Santa Fe, Texas - Narrative of the Texan Santa Fé Expedition, Comprising a Description O (part 6 of 9)

All was now inquiry and speculation as to the name of the stream we were upon. Some of our men, and they the wisest, too, contended that we had either crossed or headed Red River, and that we were now upon one of the southern forks of the Canadian. Others, again, said that if there was any such stream as Red River above the lower or middle prairies, this must be it, although its waters were entirely dissimilar in all respects to what existed in our received opinions as the general features and appearance of that stream. Then there were two or three men among us, old trappers and traders who had visited Santa Fe by way of St. Louis, who said that we were upon the

Speculations Concerning Red River

Mora, and but a few miles from San Miguel. Of course, nothing certain can be known ; but the more probable conjecture is, that we were now upon the waters of the Arkansas, and that we had headed the Red River of the United States. This cuts off some two or three hundred miles from the length of the latter stream, as laid down upon a majority of the maps ; but I am inclined to believe that it deserves this abbreviation.

If the Red River of the United States rises in the Rocky Mountains - the reader will bear in mind that I say if - how and where docs it make its descent, from the high table-lands which form the base of those eminences, to the prairies beneath the m.iin western steppe ? The descent can hardly be gradual, but, on the contrary, the stream must tumble, in some places, hundreds of feet down the eminences which the traveller is obliged to ascend as he journeys westward from the Cross Timbers. These steppes grow higher and more abrupt, as they extend to the south, after leaving the valleys of the Canadian and Arkansas ; in fact, I do not know that they extend north of the southern fork of the Canadian at all.

The New Mexicans have a Red River, rising in the mountains north of Santa Fe, but this is known to be but a branch of the Canadian. Farther south rises the Mora ; this is another stream finding its way to the Canadian, and at this, although by this time the name may have been changed, I have little doubt we had now arrived. Its waters are as unlike those of the Red River as are those of the Croton unlike the Mississippi. A majority of the map-makers, by joining the Red River as far as known with some one of the rivers rising in the Rocky Mountains, have made a long and very pretty stream, as seen upon their charts ; were they to journey along the line of their imaginary river, with the hope of finding the water they have traced, I am inclined to believe they would suffer much from thirst before they had crossed the boundless prairie spreading eastward from the outer spurs of the Rocky Mountains.

Not to tire my reader much farther with speculations in relation to Red River, I will here state my belief that it takes its rise at the base of the high steppe I have so often alluded to, and but a few miles north of the head waters of the Brazos and Colorado of Texas. On its southern side it receives the waters of the Quintufue and Palo Duro, rising from the sides of the high steppe,* with other short but wide streams, which in spring contain much water. We crossed them during the dry season, and at a time when their beds contained but little, and that brackish and standing in sluggish pools. Southeast of the steppe, at a distance of perhaps seventy-five miles, rises the Wichita, which, after running a course 'a little north of east, empties into the Red River some fifty or seventy miles west of the Cross Timbers. It may be recollected that in a previous chapter, and prior to the departure of Carlos, we had noticed a large stream south of the Wichita, and running nearly parallel ; that was undoubtedly the red fork of the Brazos.

It is certainly not a little amusing to examine the Red River of the different maps, and trace its most singular windings. On several of the maps now before me, I see that it rises north of Santa Fe, near latitude 38° north, and in longitude varying from 104 to 106° west of Greenwich. On one of these maps its general course,

* The Mexicans, who started with Albert Pike in his journey across the prairies, spoke of this steppe, and gave the name of Las Cejas, or the Eyebrows, to the singular range. Mr. P. appears to have passed to the south of the steppe, his Mexican companions returning before he reached the Brazos.

for some five hundred miles, is southwest ; on another it only runs some three hundred in that direction, and then strikes off across the prairies north of east. The most correctly-laid-down course of the stream, on any of the charts I have examined, may be found on Tanner's map of Mexico ; but there it is somewhat too long, although the general eastern course he has given it is in the main correct. But I must leave speculation, and return to the watercourse we had by this time reached. Our little party remained some half hour upon the banks of the stream, considering which route to pursue. The general course of the river, as I have before stated, was a little north of east, and to follow it up was finally decided upon. We proceeded along its northern banks, as that side afforded the best travelling, until dark, when we encamped in a copse of cotton-woods. A dreary, rainy night, was followed by a day so cloudy that we could not steer a course ; yet there was the river acting as guide, and we followed it. At times we were close in upon the narrow but fertile valley which skirted its borders ; at others, some long bend in the stream would throw us out upon a succession of low, barren sand-hills, with little other vegetation gracing their sides than dwarf thorn, prickly pear, or plum bushes. The latter were not more than eighteen inches high, yet they appeared to thrive luxuriantly in the sand, and when we were among them they were loaded with plums of the largest size, and such as were ripe were of delicious flavour. Ripe or unripe, however, the bushes were stripped by our famished men, the fruit filling their stomachs for the time, but yielding no real nourishment. Some of the half-dried plums we found in the sand tasted like prunes. During the day we also found large quantities of small but well-flavoured grapes, which were devoured with an avidity that told our suffering. It was on this day that our runaway guide, Carlos, was seen by two of our men, who were out some distance from the main body in search of plums. He was still in company with the Italian, Brignoli, and both said that they had been lost, and half starved from the hour when they left us, at the same time begging earnestly for provisions. Their worn and haggard aspect told more forcibly than words that they had endured suffering the most intense. As they promised to come into our camp at night, our men left them without asking many questions, but they never came. Carlos probably feared that we might shoot him, and for that reason kept out of our way. Had any of our horses been in condition, the fugitives would probably have been pursued, and brought in - as it was, we saw no more of them until after we were taken prisoners.

From after circumstances I have little doubt that Carlos now knew where he was, but he was undoubtedly ignorant on that point and lost at the time when he left us. The fellow had trapped up and down the innumerable watercourses of the lower prairies without knowing the name of one of them, else how could he direct our men to plum-patches and springs a long distance in advance, and invariably writh accuracy ? On arriving at the stream of fresh water which he called the Utau, ho doubtless saw signs and landmarks closely resembling the features of a stream called by that name which really exists but a few days' ride from Santa Fe. As he guided us onward, in the course of some three or four days he found that he had not only deceived himself, but the command, and his fear of punishment induced him to leave us at the earliest opportunity that offered.

The Crows

which our whilom guide had been seen, we found what appeared to be an old cart road, and also a deserted Mexican camp. The road we followed until it was lost upon a sandy prairie destitute of vegetation. This day, three mountains were discovered in a southwest direction, and some fifteen miles distant, which bore the strongest resemblance to the description Carlos had often given us of The Crows. It seemed, too, as though we could discover a passage through the chain of smaller hills north of them - an opening resembling the Angosturas I have often before mentioned - but we had been so often deceived that few of us could now anticipate any such good fortune.

In the mean time, our men were driven nearly to desperation by hunger. Little or no order could be preserved by the officers, the volunteers scattering about in every direction, hunting for plums, grapes, and such game as might fall in their way. Few deer or antelope were seen, and they were so shy that it was impossible to shoot them ; but in place of them every tortoise and snake, every living and creeping thing was seized upon and swallowed by our famishing men with a rapacity that nothing but the direst hunger could induce. Occasionally a skunk or polecat would reward some one more fortunate than the rest ; but seven out of every ten of us were compelled to journey on without a morsel of anything to appease our sufferings.

One amusing little anecdote I will here relate, to show, in the first place, the direful straits to which our men were driven, and in the second to give my readers an insight into the trickery of old campaigners. We had reached a camping-ground late one evening, where a sufficiency of wood was found to kindle good, substantial fires. While a knot of us were reclining around one of the fires, speculating as to our prospects, a youngster brought in a spotted-backed land tortoise, alive and kicking, which he had been fortunate enough to find upon the prairie. Throwing it upon the ground, and placing the end of his rifle upon the back of the animal to prevent its crawling off, he next asked an old hunter how to cook his prize. The answer was, that he must open the coals and throw the tortoise in, cover it over, and allow it to remain for at least half an hour in the fire - a longer time would only serve to make the repast more savoury.

No sooner said than done ; for in less than a minute the unfortunate tortoise was roasting alive beneath a bushel of coals. The countenance of the young man was lit with joy in anticipation of a meal, which, although at any other time it would have been revolting, he now coveted with that longing which starvation only can create. But it was a meal he was not destined to enjoy. The old campaigner, after telling him three or four times that his supper was not cooked, finally found means to withdraw the youngster's attention from the coals, and then to whip the animal out with his iron ramrod was but the work of a moment. Another moment, and the well-roasted terrapin was safe behind the back of the more elderly ranger, and where the youngster could not see it.

