the empty condition of his stomach.  For the remainder of that day, the train traveled on in apparent safety.  When the shades of evening had fairly set in, a camping-ground was selected on a small stream.  The wagons were formed in a circle, in which were huddled the men and animals so that both could be protected by the weapons of the former.  Grass was cut with the butcher knives belonging to the members of the party and was laid before the mules.  In this dangerous locality, they could not be allowed to procure this food for themselves.  As strong a guard as their forces would permit of was posted.  The remainder of the party gathered some wood that had floated down the stream from the mountains and was sparingly scattered along the shores of the river near to the camp.  This was brought in, when small fires were made over which their frugal meal was prepared, after which the men lay down to rest.  Many persons there are who would think that after escaping such perils once, it would take very great inducements to make them thus expose themselves a second time.  Nevertheless, there exist in our land hundreds upon hundreds of men who take delight in returning into the midst of these dangers.

A life on the prairies of the “Far West” has its good chances as well as its counter chances, and no man can be happier than the true mountaineer.  At first, to one accustomed to luxuries and modern refinement, nothing can be more unpleasant than a journey over the plains; but each day thus spent, hardens the traveler until meals, that a beggar in our towns or cities would hardly deign to touch, are by him eaten with a relish to which he has long been a stranger.  It is on these long tramps that the dyspeptic and melancholic man becomes the liveliest of the party; his sociability often increases to such a degree that he soon can spin a yarn in a true Baron Munchausen style.

Eat Carson, as he rode silently along all the following day, had been meditating over the scenes through which he had so recently passed, and also the most practicable means to be employed for the future.  When the night had fully set in, without saying one word to the other members of the party, he called to a young Mexican whom he knew to be very fleet of foot and whose powers of endurance were wonderful.  On his coming to him he led him one side, when, after he had depicted to the boy their fearful situation in its true colors, he told him that he held the power of saving the lives of the whole party.

The New Mexicans of the north are famous as being very fleet of foot, and the great distance which they can run in a short period of time is astonishing.  As a general rule, they are very partial to horses, but, when they have no riding animal, they will start on a journey of hundreds of miles and accomplish it in an incredibly short time.  A journey of forty or fifty miles in a day is an ordinary circumstance with them, even when the inducement for making it has