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Show 140 FORTY YEARS AMONG THE INDIANS. that if we had run into an Indian camp that Stith would have attempted to take our lives. The soldiers did not like him, neither did they think as he did, but they all feared him as he had shot down some of his company. This same officer had shot and killed one man, who had given out and could not travel. This occurred on a Texas desert. My intention was to take care of myself, and if we had met any Indians to see that J was not harmed if a good rifle could protect me. Moore and myself watched him all the time. We arrived at the Dolores bend at eleven o'clock a. m. I recommended camping. Stith said he had not made a day's march and would not camp. I said, " Then let's noon." " No, it lacks an hour of noon; we must travel an hour yet." I told him I wanted time to get my reckoning, as I had not been here for some time and had come in a dif-ferent direction from what I had done before and that there were many trails leading from this point further north. It was twenty miles to the next water. All this would not induce him even to noon, but he ordered the march to continue. After going a few miles he asked me where the water was for noon. I told him that all the water we would get would take till after night to reach. He then notified Moore and myself that we were discharged, and that there was a Mexican along who knew the road bet-ter than we did. I told him allright, to pay us and we would turn back. This he refused to do, saying that he intended to keep us along in case the Mexican did not know the country; that we would be better than no guides. |