A NEW MEXICAN WEDDING.
For a moment the amazement of the two men at again beholding the lad
whom they were fully persuaded was dead would neither allow them to
speak nor move. Then "Billy" Brackett walked softly over to where Glen
was standing, and gave one of his legs a sharp pinch.
The startled boy, who had not noticed his approach, leaped to the floor
with a cry of mingled pain and surprise.
"I only wanted to be sure you were real, old man, and not a ghost," said
"Billy" Brackett, trying to speak in his usual careless tone; but the
tears that stood in the honest fellow's eyes, as he wrung the boy's
hand, showed how deeply he was affected, and how truly he had mourned
the loss of his young friend.
Nor was Mr. Hobart less moved, and, as he grasped Glen's hand, he said,
"My dear boy, I honestly believe this is the happiest moment of my
life."
They did not stop to ask for his story then but insisted on taking him
at once out to the camp that was being pitched just beyond the fort,
that the rest of the party might share their joy as speedily as
possible.
The boys were so busily engaged with their evening duties that the
little party was not noticed until they were close at hand. Then
somebody, gazing sharply at the middle figure of the three who
approached, cried out, "If that isn't Glen Matherson, it's his twin
brother!"
Everybody paused in what he was doing, and every eye was turned in the
same direction. For a moment there was a profound silence. Then came a
great shout of joyful amazement. Everything was dropped; and, with one
accord, the entire party made a rush for the boy whom they all loved,
and whom they had never expected to see again.
How they yelled, and cheered, and failed to find expressions for their
extravagant delight! As for Binney Gibbs, he fairly sobbed as he held
Glen's hand, and gazed into the face of this comrade for whom he had
mourned, and whom he once thought he hated.
Although, at first sight, it seems almost incredible that so many
adventures should happen to one boy on a single trip, it must be
remembered that, with the exception of Binney, Glen was the youngest of
the party, and consequently more likely to be reckless and careless than
any of the others. He was also one of those persons who, while everybody
around them is moving along quietly and soberly, are always getting into
scrapes, and coming out of each one bright, smiling, and ready for
another. Then, too, he was a stout, fearless fellow, with perfect
confidence in himself that led him into, and out of, situations from
which such boys as Binney Gibbs would steer clear.
An amusing feature of Glen's adventures was, that while his companions
were ready to sympathize with him on account of his sufferings and
hardships, it never seemed to occur to him that he had had anything but
a good time, and one to be remembered with pleasure. Thus, in the
present instance, according to his own account, his slide down the
mountain-side had been the jolliest coast he ever took. His swim in the
lake had been cold, but then it had not lasted long, and he had enjoyed
the fire and the warmth of the cave all the more for it. As for his
subsequent experiences, he related them in such a way that, before he
finished, his listeners began to regard him as one of the most fortunate
and to-be-envied fellows of their acquaintance. They seemed to be
crossing the Plains and mountains in the most prosaic manner, without
doing anything in particular except work, while, to this boy, the trip
was full of adventures and delightful experiences. Would these incidents
seem so pleasant to him if he were as old as they? Perhaps not.
They were all to enjoy one novel experience that very evening, though;
for Glen brought an invitation from Colonel Carson for them to attend
the wedding, and of course they promptly accepted it. As it was to be an
early affair, they hurried to the fort as soon as supper was over, and
found the guests already assembling in a large room, from which every
article of furniture had been removed. It was a motley gathering, in
which were seen the gay uniforms of soldiers, the buckskin of trappers,
the gaudy serapes of Mexican Cabelleros, the flannel shirts and big
boots of the engineers, and the blanketed forms of stolid-faced Ute
Indians, for whom Kit Carson was acting as agent at that time.
The company was ranged about three sides of the room, close against the
walls; and, when they were thus disposed, a door on the vacant side
opened, and a Mexican woman, bearing a large basket of candles, entered.
Giving a candle to each guest, and lighting it for him, she indicated by
signs that he was to hold it above his head. So the guests became living
candlesticks, and, when all their candles were lighted, the illumination
was quite brilliant enough even for a wedding.
Everything being ready, the door through which the candles had been
brought again opened, and the bridal party entered. First came the
priest, then Kit Carson and his wife, who was a Mexican woman from Taos.
Behind them walked the couple who were to be married. The bride was a
slender, olive-complexioned girl, dressed very simply in white, while
the groom wore the handsome uniform of a lieutenant of cavalry. The rear
of the procession was brought up by a bevy of black-haired and
black-eyed senoritas, sisters and cousins of the bride.
The priest read the wedding service in Latin, and the bride made her
responses in Spanish, so that the few English words spoken by the groom
were all that most of the spectators understood. As "Billy" Brackett
afterwards remarked, it was evidently necessary to be liberally educated
to get married in that country.
