In their head-long plunge, those in front pressed on by the innumerable throng behind, it was manifest that no ordinary obstacle would in the slightest degree retard their rush.

The spectacle was sublime and terrible.

Had the travellers been upon the open plain, it seemed inevitable that they must have been trampled down and crushed out of every semblance of humanity by these thousands of hard hoofs.
But it so chanced that they were upon what is called a rolling prairie, with its graceful undulations and gentle eminences.

It was one of these beautiful swells which the grove crowned with its luxuriance.
As the enormous herd came along with its rush and roar, like the bursting forth of a pent-up flood, the terrified mustangs were too much frightened to attempt to escape.

They shivered in every nerve as if stricken by an ague.
An immense black bull led the band.