" Pretty well cooked by this time - you can take him out," retorted the old borderer, while he quietly watched the first speaker as he eagerly raked open the embers.

The Rocky Mountains

menced opening the coals, were slow and decided : byand-by, as he neared the bottom of the mouldering heap, his action grew excited and hurried. The expression of his countenance may be easier imagined than described, as, after having dug to the hard ground itself, he turned to the author of his misfortune, and, in utter ignorance of the trick, exclaimed, " He's gone /"

" Because," continued the ranger, " you must have thought the terrapin mightily troubled with the simples if you supposed he would stay in the fire and be roasted alive, when he could easily crawl out and make tracks off!"

Gloomily the youngster dragged himself to his blanket supperless, while the old trickster quietly wended his way to a neighbouring fire to pick the scanty meat from his ill-got prize, and chuckle at his success in " doing" the green-horn out of his supper. To return to my narrative.

The road we had found and followed some distance in the morning we hunted for in vain in the afternoon : all the old wheel-marks had lost themselves in a barren, gravelly prairie. That we must find a passage through or over the mountains before us was considered certain, but where that passage was, no one could imagine. We were far from being aware of it at the time, but they proved to be outer and eastern spurs of the Rocky Mountains. As the sun gradually sank behind their lofty and ragged summits, a raw, chill breeze sprang up from their neighbourhood. It was the first cold weath-

We continued our march until we reached the dry bed of a mountain stream, upon the banks of which we encamped for the night. A flock of wild turkeys had taken shelter under the banks, running off as we approached their roost. Although contrary to strict orders, nothing could restrain our men from banging and blazing away at the turkeys as they sped across the prairie - fifty rifles and muskets being discharged at them before they were out of sight. Two or three only were killed by the volley and running fire which ensued, and they were but half grown, and so extremely poor that they did not furnish a meal for half a dozen men. To go farther without something to eat was now deemed impossible - the wild and haggard expression, the sunken eyes, and sallow, fleshless faces of the men too plainly showed that some means of sustenance must be speedily provided. A horse formerly belonging to Rowland, which in the early part of the campaign had been one of the best animals in the command, was now found to be so poor and badly broken down that it was resolved to shoot him and divide his flesh among the different messes. As they led the once proud and gallant animal to execution, the words of an old nursery song came fresh to my mind - one that I had neither heard nor thought of for many, many years. The burden of the ballad was, and I have only mentioned the circumstance to illustrate the well-known eccentricities of memory. A man is often placed in situations and becomes a witness of

Cold And Hunger

But to return to the actual. The horse was killed, and in less time than it takes me to tell it his hide was off and his flesh distributed. I have before said that the flesh of a young mustang is excellent - but that of an old, broken-down horse is quite another affair. It was tough as India-rubber, and the more a piece of it was masticated the larger it became in the mouth. Poor as it was, however, and hard to swallow, I am confident that many a man in the party ate four or five pounds of it, half cooked and without salt - I know that I devoured my share. That I lost some of the good opinion I entertained of myself while eating this food I will not pretend to deny, and even a buzzard, that sat perched upon a dry limb of a cotton-wood overhead, appeared to look down upon us reproachfully as he saw us appropriating food that legitimately belonged to him. There was something, too, like honest indignation expressed in the countenance of a wolf, which sat quietly watching our operations from the adjoining prairie ; but at the time we were hungry enough to make a meal even of him had he fallen into our hands. A man never knows what he will eat until driven by a week's starvation.

Our tough and most unsavoury meal over, we spread our blankets in the ravine, where we could be partially protected from the biting northeast wind ; but the cutting blasts found their way through our scanty covering, chilling our weakened frames to such a degree as almost entirely to prevent sleep. With the ordinary stock of flesh and blood we should have been far better able to withstand the bitter wind ; as it was, we could only shrug and shake, and pass a sleepless night.

Weak and unrefreshed, we arose in the morning - breakfastless and desponding, we mounted our horses, and once more resumed our gloomy march. Our course was southwest, and in the direction of what appeared to be a passage through the mountains ; but after travelling some six or eight miles we found our farther progress cut off by high and precipitous ascents. To return was our only alternative, and at noon we again found ourselves near the point whence we had started in the morning.

A consultation was now held as to our future course. Running directly north was a high chain of mountains, extending as far as the eye could reach, and many contended that our best course would be to travel along the base of this chain until we either found a passage through or met with the trail of the St. Louis traders. Others, again, thought our wisest and safest plan would be to attempt crossing directly over the mountains where we then were, laborious as was the prospect. The 'latter party prevailed, and the attempt to cross was immediately made.

After incredible fatigue to both horses and men, for we were obliged to dismount and carry our arms and baggage in our hands, the ascent was finally achieved. Arrived at the summit, a beautiful prospect was before us. Below, a peaceful and lovely valley was spread out, through the centre of which the large stream we had left the previous day wound along. Innumerable brooks, taking their rise in the mountains around, meandered through this valley, and finally found their way to the larger stream. Their immediate borders were fringed with small trees and bushes of the deepest green, while the banks of the river were skirted with a narrow belt of timber of larger and more luxuriant growth.

A Splendid Sunset

The valley was hemmed in on all sides by mountains, whose frowning and precipitous fronts appeared to offer impassable barriers against all approach to the tranquil and beautiful scene lying far below us. At another time these ragged and dangerous steeps might have stayed our farther advance ; but now, after allowing our poor and foot-sore animals a short rest, we drove them down, and in less than an hour found ourselves safe in the valley. It was now discovered that two of our men were missing, unable, probably, from their own weakness and the jaded condition of their horses, to keep up with the main body. We could only hope that they might be able to follow our trail and overtake us at our encampment - it was impossible, so weak and lame were all our horses, to go back in search of them.

On reaching the timber of the river banks we immediately encamped, and turned our animals loose to graze and rest themselves after their fatiguing mountain march. The river was found to abound with catfish, and as we had several hooks and lines with us, a sufficient number were caught to give us all a meal. I should perhaps call it a feast ; for even without salt or seasoning of any kind, many of our men ate pound after pound of the coarse fish with a relish which a gouty alderman might covet, but could never enjoy over the best bowl of turtle soup the ingenuity of man ever compounded.

Sunset in this secluded valley presented a scene of almost unrivalled magnificence, as well as of mild and heavenly beauty. The tops of the surrounding mountains, upon which the blue vault of heaven seemed to rest, were gilded by the sun's last and most brilliant rays, while the deep-black shadows, as some beam of sunlight would dance around and kiss for the last time a more towering summit, would course hurriedly down the frowning mountain sides, as if to find their homes in the depths below ere darkness assumed her sway. A soothing, an ethereal quiet reigned throughout the valley, broken only by the evening hymn of some turtle-dove, vowing anew her constancy to her mate, or by the last bark of the squirrel, as, with light and buoyant leaps, he wended his way from the river to his nest among the mountain cliffs. By-and-by a brood of wild turkeys, which had been hunting for their supper at the base of the rocky steeps, flew over our heads and sought their roost in a large cotton-wood which overhung the river. The sharp crack of a rifle soon announced the doom of one of the flock, while the report, taken up by a thousand echoes, reverberated from grot and glen, from steep hillside and quiet dell, until lost to the ear in distance. Night had thrown her sable mantle, alike over the valley and the recently-gilded mountain-tops, before I could turn from the contemplation of the lovely scene.

Early the next morning, Mr. Hunt, our guide, set off, in company with Captain Sutton, in search of a passage through the mountains, which would lead us along the river banks. They returned in two or three hours with the joyful intelligence that they had discovered an excellent route in a western direction, one which would extricate us from our present dilemma without much labour. To saddle and mount our horses was a work of but few moments, and then, with hearts much lightened, we resumed the journey.

After crossing the river, and emerging from the timber which lined its banks, we entered a narrow but open valley that had been concealed from view by a projecting point of one of the mountains. Two hours' ride brought us into a road which had evidently been used for carts, as we found yoke-keys, standards, and other trappings belonging to a Mexican vehicle, scattered along its sides. On either hand, the frowning and rocky sides of mountains rose high above us, and we now knew and felt that we were in the Angosturas, or Narrows of the river so often spoken of by Carlos, where the stream has forced its passage through the eastern spur of the Rocky Mountains. Well do these mountains deserve their name, for they are nothing but immense heaps of stones, irregularly piled up, while but little vegetation is to be found upon their sides save a few stunted pines and cedars.