At the conclusion of the ceremony the entire wedding-party, with the
exception of the bride's father, disappeared, and were seen no more;
while Colonel Carson led his guests into a neighboring room, where the
wedding supper was served. Here the famous scout, surrounded by the
tried comrades of many a wild campaign, entertained the company by
calling on these for one anecdote after another of the adventures that
had been crowded so thickly into their lives. This was a rare treat to
the new-comers, especially to Glen Eddy and Binney Gibbs, to whom the
thrilling tales, told by the boy trappers, scouts, hunters, and soldiers
who had participated in them, were so real and vivid that, before this
delightful evening was over, it seemed as though they too must have
taken part in the scenes described.
In spite of the late hours kept by most of the engineers that night,
their camp was broken by daylight, and at sunrise they were off on the
line as usual, for September was now well advanced, and there were
mountain ranges yet to be crossed that would be impassable after winter
had once fairly set in. So, leaving the pleasant army post and their
hospitable entertainers in it, they picked up their line, and, running
it out over the broad San Luis Valley to the Rio Grande, began to follow
that river into the very heart of New Mexico.
Glen was more than glad to find himself once more on Nettle's back, and
again bearing the front flag in advance of the party. He was also
surprised to find what a barren place the valley that had looked so
beautiful and desirable from the mountains really was. Its sandy soil
only supported a thick growth of sage brush, that yielded a strong
aromatic fragrance when bruised or broken, and which rendered the
running of the line peculiarly toilsome. It was a relief to reach the
great river of New Mexico, and find themselves in the more fertile
country immediately bordering on it. Here, too, they found numbers of
quaint Mexican towns, of which they passed one or more nearly every day.
These were full of interest to the young explorers. While looking at
their low flat-roofed houses, built of adobe, or great sun-dried bricks
of mud and straw, it was hard to realize that they were still in America
and traversing one of the territories of the United States. All their
surroundings were those of the far East, and the descriptions in the
Bible of life and scenes in Palestine applied perfectly to the valley of
the Rio Grande as they saw it. The people were dark-skinned, with
straight, black hair; and while the young children ran about nearly
naked, their elders wore loose, flowing garments, and, if not
barefooted, were shod with sandals of raw hide or plaited straw.
The square houses, with thick walls, broken only by occasional narrow
unglazed windows, were exactly like those of the Biblical pictures.
Inside, the floors were of hard-beaten clay, and there were neither
tables nor chairs, only earthen benches covered with sheep-skins or gay
striped blankets. Some of the finer houses enclosed open courts or
plazas, in which were trees and shrubs. The cooking was done in the open
air, or in round-topped earthen ovens, built outside the houses.
The women washed clothing on flat rocks at the edge of the streams, and
young girls carried all the water used for domestic purposes in tall
earthen jars borne gracefully on their heads. The beasts of burden were
donkeys, or "burros," as the Mexicans call them. Grain was threshed by
being laid on smooth earthen threshing-floors, in the open air, and
having horses, donkeys, cattle, and sheep driven over it for hours. Wine
was kept in skins or great earthen jars. The mountains and hills of the
country were covered with pines and cedars, its cultivated valleys with
vineyards and fruit orchards; while the raising of flocks and herds was
the leading industry of its inhabitants.
At this season of the year, though the sun shone from an unclouded sky
of the most brilliant blue, the air was dry and bracing in the daytime,
and crisp with the promises of frost at night. It was glorious weather;
and, under its influence, the second division ran a line of a hundred
miles down the river in ten days. As the entire party had looked forward
with eager anticipations to visiting Santa Fe, which is not on the Rio
Grande, but some distance to the east of it, they were greatly
disappointed to be met by a messenger from General Lyle, with orders for
Mr. Hobart to come into that place, while his party continued their line
south to Albuquerque, eighty miles beyond where they were.
Glen was intensely disappointed at this, for Santa Fe was one of the
places he had been most anxious to visit. His disappointment was doubled
when Mr. Hobart said that he must take somebody with him as private
secretary, and intimated that his choice would have fallen on the young
front flagman if he had only learned to talk Spanish. As it was, Binney
Gibbs was chosen for the envied position; for, though he, like the rest,
had only been for a short time among Mexicans, he was already able to
speak their language with comparative ease.
"I don't see how you learned it so quickly," said Glen, one day, when,
after he had striven in vain to make a native understand that he wished
to purchase some fruit, Binney had stepped up and explained matters with
a few words of Spanish.
"Why, it is easy enough," replied Binney, "to anybody who understands
Latin."
Then Glen wished that he, too, understood Latin, as he might easily have
done as well as his comrade. He wished it ten times more though, when,
on account of it, Binney rode gayly off to Santa Fe with Mr. Hobart,
while he went out to work on the line.