Ten days later the party took passage in a large boat going up the river
to Santa Fé. It had come down freighted with hides, and the odor still
hung about it. However, by this time they had become accustomed to the
smell, and scarcely noticed it. The boat was manned by six Mexicans, who
sometimes poled it along, sometimes, when the stream was rapid, got
ashore and towed from the bank.
It took them six days to arrive at Santa Fé. Although just inside the
United States frontier, the population was almost entirely Mexican.
There were, however, a few American stores, containing European goods of
all kinds, for the use of the natives, and such articles as miners or
prospectors going up among the hills would require. Here they had no
difficulty in purchasing horses. Five rough, serviceable ponies for the
carriage of the baggage were picked up at twenty dollars a piece, and
five well-made and wiry horses for their own riding. Mexican saddles,
with very high pommels and cantles, heavy and cumbersome to look at, but
very comfortable for long distances, were also obtained without
difficulty. At the stores were bought two sacks of flour and two sides
of bacon, a frying pan, saucepan, baking pot, and a good supply of tea
and sugar; four large water-skins, five small ones, completed their
purchases, with the exception of shovels, picks, and pails for washing
the gravel.
"Going up among the hills again, Dave?" remarked the store-keeper, with
whom the miners had often dealt before.
"Yes, we are going to try a new direction this time, and don't want to
have to come back directly we have struck anything. We have got enough
grub here for three or four months, reckoning as we shall occasionally
get hold of bear or deer meat."
"Well, you had better keep clear of the Indian country, Dave. They made
a raid down South, I hear, last month, and burnt half a dozen Mexican
villages, and they would make short work with you if they came across
you anywhere near their country. However, I suppose you aint going to be
fool enough to go that way, especially as I see you have got two green
hands with you."
"They are old enough to be useful," Dave said. "We can put them to cook
and look after the horses, if they can't do anything else. They are
Britishers, and one of them stood by me pluckily in a mess I got into in
San Diego; so as they had left their ship and were out of a berth, I
thought I would bring them with me, as they had a fancy for seeing a
little of mining life, before they shipped back again."
Two days after their arrival at Santa Fé they started.
"We will strike due south as if intending to enter Mexico; one never
knows who is watching one," Dave said the evening before. "There are
always some pretty hard men about these border towns--miners who are
down on their luck; men who have had to run from the northern diggings,
and such like. We may say what we like, but they will make a guess that
we have located something rich, and are going back to work it quietly
and keep it to ourselves, and like enough some of them will take it in
their heads to follow us. Anyhow, we will travel south for a day or two,
and then turn off sharp to the west. It aint as I should grudge anyone
else a share in the mine, but the more there are the more chance of the
Injuns finding us. Besides, some of these chaps are so reckless that
like as not they would light a big fire if they wanted to cook a loaf of
bread. We three have been up that way before, although not so far as we
are going now, and we know what we have got to expect, and that, if we
are going to bring our scalps out again, we have got to sleep with our
eyes open."
Another fortnight's traveling and they had passed the last settlements,
had left Fort Mason behind them, and had entered the country that the
Apaches and kindred tribes claimed as their own.
The two lads had enjoyed the journey immensely. They had traveled about
fifteen miles a day, their pace being regulated by that of the pack
animals. During the heat of the day they had all halted in the shade of
some clump of tree or bush. Here the horses had picked up their
sustenance, grass and leaves, while the men slept. At night they had
camped, when they could find such a spot, on the banks of a stream. Then
a big fire would be lighted, a dough of flour, water, and soda would be
mixed, and placed in the baking pot. This was put among the red embers,
which were drawn over the lid so as to bake it from above as well as
below. Then, if they had no other meat, rashers of bacon would be
grilled over the fire, and eaten with the hot bread. Generally, however,
they had been able to purchase a kid or some fowls at one or other of
the little villages through which they passed.
They always carried with them two of the large skins filled with water,
in case none should be met with at their halting places; this sufficed
for tea and for a good drink at night, and before starting in the
morning for the horses. The villages, however, had become fewer and
fewer, and at the last through which they had passed they had bought one
of the little bullocks of the country, cut the flesh into strips, and
hung it in the sun to dry, halting three days for the purpose.