one Captain Glenn, of Cincinnati, to join them in a commercial
expedition, and another caravan, twenty men strong, started again for
Santa Fé. They sought a shorter road, to fall in with the Arkansas
river, but their enterprise failed; for, instead of ascending the stream
of the Canadian fork, it appears that they only coasted the great river
to its intersection by the Missouri road.

There is not a drop of water in this horrible region, which extends even
to the Cimaron river, and in this desert they had to suffer all the
pangs of thirst. They were reduced to the necessity of killing their
dogs and bleeding their mules to moisten their parched lips. None of
them perished; but, quite dispirited, they changed their direction and
turned back to the nearest point of the river Arkansas, where they were
at least certain to find abundance of water. By this time their beasts
of burden were so tired and broken down that they had become of no use.
They were therefore obliged to conceal their goods, and arrived without
any more trouble at Santa Fé, when, procuring other mules, they returned
to their cachette.

Many readers are probably unaware of the process employed by the traders
to conceal their cargo, their arms, and even their provisions. It is
nothing more than a large excavation In the earth, in the shape of a
jar, in which the objects are stored; the bottom of the cachette having
been first covered with wood and canvas, so as to prevent anything being
spoiled by the damp. The important science of cachaye (Canadian
expression) consists in leaving no trace which might betray it to the
Indians; to prevent this, the earth taken from the excavation is put
into blankets and carried to a great distance.

The place generally selected for a cachette is a swell in the prairie,