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11th. Started for the Trinity. 1½ miles from Houston 100 on the 'Union Springs' Paid to have mineral ?. sentence crossed out We had left Houston rather late in the day & got benighted, we saw a light in the distance apparently in our track we approached it, & crack went a rifle ball. We sang out lustily, that although we were dear be were not quite^the sort of game to be taken in that way -

 I need hardly say that the light we took for a house was a pan of pine sticks, burning by some deer hunters. x

They apologized to us & we pursued our way. It was very dark & we supposed from the distance we had travelled that we had rather overshot the spot we had intended to remain at for the night & neither of us had ever been this road before. As yet there are no Sign posts. We held a 'Counsel of War'^ & finding that we had no provisions or water, came to the conclusion to "camp out". My friend rode in a "Sulky", I was on horseback. We tethered our beasts, then got under the lee of the 'Sulky,' were amused with an occasional howl from the wolves, but^at last went to sleep. 12th At day break in the morning we found that we were about three miles from the settlement we had intended to have slept at.

in margin x In a word they had "shined' our horses eyes, taking them to be those of deer. (Vide deer hunting)