were only in blossom. Of game also there was plenty, both fur and feather,
but I had no gun, and nothing appeared more probable than that I should
die of hunger, although surrounded by food, and in one of the most
fruitful countries in the world. This thought flashed suddenly across me,
and for a moment my heart sunk within me as I first perceived the real
danger of my position.

After a time, however, other ideas came to console me. I had been already
four weeks in the country, and had ridden over a large slice of it in
every direction, always through prairies, and I had never had any
difficulty in finding my way. True, but then I had always had a compass,
and been in company. It was this sort of over-confidence and feeling of
security, that had made me adventure so rashly, and spite of all warning,
in pursuit of the mustang. I had not waited to reflect, that a little more
than four weeks' experience was necessary to make one acquainted with the
bearings of a district three times as big as New York State. Still I
thought it impossible that I should have got so far out of the right track
as not to be able to find the house before nightfall, which was now,
however, rapidly approaching. Indeed, the first shades of evening, strange
as it may seem, gave this persuasion increased strength. Home bred and
gently nurtured as I was, my life before coming to Texas had been by no
means one of adventure, and I was so used to sleep with a roof over my
head, that when I saw it getting dusk I felt certain I could not be far
from the house. The idea fixed itself so strongly in my mind, that I
involuntarily spurred my mustang, and trotted on, peering out through the
now fast-gathering gloom, in expectation of seeing a light. Several times
I fancied I heard the barking of the dogs, the cattle lowing, or the merry
laugh of the children.

"Hurrah! there is the house at last--I see the lights in the parlour