OCR Text |
Show GEFFKOY'S TRIALS. 63 he insisted ; but the laws of that Puritanic commonwealth were odi-ous and tyrannical upon social subjects. He was an ardent advocate of individual liberty. Another avowed himself weary of a life of hardships on the mountains and plains; he was going down into Mexico for a little rest. His right- hand neighbor had left the States because he was tired of a humdrum life ; he wanted a change. One went for variety, another to find a location ; all seemed to think the expedition a brief holiday, which was to end in victory and abun-dance. They had our future course fully settled: we should travel leisurely across prairies rich in grass, thread cafions alive with game, and effect a junction with the Texan Invincibles. a thousand strong; then march on the settlements, encounter perhaps some thousands of Mexican soldiers, scatter them like the wind, dictate terms to Old Armijo, in Santa Fe, make an advantageous peace, and settle down in the mild climate and on the fertile soil of the Rio Grande to a life of dreamful ease. There was much talk of dark- eyed senoritas, dowered with vast ranches, where the contented owner would ride amid his thousands of sheep and cattle, pluck the luscious grape, and drink from great casks of red wine. This was their romance ; the reality is to come. " After brief consultation, a division of forces was agreed upon. Fourteen men, including the Colonel, were to go down to the ' Cross-ing' ( where the Santa Fe trail crossed the Arkansas), and await the main body of riflemen from the States, or obey any orders from the Texan force, while the remainder, among them myself, were to proceed to the point where the Taos trail crossed the Las Animas, and act as a scouting party until further orders. We set out on the 21st of March, under command of a lieutenant, a gallant and graceful polyglot, who gave command in three languages, and joked and swore in a dozen more with inspiring fluency. That day we marched up the Timpas, then turned south south- west, toward the Las Animas. Having started with but one day's supply of provisions, and that of dried buffalo meat, we soon suffered for food. Our dependence was upon game, but at that season there is little grass, and animals are poor and shy. Two days and three nights did we toil over the high and barren lands with-out food, and only supplied with water from the pools filled by melting snow. Our horses were so exhausted that we walked most of the time, chewing only the cud of bitter fancies. Already the bright visions with which we set out were dissipated, and an awful sense of impend-ing calamity seemed to weigh down the spirits of every one. The third day we killed a straggling wolf, which furnished us a miserable meal just enough to excite a ravenous desire for something better. |