For three or four miles, after first entering the Angosturas, our road was along a solid ledge of rocks, the river on our right, and running nearly east and west. The greatest width of the pass through which the stream runs, until the traveller leaves the rocky road, cannot be more than half a mile, while the towering fronts of the mountains on either side are so steep that even a goat would find much difficulty in climbing them. On leaving the ledge of rocks the pass grows gradually wider, and the road becomes sandy. We had no sooner struck the latter than the tracks of mules and asses were plainly visible. A little farther on, the footprints of men were also seen, and from every appearance they had been made but a few hours. Not a sign of a human habitation had we discovered, either in the beautiful valley where we had spent the previous night or along the road we were now travelling, but that we had at length reached an open highway and were close upon a party of Mexicans was evident enough.

With feelings the most joyful we now spurred our animals briskly forward. The sagacious brutes themselves seemed to know that they were near the end of their long and tiresome journey, for they pricked up their ears and willingly responded to our call upon them for a faster pace. Gradually the Narrows became wider, the road grew smoother, and just as the sun was losing itself behind the western mountains we came up with the Mexicans, encamped at the mouth of the gorge at which the river enters the Angosturas. As Carlos had always told us, the river at this point turns immediately north, watering a narrow and fertile valley.

Those of my readers who have ever made a long sea voyage may remember how eagerly, at the approach of its termination, when the pilot first placed his foot upon deck, they crowded around and pressed him with idle questions innumerable : so with us, in coming up with these strangers. Every one among us, who could speak a word of Spanish, earnestly showered upon the ragged, swarthy, and half-frightened Mexicans volumes of interrogations, without giving them time to answer one of them, even had they been able or willing. The fellows were just returning, with a small drove of broken-down mules and donkeys, from a trading trip of some two Vnonths' duration among the Caygiias and Camanches. They frankly told us, as soon as we gave them time to breathe and collect the little scattering sense they had, that they had seen us early in the morning, and that such of their companions as were better mounted had instantly fled, in fear that we might rob them.

In answer to the question as to the state of feeling in New Mexico regarding our approach, they could give us no information - upon this point they knew nothing. They had been absent months from the settlements, and were trading with the Caygiias when the unfortunate Hull and his party were killed, although they had no part or lot in that massacre. They also told us that they were in the main camp of the Indians when the murdering party returned, bringing the dead bodies of eleven of their warriors, among whom was a principal chief. The ceremonies and performances on the occasion - the wild dances of the warriors around the scalps of their victims, with the painful penance of the women in token of their grief for the loss of the warriors of the tribe - were described by our new acquaintances with graphic effect. The women smote and cut their breasts, and ran naked through thorns and prickly pear-bushes, to show the intensity of their affection.

We next asked the Mexicans the distance to the Palo Duro, or rather to the spot where our main body with the wagons were encamped. They said that a good mule could travel the distance easily in four days. Upon our telling them the route we had taken, and that we had been thirteen days on the road, they expressed the greatest astonishment - said it was wonderful that we had been able to cross the immense chasms and mountains at all. They said that if we had taken a course directly west, on starting, we should have avoided the deep canons altogether, and had a good, smooth road the whole distance. In addition, they informed us that Carlos and his companion had passed them in the morning, completely worn down by hunger and fatigue. By this it would seem that the runaway guide had taken a course too much to the north, and fallen into the same errors which had caused us so much trouble.

As regards provisions, the Mexicans were almost as badly off as ourselves, their stock being nearly exhausted. They gave the mess to which I was attached, however, a small quantity of barley meal ; just enough for a taste, and that was all. They said that San Miguel was still some seventy or eighty miles distant, but before reaching it we should fall in with large herds of sheep, and also the little village of Anton Chico. At the latter place we could procure tortillas and atole ; the former a species of thin cake in universal use throughout Mexico, and the latter a thin mush, made of meal and water or cow's or goat's milk, and also a standing dish of the country. Anything, but more especially any preparation of meal or flour, would have been as welcome to us as manna was to the suffering Israelites in the wilderness.

The next morning, three of the Mexicans were hired to go back to our companions, one of our Mexican servants, Matias, disguised completely, so that he might not be suspected by any Indians they should meet on the route, accompanying them. They were provided with the best and least jaded mules we had, and took with them a package of letters to General McLeod. The purport of those letters was, that we had arrived within two or three days' ride of the settlements, and that the best course the command could pursue would be to march immediately, under direction of the guides, towards San Miguel. The Mexicans, after receiving full instructions from Colonel Cooke and Doctor Brenham, set out on their journey across the immense prairie, and, as we afterward learned, were less than four days in going a distance which had occupied us thirteen!

Shortly after Matias and his three companions had left us we resumed our march towards San Miguel. Not a morsel of food did we have during the day, and at night we encamped, supperless, on the banks of a small creek emptying into the Rio Mora. On this stream the Mexicans, who had thus far accompanied us, had their places of residence. After giving us instructions for our route towards San Miguel, they left us on the ensuing morning for their homes in the mountains.

Before we set out, our commander despatched four of our best-mounted men in advance to make arrangements for provisions, while the rest of us followed as fast as our weary animals could travel. As we neared the point where we knew that food could be procured in abundance, not only our hunger, but our impatience increased. During the day, I was fortunate enough, in company with the madcap Fitzgerald, to find half a hatful of wild parsley, and this we swallowed raw with the greatest avidity.

About the middle of the afternoon, one of the four who had been sent forward returned with the joyful intelligence that they had fallen in with a herd of no less than seventeen thousand sheep, and had succeeded in purchasing a sufficiency for the whole command. Again we put spurs to our horses, and a ride of half an hour brought us up with the shepherds and their charge, and to a fine camping-ground on the Rio Gallinas.

Here a scene of feasting ensued which beggars description. We had been thirteen days upon the road, with really not provisions enough for three, and now that there was an abundance our starving men at once abandoned themselves to eating - perhaps I should rather call it gormandizing or- stuffing. No less than twenty large, fat sheep had been purchased and dressed, and every ramrod, as well as every stick that could be found, was soon graced with smoking ribs and shoul- ders, livers and hearts. Many made themselves sick by overeating ; but an attempt to restrain the appetites of half-starved men, except by main force, would be the very extreme of folly. Had the food been anything but mutton, and had we not procured an ample supply of salt from the Mexicans to season it, our men might have died of the surfeit.

I have never yet seen a treatise or dissertation upon starving to death - I can speak feelingly of nearly every stage except the last. For the first two days through which a strong and healthy man is doomed to exist upon nothing, his sufferings are, perhaps, more acute than in the remaining stages - he feels an inordinate, unappeasable craving at the stomach, night and day. The mind runs upon beef, bread, and other substantials ; but still, in a great measure, the body retains its strength. On the third and fourth days, but especially on the fourth, this incessant craving gives place to a sinking and weakness of the stomach, accompanied by nausea. The unfortunate sufferer still desires food, but with loss of strength he loses that eager craving which is felt in the earlier stages. Should he chance to obtain a morsel or two of food, as was occasionally the case with us, he swallows it with a wolfish avidity ; but five minutes afterward his sufferings are more intense than ever. He feels as if he had swallowed a living lobster, which is clawing and feeding upon the very foundation of his existence. On the fifth day his cheeks suddenly appear hollow and sunken, his body attenuated, his colour an ashy pale, and his eye wild, glassy, cannibalish. The different parts of the system now war with each other. The stomach calls upon the legs to go with it in quest of food : the legs, from very weakness, refuse. The sixth day brings with it increased suffer- ing, although the pangs of hunger are lost in an overpowering languor and sickness. The head becomes giddy - the ghosts of well-remembered dinners pass in hideous procession through the mind. The seventh day comes, bringing increased lassitude and farther prostration of strength. The arms hang listlessly, the legs drag heavily. The desire for food is still left, to a degree, but it must be brought, not sought. The miserable remnant of life which still hangs to the sufferer is a burden almost too grievous to be borne ; yet his inherent love of existence induces a desire still to preserve it, if it can be saved without a tax upon bodily exertion. The mind wanders. At one moment he thinks his weary limbs cannot sustain him a mile - the next, he is endowed with unnatural strength, and if there be a certainty of relief before him, dashes bravely and strongly onward, wondering whence proceeds this new and sudden impulse.

Farther than this my experience runneth not. The reader may think I have drawn a fancy sketch - that I have coloured the picture too highly : now, while I sincerely trust he may never be in a situation to test its truth from actual experience, I would in all sober seriousness say to him, that many of the sensations I have just described I have myself experienced, and so did the ninety-and-cight persons who were with me from the time when we first entered the grand prairie until we reached the flock of sheep, to which more pleasing subject I will now return.

