earned my passage across the plains. Don Jose Lopez, that was his
name, said that I need not do much actual work, as he would have his
peons attend to the care of the mules and have them harness up as
well. He also told me that we would have to delay our departure until
every team present in the town had its cumulation of cargo. They
dared not travel singly, he said, for the Indians were very hostile.
In consequence whereof our departure was delayed for six weeks. I
camped with the Mexicans and accustomed myself very soon to their
mode of living. The fact that I understood their language and spoke
it quite well was a never-ending surprise and mystery to them. I took
dally walks over the prairie to the junction of two creeks, a short
distance from the town, bathed and whiled away the time with target
practice, and soon became very proficient in the use of firearms.

The banks of these little streams would have made a delightful picnic
ground, covered as they were by a luxuriant growth of grasses and
bushes and some large trees also, mostly of the cottonwood variety.
But there were no families of ladies and children here to enjoy the
lovely spot. A feeling of intense uneasiness seemed to pervade the
very air and a weird presentiment of impending horror covered the
prairie as with a ghostly shroud. The specter of a wronged,
persecuted race ever haunted the white man's conscience. In vain did
the red man breast the rising tide of civilization. In their sacred
tepees, their medicine men invoked the aid of their great Spirit and
they were answered.

The Spirit sent them for an ally, an army of grasshoppers, which
darkened the sun by its countless numbers. It impeded the progress of
the iron horse, but not for long. Then he sent them continued drouth,
but the pale face heeded not. "Onward, westward ever, the star of