We had been going for several days through the mountains with considerable difficulty, when one afternoon we reached a splendid pasturage, where we resolved to let our cattle rest. It was at the same time warm. We had doffed our leathern jackets and felt very comfortable when we found thick cedar wood on the western side of this meadow and were able to rest in its shade. We had scarce lit our fire to prepare dinner, when Tiger sprang up, pointed to the north, where several small clouds were rising, and then laid his ear on the ground. "A hurricane (a fearful storm frequent in the Rocky Mountains) is coming up. We must place our cattle in safety," he said, as he leapt up; and we all set to work dragging our traps to the other side of the meadow, where a low rock hung over and covered a considerable space. After carrying across our traps, partly on our animals, partly in our arms, we hastened to collect as large a supply of dry wood as we could, in which an old trunk lying near the rock was of great service to us. This was cut into several pieces, which were rolled under the stone roof, and a fire was lit against one of them, while our horses were quietly grazing. We had scarce completed these preparations when the sky grew dark, and we heard a roaring and hissing, which quickly increased with the growing obscurity. We brought our cattle under the rock and fastened them to pickets we drove into the ground. The cloud grew heavier and darker with each moment and rolled over the mountain crests in a southerly direction. With the roar of the wind was blended dull thunder, and an icy cold spread over the ground. These were merely the announcers of the frightful hurricane, which now dashed down from the Rocky Mountains and announced its approach with a crash that shook the earth. The thunder was so deafening that we could not hear each other speak, and standing silently by our trembling horses we watched the storm drive the clouds of icy rain in almost horizontal direction over our heads, and level the cedar-trees so that the roots stood up instead of the crowns. The cold increased every moment, and ere long everything was covered with a thick crust of ice, while the rain was frozen and hurtled round us in heavy hail. The ground shook under us, and the peals of thunder were repeated by a thousand echoes on the sides of the mountain. Under these circumstances we could consider our situation a fortunate one; for if we had been surprised by this storm, we might easily have fallen victims to it, or at least we must have lost our animals, which no human strength could have mastered in the icy rain. Though pressed closely round the fire and wrapped in our buffalo robes, we shivered from cold. The storm howled till late in the evening, at which time, though dense rain fell, the wind had sunk, and by nine o'clock the clouds broke too. A dead, frozen landscape surrounded us; the moon's bright light shone down into our frozen gully as into a