There were very few men with the immense herd, but in their stead were a large number of noble dogs, which appeared to be peculiarly gifted with the faculty of keeping them together. There was no running about, no barking or biting in their system of tactics ; on the contrary, they were continually walking up and down, like faithful sentinels, on the outer side of the flock, and should any sheep chance to stray from his fellows, the dog on duty at that particular post would walk gently up, take him carefully by the ear, and lead him back to the fold. Not the least fear did the sheep manifest at the approach of these dogs ; and there was no occasion for it. They appeared to me to be of mongrel breed, somewhat resembling, perhaps, a cross of the Newfoundland or St. Bernard species with the larger mastiff. They possessed mild, frank, and open countenances, were indefatigable in protecting their charge from wolves, and from what I could learn were extremely sagacious.

The shepherds had crooks in their hands, instruments I had often read of in poets' lays. The uses to which they were put took away much of the romance I had associated with crooks and gentle shepherds. One of the latter, whenever a sheep has been pointed out in the flock, either to be killed or for sale, thrusts the long, hooked stick immediately under the throat of the victim, and holds it fast until its fellows have been driven past on either side. The sheep is then secured by grappling its wool with the hand - an operation, from first to last, partaking more of the practical than of the poetic.

Now that we had found provisions in plenty, we considered the dangers, the fatigues, the delays, and the vexations of the march as over, and bright were the anticipations of the future. Every face was animated with joy, every heart was filled with gladness. How different would have been our feelings had we known the sufferings and privations, the indignities, and the cruel maltreatment we were yet to endure - the terrible fate that was awaiting us !

More Feasting

Farther Feasting. - Party sent to the Settlements. - Author accompanies it. - Objects of sending the Party ahead. - News respecting Howland and his Companions. - Encounter with Mexican Muleteers. - Their Fright at our Approach. - Farther Information in relation to Howland. - Manuel sent back. - Suspicious Horsemen seen. - Arrival at Anton Chico. - Consternation of the Inhabitants. - Scanty Raiment of the Women. - Confidence restored. - Description of Anton Chico. - Scantiness of the Furniture. - A Dinner under Cover. - Start for San Miguel. - Compelled to return. - A Night at Anton Chico. - Bad Colds, with worse Coughs to match. - A suspicious Visiter. - Report that we were to be arrested. - Start again from Anton Chico. - Valuables concealed. - Arrival at Cuesta. - Commotion in the Village. - Our Party surrounded by Mexican Troops. - Apparent Frankness of their Leader, Dimasio Salezar. - Our Arms taken from us. - Consultation of Salezar and his Officers. - We are formed in Line and searched. - Mexican Duplicity. - A trying Scene. - Prompt Interference of Behil in saving our Lives. - We are marched towards San Miguel. - Kindness of the Women. - Don Jesus, and his Attempt to tie us. - Description of our Guard. - Puertecito. - More of the Women. - Arrival at San Miguel. - Meanness of the Alcalde and Kindness of the Priest. - Our first Night in Prison.

THE morning after our feast we made another hearty meal of broiled mutton, with atole conleche, a mush compounded of flour and goats' milk. The Mexican shepherds, finding the Texans excellent customers, and disposed to pay the highest prices for anything in the shape of bread, had sent to their rancho, or farm, during the night, a distance of some twelves miles, and supplied themselves abundantly with flour.

It was now determined, by our principal officers, to send two men forward to the frontier town of San Miguel, for the purpose of conferring with the authorities. W. P. Lewis, captain of the artillery company, and George Van Ness, secretary of the commissioners, were detailed for this service. Both could speak Spanish, Z2 and the former enjoyed in every way the confidence of Colonel Cooke, who had often befriended him. In addition to verbal instructions, the young men were intrusted with letters to the alcalde, or principal officer of San Miguel, and both the instructions and letters set forth that a large trading party of Texans was now approaching, that their intentions were in every way pacific, and that the leaders of the advance party were anxious to purchase a large quantity of provisions to be sent back to the main command. Several of General Lamar's proclamations were also given to Mr. Van Ness, to be distributed among the principal citizens, the purport of which was that the expedition was sent for the purpose of trading, and that if the inhabitants of New Mexico were not disposed to join, peacefully, the Texan standard, the expedition was to retire immediately. These proclamations were printed in both Spanish and English, and not a doubt existed that the liberal terms offered would be at once acceded to by a population living within the limits of Texas, and who had long been groaning under a misrule the most tyrannical.

At the request of Colonel Cooke and Dr. Brenham, two of the principal merchants, Major Howard, and Mr. Fitzgerald, accompanied Lewis and Van Ness, and as I was in great haste to prosecute my journey through Mexico, I gathered all my effects, packed them in leather panniers made for the purpose, placed them upon my mule, and set off in company. This was on the 14th of September, and when I parted with my friends I certainly did not expect to see them for the first time in the April following, at the city of Mexico and in chains.

Encounter With Muleteers

arms against us, that Rowland and his party were prisoners at Santa Fe, and that an American named Rowland, a merchant at San Miguel, had also been imprisoned and his goods confiscated by order of the governor, Armijo. Yet they told these stories in so many different ways, and contradicted themselves so often in the telling, that but little confidence could be placed in them.

After having obtained directions as to our course towards the camino real, or principal road, for our camp on the Rio Gallinas was some distance from it, we proceeded on our way, a Mexican servant we had hired at San Antonio, named Manuel,* accompanying us. After reaching the main road, we journeyed briskly forward until nearly two o'clock. An abrupt turn now brought us suddenly upon two Mexican muleteers, enjoying a quiet siesta, while their mules were feeding close by them. Our appearance frightened them exceedingly, and as they quickly caught their mules and commenced putting on their packs, their extreme nervousness was plainly visible. The colour entirely left the swarthy face of one of these fellows, who, for once, certainly had the appearance of a white man ; and as his trembling hands were flying about from one part of his mule to another, fastening the packs, the movements could not have been more rapid had he been executing the Battle of Prague or one of Strauss's quickest and most difficult waltzes on a piano. At first he could not answer a question coherently; but as he gradually found that our intentions were not to eat him up alive, the col-

* Manuel was shot, a short time afterward, in mere wantonness, by a drummer in Armijo's redoubtable army. His leading characteristics were great good-nature, extreme idleness, and a proneness to telling the most outrageous falsehoods - the two latter very common failings with his countrymen,

The fellow said that our approach was well known to the inhabitants, and that the greatest stir and excitement existed in consequence of Armijo's informing them that our intentions were to burn, slay, and destroy as we went. He corroborated the report that Rowland* had been arrested for his supposed connexion with the expedition, as well as the story that Rowland, Baker, and Rosenbury were prisoners at Santa Fe, although he asserted that they had the liberty of the town. After telling us that the village of Anton Chico was some two or three miles to our left, and a little off the main road to San Miguel, the muleteer departed, apparently well satisfied that we had let him off without taking his scalp.

It was now deemed advisable to send word back to our friends on the Gallinas of what we had heard, and Manuel was accordingly despatched with a note detailing everything. Mr. Van Ness also sent back a number of letters of introduction to different individuals, with which he had been furnished, and other papers, fearing that he might be arrested, and that blame might fall upon innocent persons if he should be searched and the letters found upon his person. After this we turned off in the direction of Anton Chico.

A ride of half an hour brought us to a small and miserable hovel upon the banks of the Rio Pecos. This is a beautiful, swift-running stream of fresh water, rising in the mountains in the vicinity of Santa Fe, and after

* Thomas Rowland, a brother of John Rowland. The name of the latter had appeared in some of the Texan papers as a commissioner in connexion with Dryden, both of whom were residents of New Mexico. The publication of their names, as commissioners friendly to the interests of the Teiaus, was made withouf their knowledge or consent.

Approach To Anton Chico

fertilizing a succession of narrow but rich valleys, is supposed finally to empty into the Puercos, a tributary of the Rio Grande. We rode up to the low and narrow door of the hovel, at which stood an old, grayhaired man and two or three women, who were all evidently intimidated at the sight of strangers. As this secluded spot is entirely off the trail of the St. Louis traders, these half-civilized people had probably never before seen other than their own mixed race : as for ourselves, it was the first human habitation having any pretensions to civilization we had seen for months, and was certainly a welcome object to all. We did not dismount ; but, while inquiring for the most direct route to Anton Chico, one of the women brought us some warm tortillas from the interior of the hovel, a little wooden bowl of miel - a species of molasses made from the stalk of the common Indian corn - and three or four large slices of goats' milk cheese. These, to us delicacies, they brought without money and without price - an earnest of the universal kindness and hospitality of the women of New Mexico. We threw some silver into their hands, wheeled our horses amid a shower of muchas gracias and adios, caballeros,* and left them.

