itself could not have been less than two hundred and
fifty to three hundred feet deep at the part that we plunged down. This
will give the reader some idea of the vast quantity of bodies of
animals, chiefly buffaloes, which were there piled up. I consider that
this pile must have been formed wholly from the foremost of the mass,
and that when formed, it broke the fall of the others, who followed
them, as it did our own: indeed, the summit of the heap was pounded into
a sort of jelly.]
CHAPTER XXIX.
Two days did we remain in our shelter, to regain our strength and to
rest our horses.
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