I now thought of myself and my failing knee and we sat down under the shade of an oak to rest, and after a little, better feeling seemed to come.  Down by a deep gully cut by the rains a yearling steer was feeding, and I took the rifle and crawled down near him and put first one ball through him, and then another, before he fell dead on the other side of the wash, when we sprang with all the agility of a deer.  We quickly got some good meat and had it roasted and eaten almost quicker than can be told.  We hardly realized how near starved we were till we had plenty before us again.  We ate till we were satisfied for once, and for the first time in many long dreary weeks.  We kindled a fire and commenced drying the meat, one sleeping while the other kept the fire, and changing off every few hours.  What a rest that was!  One who has never been nearly worn out and starved, down nearly to the point of death can never know what it is to rest in comfort.  No one can tell.  It was like a dream, a sweet, restful dream where troubles would drown themselves in sleep.  How we felt the strength come back to us with that food and the long draughts of pure clear water.

The miserable dried meat in our knapsacks was put away and this splendid jerked beef put in its place.  The wolves came to our camp and howled in dreadful disappointment at not getting a meal.  Rogers wanted me to shoot the miserable howlers, but I let them have their concert out, and thought going without their breakfast must be punishment enough for them.  As our moccasins were worn out we carefully prepared some sinews from the steer and made new foot gear from the green hide which placed us in shape for two or three week’s walking.

The morning was clear and pleasant.  We had our knapsacks filled with good food we had prepared, and were enjoying the cool breeze which came up the valley, when we heard faintly the bark of a dog, or at least we thought we did.  If this were true there must be some one living not very far away and we felt better.  I was still very lame and as we started along the walking seemed to make it worse again, so that it was all I could do to follow John on the trail down the valley.  As we went along a man and woman passed us some distance on the left, and they did not seem to notice us, though we were in plain sight.  They were curiously dressed.  The woman had no hoops nor shoes, and a shawl wound about her neck and one end thrown over her head, was a substitute bonnet.  The man had sandals on his feet, with white cotton pants, a calico shirt, and a wide rimmed, comical, snuff-colored hat.  We at once put them down as Spaniards, or then descendants of Mexico, and if what we had read about them in books was true, we were in a set of land pirates, and blood thirsty men whom we might have occasion to be aware of.  We had never heard a word of Spanish spoken, except perhaps a word or two upon the plains which some fellow knew, and how we could make ourselves known and explain who we were was a puzzle to us.