A ride of another half hour brought us in sight of Anton Chico, a village seated upon a little hill overlooking the Pecos, and probably containing some two or three hundred inhabitants. As we caught a first glimpse of the village, a suspicious, piratical-seeming Mexican, armed with a double-barrelled gun, broadsword, and lance, and splendidly mounted upon a dashing black horse, passed within ten yards of us. Although he did not even nod at our approach, he still eyed us closely. Had he not been confident that his horse could easily outrun our jaded animals, I doubt whether he would have come within gunshot of us. At a distance, on the rising slope of a hill, another man, similarly armed and mounted, was seen ; and he, too, was evidently watching our movements.

As we approached the little village, all was excitement and commotion. Women and children were seen running in every direction, climbing the low houses and hiding behind the mud fences and walls. A large horsemill, at which the inhabitants were grinding corn-stalks for the manufacture of miel, was deserted instantly, and everything plainly denoted that our sudden appearance had created the greatest consternation. We rode steadily up to the first door, as though not noticing that we had caused the least alarm, and asked a man of more hardihood than the rest, who had the courage to show his face, although not enough to conceal his trepidation, whether we could purchase some fodder for our animals and bread for ourselves. This question, being in Spanish, was understood by several of the frightened inhabitants, who were peering at us through the chinks of the surrounding doors, and who, finding that we did not ask them to surrender their lives and property at discretion, gradually gained colour and confidence, and began slowly to issue from their hiding-places. In three minutes we were surrounded by half a hundred men, women, and children, some inviting us this way, others that, and all apparently anxious to serve us, either from love of money or love of life, for many, no doubt, were impressed with the idea that we had come on purpose to do murder. The women and girls were very slightly clad, and many of the children were naked, while the men were so concealed in their coarse blankets that we really could not tell what their dress might be underneath, or whether they had any. On the faces of many of the women and grown-up girls we noticed large, deep-red spots, apparently marks from their childhood, and disfiguring them greatly. I afterward ascertained that these marks were not natural, as my readers will learn in the progress of the narrative.

The little village of Anton Chico is built on a square, the houses fronting on the inner side, although there are entrances, protected by strong doors, on the outer. The houses are of one story only, built of adobes, a species of large, sun-dried bricks, while the tops are flat. They have neither windows nor floors, and in point of comfort and convenience are only one degree removed from the rudest wigwam of the Indian. In case of attack from the savages, continually hovering and committing depredations upon the frontiers of New Mexico, these little hamlets serve as forts, the Indians rarely pursuing the inhabitants farther than their outer walls, as they carry on their warfare entirely on horseback. This description of Anton Chico will answer for a majority of the ranches and smaller towns of New Mexico - their buildings being all constructed of the same materials and in the same manner.

We entered the largest house in the place. It had but two rooms, the earthen floor and scanty furniture of which gave them a prison-like and desolate appearance. Not a chair or table, knife or fork, did the occupants possess, and we were given to understand that we were in the house of the " first family" of Anton Chico. We called for something to eat, suggesting a somewhat varied " bill of fare" to be spread before us, for which we manifested our readiness to pay the highest prices : our dinner consisted - substantiate and extras all enumerated - of tortillas, boiled eggs, and miel, the latter somewhat resembling molasses and water, the water predominating. In the mean while, our animals outside were faring infinitely better than ourselves, for they had an ample supply of corn and fodder - good, legitimate food for them, to which they did most ample justice.

The sun was about setting by the time we had finished our meal ; yet we determined upon travelling some eight or ten miles farther towards San Miguel that evening. After paying the master of the house the most exorbitant prices for every article we had procured, and after his daughters had presented each of us with a bundle of cigarritos* of their own manufacture, we saddled and mounted our horses, and again proceeded for San Miguel.

Immediately on leaving Anton Chico we were compelled to climb a high, steep, and rocky hill or mountain, and on reaching its summit, by which time darkness had overtaken us, we found ourselves without a road, and completely lost in a grove of stunted pines and cedars. To advance was impossible, and we accordingly retraced our steps to the village we had left but a short time previous. Once more we secured our animals to a hedge-fence, near the house where we had procured our homely dinner, and after carrying our saddles, bridles, and other equipments to a corner of the room which had been appropriated to our use by the master, we rolled ourselves up in our blankets with the vain hope, as it was the first night we had passed under cover for months, of enjoying a refreshing sleep. But no such good luck was in store for us : there was a close- ness in the atmosphere to which we had long been strangers, the room was occupied by some thirty men, women, and children, exclusive of our own party, and when all were provided with sleeping room there was scarcely space enough on the hard earthen floor for a hat. The beds of our neighbours were nothing but sheepskins thrown upon the floor - their clothing a blanket, which they spread over themselves after lying down.

Every member of the family, which consisted of a grandfather and grandmother with their children and their children's children, seemed to be badly affected by a cold, or worse - for the younger branches were all evidently afflicted with the worst form of the whoopingcough. The grown people appeared to have the most distressing coughs to match their colds, while the children seemed at times to be in perfect convulsions. Occasionally the distressing sounds would all die away ; anon, one of the children would begin coughing frightfully, another would join in the discordant din, and immediately the whole family were in full chorus - and thus they barked away the hours.

Notwithstanding the horrible uproar, however, I finally fell into a half sleep. About one o'clock in the morning I was awakened by some disturbance among our animals, and in going out to ascertain the cause, I was asked by a Mexican if I was the captain of the party. As this was about all I could at that time understand, I called Lewis, in the belief that the fellow had something important to communicate, and in this I was not deceived. He said that we were all to be taken prisoners on the next day by a party who were then mustering in the valley, near Cuesta. He farther stated that the inhabitants of Anton Chico would fall upon us were they not fearful of our arms. To wind up, he informed us that we should most certainly be shot, and for this peculiarly pleasant news he asked us one dollar ! Had his information extended no farther than that we were to be arrested, and had this statement been gratuitous, we might have paid some heed to his story ; as it was, it sounded very much as though he had made up what he considered a dollar's worth of bad tidings, and thought us simple enough to pay him for his trouble. Entertaining this belief, of course we returned to our blankets without giving the fellow even so much as the sixteenth of what he charged ; yet I could not but think that there might be some truth in his story.

We were up at an early hour in the morning, and after swallowing a bowl of atole, sweetened with a little miel, once more took the road for San Miguel. Although the male part of the inhabitants of the village we had just left had every outward appearance of friendship, there was still a something suspicious in their movements which convinced us that they would have acted otherwise had they not been restrained by fear. To show that they were not all honest, some one of them stole a saddle-blanket from me. It was of little value, however, and I made no mention of the circumstance to the man in whose house we had passed the night.

We must have been blind, indeed, to the evidences around us, not to see that the country was in a state of excitement occasioned by the approach of the Texans - the suspicious men who had crossed our route the evening before, the earnestness with which they eyed our movements, and then the arrest of Rowland and his companions, all tended to impress us with the belief that we should at least be questioned closely as to our business, and the objects which had induced us to enter the country, if not detained, in case Armijo should oppose the advance of the Texans. But we never thought of being disarmed or imprisoned. I had no inconsiderable sum of money in gold, confined about my body in a linen belt : this I thought it more prudent to conceal under the buttons which graced the sides of my riding pantaloons. There was not room for all the money under the buttons - what was left I still retained in the belt, which I now placed in one of my pockets. A valuable breastpin I concealed under one of my waistband buttons, two or three articles of jewelry less costly I hid under the folds of my shirt bosom, and a gold watch and chain I secreted as safely as was possible. In a country filled, as I knew this to be, with thieves and cut-throats of the worst description, I was anxious to conceal the fact entirely that I had valuable property of any kind with me.

On reaching the summit of the steep hill overlooking Anton Chico, and emerging from the cedars in which we were lost the evening before, we found a level tableland spread out before us, of rare beauty. In the distance, to the north, that spur of the Rocky Mountains at the foot of which lies the mud-built city of Santa Fe, was now plainly visible.

We had travelled but two or three miles, after reaching the table-land, before a Mexican, who had seen us approaching from a small house some little distance from the roadside, came out to meet us. He gratuitously informed us, without our asking the question, that the nearest route to San Miguel would take us directly through the little village of Cuesta, and took no inconsiderable pains to give such directions as would preclude the possibility of our missing the road. At the time, we considered this an act of kindness on his part ; but after circumstances made it quite certain that he had been employed to draw us into a snare already set for our apprehension.

