To the soldiers life in the valleys was very pleasant. Duty was light,
and there were no temptations to dissipation or to be out of quarters
at night, and there were no confinements to the guard-house for
disorder. Evenings were spent over books and papers and quiet games,
and the days in drill, repairing buildings, providing the fuel for
winter, hunting, and scouting.

As previously referred to, we were in a region of abundant game. The
boy corporals accompanied the hunting-parties, and became skilled in
bringing down whatever they sighted. Henry, as well as Frank, shot his
bear, and soon our floor was covered with the skins of wolves,
coyotes, bears, and catamounts, skilfully dressed and tanned by the
Cordovas.

And now I must introduce a principal character of my story, a valued
friend who took a conspicuous part in our scouting and hunting, and
who, later on, did valuable service to myself and my youthful
comrades.

Just as I was about to leave Santa Fé for Los Valles Grandes, the
regimental adjutant--since a distinguished brigadier-general in the
war in the Philippines--gave me a beautiful young setter named
Victoriana, and called Vic for convenience. She was of canine
aristocracy, possessing a fine pedigree, white and liver-colored, with
mottled nose and paws, and a tail like the plume of Henry of Navarre.

The boys, soon after our arrival in the valleys, carrying out a
conceit suggested by the letters "U.S." which are always branded upon
the left shoulder of all government horses and mules, marked with a
weak solution of nitrate of silver upon Vic's white shoulder the same