It also came on to rain hard. We at last
stood still. We were lost in utter darkness, and exposed to a pelting
storm. After a while we heard a faint stroke of a cow bell. We listened
attentively; it was repeated at long intervals, but faintly, as if the
animal was housed. It gave us the direction, which was quite different
from the course we had followed. No obstacle, though there were many,
prevented us from reaching the house, where we arrived wet and hungry,
and half dead with fatigue.
The Merrimack, in whose valley we were thus entangled, is the prime
outlet of the various streams of the mine country, where Renault, and
Arnault, and other French explorers, expended their researches during
the exciting era of the celebrated illusory Mississippi scheme.
The next day we crossed an elevated arid tract for twelve miles to the
village of Carondalet, without encountering a house, or an acre of land
in cultivation. On this tract, which formed a sort of oak orchard, with
high grass, and was a range for wild deer, Jefferson Barracks have since
been located.
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