After thanking the Mexican for his information, we once more proceeded towards San Miguel. About noon we arrived at the brow of a high, steep, and rocky hill, overlooking a narrow and fertile valley through which the Pecos was flowing. Immediately below us was a small collection of houses ; and some distance up the stream, but in plain sight, was the little village of Cuesta. The road leading into the valley ran directly down the rocky sides of the hill, and was so rough and broken that we were compelled to dismount, and lead or drive our animals. As we slowly descended, we could plainly see that our approach had been discovered, for there was commotion in all parts of the beautiful valley. Several horsemen were seen emerging from Cuesta, and dashing, at full speed, towards the spot where we must first strike the level land. A point of the hill now concealed them from our sight, and when we finally reached the bottom not a single human being was visible in any direction.

Van Ness, Lewis, and myself arrived in the valley some ten minutes before Howard and Fitzgerald. While our eyes were turned towards the hillside, waiting their approach, we were suddenly surrounded by more than a hundred roughly-dressed but well-mounted soldiers, armed with lances, swords, bows and arrows, and miserable escopetas, or oldfashioned carbines. The leader of this band, whom I will at once introduce as the notorious Dimasio Salezar, instantly rode up, and addressed us as amigos, or friends, with the greatest apparent cordiality. He asked us who we were, and whether we were not from Texas. Lewis at once informed him that we were, and that we had been detached from the main body, then some thirty miles distant on the Gallinas, for the purpose of consulting with the authorities, either at San Miguel or Santa Fe, and that he was anxious to see the governor. To this Salezar bowed, as much as to say that all was right, and we fairly congratulated ourselves upon our reception. There was a frankness, a plausibility about the miscreant that completely concealed his real intentions.

On the arrival of Howard and Fitzgerald we remounted our horses, and, in company with our new acquaintances, rode to the first house that presented itself. Here Salezar called a halt, and after his men had completely surrounded us on every side, as if to hear any conversation that might ensue, but with no other intentions, their leader remarked, with the utmost blandness, that we must be aware we could not enter their territory with arms in our hands - that it was contrary to the laws and usages of civilized nations - and that he hoped we would have no objections to placing our rifles and pistols in his keeping, each labelled so that its owner might know it again, until the business we had with the authorities should be arranged. He appeared deeply to regret that his duty compelled him to make this request of persons evidently gentlemen, and whose objects, he doubted not, were of the most friendly nature ; he had been ordered by his superiors, he said, to request us to deliver up our arms, and sincerely hoped we would excuse him.

Finding themselves surrounded by a force at least twenty times their number, without the remotest chance to escape by flight even if they felt disposed, and completely imposed upon by the apparent fairness and open- A A2 ness of Salezar's conduct, my companions gave up their arms. It was now necessary for me to inform Salezar as to my position and intentions. Through Van Ness I told him that I was a citizen of the United States, that I was merely a traveller, on a journey through the interior of Mexico, and that I had a passport from the Mexican consul at New-Orleans, which I took from my pocket and handed him. Not a word could the fellow read, but, placing the document in the hands of his second in command, Don Jesus,* who only wanted natural talents to make him even a greater villain than his master, Salezar told him to examine it. After reading the passport from first to last, the worthy lieutenant and secretary returned it to his captain, who remarked that he presumed all was right, but he was reluctantly compelled to demand my arms and retain them until I had seen the governor. With even more reluctance I gave my rifle and pistols into the possession of the miscreant, although my companions openly expressed their confidence that they would be returned in good faith. Now that he had our weapons in his power, I thought I could discover a gleam of satisfaction lighting up Salezar's countenance, yet his feelings did not openly betray him. It was afterward evident enough that he had used dissimulation, and adopted a courteous tone foreign to his nature - even with his myrmidons around him, the cowardly man did not dare peremptorily to demand our rifles and pistols.

* I have given this name the Spanish spelling, although it is pronounced Hesoos. Among the women of both Mexico and Spain Jesusa is a very common, and considered a very pretty name. By the same rule of pronunciation it is called Hesoosa. As is remarked above, I have given these names, singular and irreverent as they may appear to an American, their Spanish orthography. Were a Mexican to see Hesoos in print he would not know it, even were it his own name.

The Prisoners Searched

Having distributed all our weapons among his principal men, Salezar next drew his officers into the little house in front of which the scene had taken place. In the mean time we were left outside, under no apparent restraint. I led my horse, the faithful old " Jim the Butcher," as he was called, to an irrigating canal close by, and after allowing him to drink his fill of the cool and excellent water, walked back with him to my packmule, opened one of the leathern panniers, and commenced feeding him on bread which I had purchased that morning at Anton Chico. While at that village, so great was my craving for bread after being without it for months, I had purchased all that was offered for sale, really thinking that I should eat it all, although I had at least a month's supply. A moment's reflection now taught me that I was in a country where I could have it fresh every day, and as my appetite by this time was somewhat appeased, I began to feed my horse upon the stores I had provided for my own use. A crowd of men and half-naked women and girls pressed around me, apparently astonished that I should give my horse what was really one of their greatest luxuries, and it was while I was thus engaged that Salezar and his officers stepped from the house and a second time approached us.

His first request was that we should form in a line. He then said he was obliged to take from us any papers or articles we might have about our persons - such were his orders from the governor. There was even an approach to delicacy in this command, for the scoundrel had not as yet shown his real colours ; and as we were weaponless, and completely in his power, we submitted to the degrading operation of having our pockets turned inside out and our persons searched by a com- mittee of his officers. During this process, very fortunately for me, neither my gold pieces nor my other valuables were discovered ; but all my papers, notebook, penknife, with such other articles as I happened to have hi my pockets, were taken from me. At one time, one of the fellows had his hands upon the end of the old linen belt in which I had carried my gold, and which still contained nearly a hundred dollars ; its ragged appearance alone saved it, for, thinking it but a worthless piece of worn-out cloth, he permitted me to retain it in my possession. Had Salezar got hold of this belt he would at once have seen the places from which I had but recently cut a number of doubloons, as well as found such of the gold as was still left ; and so great was the scoundrel's avarice that I believe he would have boiled me could he have found no other means to extract my treasures.

Up to this time, the conduct of Salezar, with the arguments he used to sustain him in arresting us and taking our papers and other articles, was to a certain degree honourable, and it was impossible to suspect the deep treachery and atrocious designs lying under an exterior so apparently fair ; we were now to read a new chapter in his character, one that broke upon us with all that suddenness and startling effect which fiction-writers strive to attain in their scenes of most thrilling, blood-freezing horror.

Our papers and effects had been tied hi a handkerchief and removed, and we were waiting the next movement of our captors with some little impatience, when Salezar suddenly ordered twelve of his men, all armed with old muskets or carbines, to march up in front of us. The movement appeared strange, more particularly when we noticed that the men, now paraded directly before us and within three yards, were pale, and fairly trembling as with fright ; but still we could not suspect the horrible design of their leader. Our suspense was of short duration, however ; for no sooner had he arranged the twelve men in front of us than it became but too evident his intentions were to shoot us on the spot ! Fitzgerald was the first to speak. The brave but eccentric Irishman had seen much service in Spain, understood not only the language, but the treacherous and suspicious character of the Mexicans, and now fathomed the intentions of Salezar. Prefacing his short speech with a strong oath, the excited man, with fists clenched, and a rich brogue, exclaimed, " They're going to shoot us, boys ; let's pitch into 'em arid die in hot blood ; it's much asier !" At the same moment I cast my eyes around, and noticed that the crowd in the rear were falling back in two straight lines, as if to escape the balls in their passage, while the women and girls were wringing their hands and flying from point to point, apparently in deep despair.

That we were to be immediately shot was now terribly manifest. We exchanged glances with each other, and those glances plainly told that each of my companions, in obedience to Fitzgerald's emphatic call, was prepared to rush upon the cowardly and faithless miscreants the moment they were in the act of levelling their guns, to wrest their weapons from them, and then to sell his life at as dear a rate as possible. I will give Lewis vhe credit of acting, in that moment of extreme peril, as became a man. My station happened to be on the extreme left of my companions, the position bringing me within a yard of a young Mexican whom I afterward ascertained to be a son of the Alcalde of San Miguel. Tied loosely around his waist was a coarse cotton hand- kerchief, in which he had stuck two of Colt's i evolving pistols taken from one of my friends. These I instantly determined to seize upon in the melee, while each of my companions had singled out his man to spring upon at the signal.

