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Show FORTY YEARS AMONG THE INDIANS. 97 pears ( thorny cactus). When I placed my number ten foot, pressed down by my 1 75- pound body, on these desert ornaments, they had a piercing effect, often caus-ing me to halt. Several times it hurt so badly that I dropped, desiring to take a seat so that I could pull the thorns out of my feet, but on striking the ground I had a sudden desire to rise, as the cactus formed the only place to sit. This was really amusing. Still, I soon had enough of this fun and commenced to figure how to avoid having any more of it. The horses dreaded the cactus, and if left to pick the road would avoid them ; so we allowed them to go ahead. I carefully watched their tracks and followed them, getting along much better after this. About midnight we got in, my feet a little the worse for wear; but so happy were we with our success that my feet soon got well. Another blessing had befallen the company while we were gone. Three large work oxen, one wearing a big bell, had come into camp. These cattle had traveled nearly one hundred miles from where they had been lost ; they were in fair order. We supposed the reason why the wolves had not killed them was that the rroise of the bell scared them away. With the meat on hand and these cattle we felt pretty safe for the balance of the season. We had hopes of keeping a yoke of the cattle to haul wood with, this having been done all winter with a light wagon, ten men for team, or in hand- carts. The ice was melted on the river and in going for wood it had to be waded. This was hard on the boys, and we were very grateful for the cattle. About this time the second company of the Y. X. express, under Jet Stoddard, passed down. They had |
