The trees began to loom up ahead, and both lads began to feel a new concern with regard to how they could manage, first of all, to pass in among the sheltering timber, so as to avoid meeting with an accident; and then, after this had been accomplished, escape being crushed in the dense mass of buffaloes that would be surging forward, bent on finding a haven from the pelting rain.
"Be careful now, Roger!" shouted Dick, as they passed the first outlying tree.
It required considerable control over the laboring horses to keep from colliding with the obstacles that began to be strewn across their path; but by degrees the boys managed to regain control over their steeds, which were almost winded, on account of their long run; and after that it was not so difficult.
Sure enough, the river proved to be close at hand, and, finding that there was an open stretch of beach bordering it, Dick led the way along this, his object being to reach a point as far up-stream as possible, so as to get beyond the range of the buffalo herd.
Now their horses were floundering knee-deep in the water, and again running along the shore; but all the while making progress, and that satisfied the two lads.
"That was as close a shave as we ever had, Dick!" called out Roger, who was in the rear, quite content for once to let his cousin do the leading, for he was still quivering with the recent excitement, and could hardly believe that they had come out of it with whole skins.
"Yes, and it's a good thing for us this little stretch runs along the edge of the water," was what the other answered back.
"Listen to the buffaloes coming into the timber. There seems to be no end to them. Do you think they'll crowd down to the water before we can get above the edge of the drove? Is there any end to it, Dick?" (Note 4.)
"Oh! yes," replied Dick, "and already I think we're getting to where there are not so many, for the sound of their hoofs seems less. Keep right on coming, Roger, and in the end we'll have a fire, and dry off."
"That suits me, because already I'm shivering with the cold. This thing of riding at top speed with a wet jacket isn't much fun, Dick, I tell you."
So long as there was danger that they might be trampled under the hoofs of the herd, Roger had not given his soaked condition a single thought, for the excitement kept him up. It was only after safety seemed assured that he could allow himself to consider his feelings; and then, as he said, he discovered that he was shaking all over.