I made an effort to extricate myself; another, more violent, and equally unsuccessful, and, with a third, I lost my balance, and fell back upon the water.  Half suffocated, I regained my upright position, but only to find that I was held as fast as ever.  Again I struggled to free my limbs.  I could neither move them backward nor forward—­to the right nor the left; and I became sensible that I was gradually going down.  Then the fearful truth flashed upon me—­I was sinking in a quicksand!  A feeling of horror came over me.  I renewed my efforts with the energy of desperation.  I leaned to one side, then to the other, almost wrenching my knees from their sockets.  My feet remained as fast as ever.  I could not move them an inch.

The soft, clingy sand already overtopped my horse-skin boots, wedging them around my ankles, so that I was unable to draw them off; and I could feel that I was still sinking slowly but surely, as though some subterraneous monster was leisurely dragging me down.  This very thought caused me a fresh thrill of horror, and I called aloud for help.  To whom?  There was no one within miles of me—­no living thing.  Yes! the neigh of my horse answered me from the hill, mocking me in my despair.

I bent forward as well as my constrained position would permit; and, with frenzied fingers commenced tearing up the sand.  I could barely reach the surface, and the little hollow I was able to make filled up almost as soon as it had been formed.  A thought occurred to me.  My rifle might support me, placed horizontally.  I looked for it.  It was not to be seen.  It had sunk beneath the sand.  Could I throw my body flat, and prevent myself from sinking deeper?  No!  The water was two feet in depth.  I should drown at once.  This last hope left me as soon as formed.  I could think of no plan to save myself.  I could make no further effort.  A strange stupor seized upon me.  My very thoughts became paralyzed.  I knew that I was going mad.  For a moment I was mad.

After an interval, my senses returned.  I made an effort to rouse my mind from its paralysis, in order that I might meet death, which I now believed to be certain, as a man should.  I stood erect.  My eyes had sunk to the prairie level, and rested upon the still bleeding victims of my cruelty.  My heart smote me at the sight.  Was I suffering a retribution of God?  With humbled and penitent thoughts, I turned my face to heaven, almost dreading that some sign of omnipotent anger would scowl upon me from above.  But no!  The sun was shining as bright as ever; and the blue canopy of the world was without a cloud.  I gazed upward with earnestness known only to the hearts of men in positions of peril like mine.