A man lives almost an age in a single moment of imminent danger - his thoughts crowd upon each other with such lightning rapidity, that his past life, its promises and hopes, are reviewed at a glance. I thought of home, relations, friends, in the fleeting moment which passed after Salezar had manifested his inhuman intentions ; but the thoughts that came uppermost with all of us were of deep regret that we had given up our arms to such cowardly assassins, mingled with the bitter consciousness that we were to be shot down like dogs, without a possible chance that our friends could ever know the place or manner of our death. But our thoughts were suddenly checked by a motion from Salezar, as if to give the word of command for our execution. I cast hurried glances at Fitzgerald and my comrades for a signal to make a dash ; but at this juncture an altercation ensued between Dimasio and a Mexican named Vigil. Not a word could I understand, but from my companions I learned that the latter was interfering for our lives. He contended that we had entered the settlements openly and peacefully, and that we had asked to see and hold converse with Governor Armijo. With him rested the power of life and death, and before him we must be taken. Vigil prevailed over the bloodthirsty captain, and thus were our lives spared ; but in the few moments which had passed since we were first drawn up, we had lived a common lifetime of excitement.

First March As Captives

of Don Gregorio Vigil, whom we afterward saw and thanked for his timely interference, Salezar now ordered Don Jesus to march us immediately to San Miguel, where it was thought Armijo had arrived with a large body of troops. With regret we saw our friend Vigil leave us. He was the owner of an estate near San Miguel, a man of good heart and correct principles, and had no little influence with the Mexicans hi that quarter.

Under an escort of some half a dozen men, and followed by a rabble of men, women, and children, we now set off on foot for San Miguel, leaving our welltried animals in the hands of the miscreants who had captured us. Arrived at the little village of Cuesta, we were marched into the house of the alcalde, where, after placing two sentinels over us, Don Jesus left us to make some arrangement for the march. While in this house we were visited by every woman and child in the place, the former giving us bread, cheese, and stewed pumpkins, and appearing deeply to compassionate us in our unfortunate condition. They undoubtedly thought we should be executed immediately on meeting with the governor, who they took every means to inform us was a brutal and unfeeling tyrant, delighting in every act of cruelty which might impress his subjects with fear, and ever anxious to show off his great influence and power by acts of the most atrocious persecution.

In half an hour Don Jesus returned, and ordered us to prepare for instant departure. We were destitute of every article of clothing except what we had on, and as the nights among the mountains were at this season of the year raw and chilly, we asked him to return at least one of our blankets to each of us. Without appa- rently heeding this request, he turned to one of his men and ordered him to bring three or four lariats, or ropes, with which to tie us, intending, as he said, to take us before the governor in that degrading condition. Our friend Vigil was now out of the way, Salezar had taken the road towards Anton Chico with the main body of his men, and thinking that the heartless villain who now had charge of us might have adopted this plan to place us completely in his power, and then butcher us under orders from his superior, we peremptorily refused to be tied. He still insisted ; but on our informing him that we would walk peaceably to San Miguel, he finally gave up his purpose. Forming us in front of the house, he then placed two of the guard in advance with bows and arrows and heavy clubs, two more in the rear armed in the same manner, and all of them barefoot, while he himself mounted a mule, and took his place at the side of our party. He had an American rifle resting before him on the pommel of his saddle, and drawing an old rusty sword, he started us off, simply informing us that the first one who left his place would be rewarded by the loss of his head.

There was something supremely ridiculous, not only in his threat, but in the appearance of our guard, and gloomy as our situation was, we could not help laughing. We could easily have fallen upon the miserable apologies for men who were guarding us and disarmed them in a twinkling ; but we had no means of getting clear, and rejoining our men afterward ; and as recapture would have been death, thoughts of an escape were not entertained.

A rapid march of an hour, along the valley of the Pecos, brought us to the little village of Puertecito, the residence of both Salezar and the fellow who now had charge of us. Here we were halted for a short time, to give the inhabitants an opportunity of gazing at five unfortunate prisoners, and to convince them of the great prowess of the redoubtable Dimasio Salezar, and his equally valiant second in command, who had boldly conceived and successfully carried into execution a daring plan for our capture. That the women all pitied us was evident; for the commiserating exclamation of pobrecitos !* as they gave us bread, cheese, and such food as they had at hand, fell from their tongues in softest and most feeling tones. They knew their husbands and brothers, and knowing them, felt that little of mercy or kindness could we expect at their hands.

A short distance above Puertecito we were obliged to ford the Rio Pecos. The water was not more than two feet in depth ; but as my lame and weak ankle had now begun to swell from the active and unwonted exercise, I was deterred from taking off my boots by a fear that I could not get them on again. To soak my feet thoroughly, and to continue the march in this disagreeable plight, was therefore my only alternative.

The distance from Cuesta to San Miguel was fourteen or fifteen miles ; and it was nearly sundown before the spire of the little church at the latter appeared in sight. Weary and faint from the unusual exercise, and extremely unwell from the great change which had recently taken place in our diet, we were escorted through the principal square or plaza, and taken to a little hole which was dignified with the name of a room. A crowd followed us to our prison doors, and continued to gaze at us until the last minute.

* Poor fellows ! I believe, is a literal translation, although it means much more. Nothing can be more touchingly sweet than the pronunciation of this word by a Spanish or Mexican woman. The tones come fresh and warm from the heart when an object worthy of compassion presents itself.

The alcalde, a gruff, bad-countenanced man, sent us in a miserable meal of tortillas and weak mutton broth, while the priest of the place, more liberal, sent his ser vant with a generous bowl of hot coffee for each of us. Our scanty supper over, our thoughts were next turned towards sleep ; but the earthen floor of our quarters was without a single blanket to relieve its hardness, and the chilling blast that came down from the adjoining mountains as the shades of evening drew nigh, told us, more plainly than words, that we need expect neither comfort nor sleep that night. We sent word to the alcalde of our unfortunate plight : he answered our petition by saying that he could do nothing for us. A kindhearted woman living close by, however, sent us a buffalo skin and a single blanket, and another blanket I purchased of a man in the crowd, for which I gave him an English sovereign. With these we made up a bed for five persons. I suffered more than any of my companions, the bread I had eaten giving me a severe attack of colic ; and I crawled from the ground in the morning weak and unrefreshed.

March Resumed

Ordered to march towards Santa Fe. - Departure from San Miguel. - Gloomy Anticipations. - Our Guard increased. - A Present from a Woman. - Meet with a Party of Mexican Troops. - Brutality of their Leader. - Lewis, Van Ness, and Fitzgerald tied with Cords. - Description of Don Jesus. - Large Bodies of Troops passed. - Their miserable Appointments. - Our first Interview with Governor Armijo. - His Reception. - Conduct of Lewis. - We are ordered back to San Miguel. - Armijo's last Command. - Carlos seen. - First Appearance upon a Donkey. - Antics of the Animal. - A heavy night Shower. - Once more at San Miguel. - Barbarous Execution of one of our Comrades. - We are ordered before the Governor. - An exciting Trial. - Rowland condemned to Die. - Cruel Mode of Execution. - Noble Conduct of Howland. - Kindness of a young Priest. - Reflections upon our Situation. - Departure of Mexican Troops for Anton Chico. - News of Colonel Cooke and his Men. - Plans of Armijo. - Particulars of the Capture of Howland. - Description of Manuel Pino. - News of the Capture of our Friends at Anton Chico. - Great Rejoicings at San Miguel.

WE had no sooner risen than Don Jesus told us that the governor had not yet arrived, and that he should march with us directly towards Santa Fe. distant some sixty miles, in the hope of meeting him upon the road. Before starting, we sent out and purchased an entire sheep, an officious fellow, named Tomas Bustamente, whose countenance appeared to indicate that he had some honesty, acting as our agent in the transaction. A part of this sheep Tomas cooked for our breakfast, the priest again sending us a large pitcher of coffee.

It was nearly nine o'clock before everything was in readiness for our departure. Although we were anxious to see the governor and learn the worst, it may be imagined that our anticipations were not of a very pleasant nature. Had we been prisoners in the hands of any other people under the sun our feelings would have been far different ; but we were now in the power of men who possessed all the vices of savage life without one of the virtues that civilization teaches. We felt that although our lives had been spared the previous day, it was but a reprieve ; that we were still in the hands of a semi-civilized enemy - cruel, relentless, and treacherous - who looked upon us as heretics, and the common enemies of their religion and race ; and we had fearful reason to believe that the appearance of Armijo would be the signal for our immediate execution. Surely, the emotions of that hour, when the future was looming up so close and dark upon us, are not to be appreciated by the reader.

Our guard, which on the previous day had only consisted of four, was now increased to eight men, four members of the country militia, armed with bows and arrows, and mounted upon asses, being stationed, two on either side, while Don Jesus on his mule hovered around, as if to guard the weaker points in the order of march. This addition to our escort had been provided by the old alcalde of San Miguel, with the view, probably, of rendering our escape a matter of positive impossibility ; yet, enfeebled as we were from our many privations, and the long, weary pilgrimage across the prairies, we still felt certain that we could, at any time, capture Don Jesus and all his men with the greatest ease. A determined rush, accompanied by a true Anglo-Saxon shout of defiance, would have brought every one of the cowardly wretches to his knees begging for mercy ; yet we should not have been able successfully to run the gauntlet of well-mounted men stationed at all the passes between us and our friends.

