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Show 296 TALES OF THE COLORADO PIONEERS. agency, but they ridiculed me. I told them to swing a light on the highest point; it might prove a beacon to some forsaken wanderer. They only laughed and said; 'what foolishness.' 'Then I want to be foolish,'said I; and seeing that they would not comply with my request I called my son and commanded him to place a light on the top of Ouray's house. "The atmosphere continued surcharged with murky vapor until late in the evening, when the clouds suddenly lifted and the great, round, full moon threw silvery light over valleys and mountains. "About this time the mail carrier arrived, and the men, eager for news from home, gathered around the table to watch the distribution of letters and papers. The Indian * boy 'Antelope,' with a startled look on his face, rushed into the room and exclaimed, 'Oh, Signor! White man heap hungry.' We turned to look and saw a haggard, hungry face pressed against the window, but which quickly disappeared. The poor man had fainted. The men brought him in, and with the return of life he talked in an odd, fantastic way, peculiar to the maniac. It was evident that his mind was wandering. We bathed his eyes in warm milk, gave him nourishment and a comfortable bed. The next morning he was in his perfect senses, though very weak. He came in to see me, and in the course of a long conversation I discovered that he was a man of superior education and great force of character. He said that in the fall a party of twenty left Salt Lake to prospect in the San Juan country. As the outset of a band of adventurers on an expedition of that kind is always animated and joyous, the. welkin rang with their shouts, boisterous jokes and light-hearted laughter. But, |