Kindness Of The Women

and show, Don Jesus ordered us to march. The plaza was again crowded with the women, children, and old men of San Miguel as we hurriedly marched through it, many of the boys following and gazing at us until we reached the extremities of the town. We had not travelled more than a couple of miles before a tolerably well-dressed woman came running towards us from a small house, bringing a bottle of the country whiskey, and saying that it was for our use. This we drank upon the spot, and as we thanked the good-hearted creature for her kindness she appeared to feel deeply for us in our misfortunes. Even after we had been hurried off by our inhuman guard, the woman still remained to gaze upon us, looking her last at the pobrecitos, whom she really thought the sun would not set upon alive. The almost universal brutality and cold-heartedness of the men of New Mexico are in strange contrast with the kind dispositions and tender sympathies exhibited by all classes of the women.

A brisk walk of another mile brought us in contact with a party of some two hundred half-dressed and miserably-armed Mexicans, on their march towards San Miguel. Their commander was a brutal, piratical-visaged scoundrel, who, after ordering Don Jesus to halt, cursed us with every opprobrious epithet, said we should have been shot when first taken, and then asked why we were not tied. While Don Jesus was stammering forth some excuse, the fellow ordered his trumpeter to sound an advance, and in three minutes a turn of the road concealed this extremely valiant party and their doughty captain from our sight. Before they departed, however, we learned that they were to act against Colonel Cooke, Captain Sutton, and their men, and we were also informed that Armijo had left Santa Fe in the B B 2

The miscreant who had charge of us now stated that his imperative duty made it necessary to tie us. With a mock sensibility he pretended that it was against his wish to do this, but as a superior officer had ordered him he must comply, simply for form's sake. After a little hesitation on the part of Van Ness and Fitzgerald they consented to be tied, and a lariat was accordingly fastened around their wrists, while the other end was held by one of the guard. Lewis was also tied and led along like a dog ; but as Major Howard was suffering from an old wound received in an Indian fight, and as I was also lame, and, as Don Jesus well knew, had slept none the night before, he allowed us to continue the march without being confined. He ordered us, however, whenever we met with any of the different parties of troops we were now constantly passing, to fold our hands upon our breasts as a token of submission ! Never shall I forget this Don Jesus. He had a coarse, dark, hang-dog face, a black but vicious eye, a head which I am phrenologist enough to know was as destitute of the organs of benevolence and the better attributes of our nature as outer darkness is of light, and if he had a heart at all, it legitimately belonged to a hyena or a prairie wolf.

He pushed, or rather drove us rapidly onward until past the middle of the afternoon, during which time we must have passed nearly a thousand troops, the larger portion of them armed with bows and arrows or old and worn-out muskets. The sun had hidden himself behind a range of mountains which divides the valley of the Pecos at this point from that of the Rio Grande, and we were approaching an old and ruined mission, which, in former times, had served the double purpose of a church and fortress, when suddenly the sharp and discordant blast of a trumpet announced the approach of General Manuel Armijo, governor of New Mexico. An abrupt turn in the ro-.J. nad at first concealed his ragged but numerous cavalcade from our sight, but a few steps brought us in full view of all the pomp, circumstance and chivalry, bows and arrows, sycophants and rascals, with which the governor is usually surrounded. When I say that our guard had been entertaining us during the day with stories of Armijo's cruelty and barbarity, and that they freely gave it as their opinion that we should be ordered to execution on sight, I need not add that the present moment was exciting to a painful degree.

The governor himself, a fine, portly man, was mounted on a mule of immense size, and gayly as well as richly caparisoned. Don Jesus had formed us into line by the roadside, there to await the advance of Armijo. The moment the quick eye of the latter caught a glance of us he rode directly up to the spot where we were standing, and, without dismounting, addressed us with no little politeness, shook each of us by the hand with much apparent cordiality, called us amigos, or friends, and after saying that he had heard of our capture, asked us who we were. Lewis immediately answered - and here the spirit of the craven caitiff first manifested itself - that we were merchants from the United States. Van Ness interrupted him at once by saying that, with the exception of myself, we were all Texans ; but, without heeding him, Armijo grasped Lewis by the collar of his dragoon jacket, dragged him up alongside of his mule, and, pointing to the but-

"What does this mean? I can read - Texas!" at the same time pointing to the latter word and pronouncing it emphatically. Lewis quailed under his iron grasp, but without heeding him the governor continued, " You need not think to deceive me : no merchant from the United States ever travels with a Texan military jacket."

After asking several questions, to which Lewis returned stammering answers, Armijo finally spoke of our main party, and inquired its number and the intentions of the commissioners. He was answered by Van Ness and Howard that it was a mercantile expedition from Texas, and that the intentions of the leaders were pacific. Mr. Van Ness then told him that I did not belong to the party any farther than that I accompanied it for the protection it afforded against Indians, and added that I had a passport from the Mexican consul in New- Orleans. This passport, with all my papers, was in the hands of Don Jesus, who immediately gave it to Armijo. After reading it aloud in presence of all of us, he gave it back into the hands of the captain of our guard, at the same time remarking that the passport was a good one, but that, as I was found in company with the enemies of New Mexico, he should detain me until he could learn farther of my intentions. My companions had invariably assured me that I should be released immediately on having an interview with the governor ; but by this time I had seen enough of the people of New Mexico, and heard enough of Armijo, to convince me that I need not look for justice at his hands, and was therefore but little disappointed at the disposition he made of my case. After what we had heard of the fellow, and his cruel barbarities, we felt in a measure satisfied on ascertaining that we were not to be shot upon the spot, and without a hearing.

After disposing of my case and passport thus summarily, Armijo gratuitously informed us that he was an honourable man and not an assassin, and, what was more, that he was a great warrior. Whatever doubts we might have entertained on this point, we did not see fit to express any at the time, and the fellow may have taken our silence for a tacit acknowledgment of our belief in his magnanimity and bravery. He next asked us which of our little party best understood the Spanish language, as he wanted one of us to accompany him as interpreter. At this question Lewis eagerly pressed forward, and after asserting that he could speak the language more fluently than any of his companions, at once proffered his services. He really was more fluent with Spanish than any of us, having resided many years in Chihuahua and other parts of Mexico. Armijo immediately ordered a mule for him to ride, and after his hands were untied he mounted the animal and rode in among his new associates. That up to this time he had acted in perfect good faith towards Colonel Cooke and the expedition, I have not the least doubt ; but he now saw that he was completely in the power of men whom he understood thoroughly, and from whom he well knew he could expect neither mercy nor justice ; he saw, too, that by betraying his former associates, those who had often befriended him, he might gain life and liberty, and for this he at once sundered all the holy ties of religion, honour, companionship, and patriotism. Not one of us suspected him at the time of other than honourable intentions, but after circumstances rendered his base treachery unquestionable.

Armijo now turned to Don Jesus, and in a pompous and bombastic tone ordered him to guard us' safely back to San Miguel that night, as he wished to hold a conversation with us early on the ensuing morning.

" But they have already walked ten leagues to-day, your excellency, and are hardly able to walk all the way back to-night,"* was the answer of the fellow, who was thinking of his own personal convenience and comfort all the while.

" They are able to walk ten leagues more," retorted Armijo, with a stately wave of his hand. " The Texans are active and untiring people - I know them," he continued ; " if one of them pretends to be sick or tired on the road, shoot him down and bring me his ears ! Go !"

" Yes, your excellency," was the obsequious answer of the cringing Don Jesus, and with a flourish of trumpets the great General Armijo and his motley army now left us. As they filed by, in helter-skelter order, we noticed our former guide, the runaway Carlos, in the crowd. He was seated upon a mule, his arms and breast bandaged, and we afterward learned that he had been stabbed and severely wounded by a nephew of Armijo, for his supposed connexion with the Texan expedition.

The sun had ceased to tinge the highest tops of the eastern mountains ere the last stragglers and camp-followers of Armijo had trotted past us, and we were extremely tired and faint after our weary march of nearly thirty miles ; yet this fellow, who in one breath told us he was " an honourable man," almost in the next ordered us back over the same rough and broken road with- oul food or sleep ! The penalty of failure was death, and to be certain that his orders had been strictly fulfilled, or perhaps to gratify his curiosity, he wished to see the ears of such of us as might fall by the roadside, unable to endure the excessive fatigue.