214 LIFE IN THE FAR WEST 



at last, and sat grimly for some moments, when, seizing 

 the chair by the back, he hurled it out of the open 

 door, exclaiming, "Wagh ! this coon aint hamshot 

 anyhow, and don't want such fixins, he don't ; " and 

 gathering his legs under his body, reclined in the man- 

 ner customary to him. There was a prodigious quantity 

 of liquor consumed that night, the hunters making up 

 for their many banyans ; but as it was the pure juice of 

 the grape, it had little or no effect upon their hard 

 heads. They had not much to fear from attacks on the 

 part of the Californians ; but, to provide against all 

 emergencies, the padre and the Gachupin were " hob- 

 bled," and confined in an inner room, to which there 

 was no ingress nor egress save through the door which 

 opened into the apartment where the mountaineers lay 

 sleeping, two of the number keeping watch. A fandango 

 with the Indian girls had been proposed by some of 

 them, but Walker placed a decided veto on this. He 

 said " they had need of sleep now, for there was no 

 knowing what to-morrow might bring forth ; that they 

 had a long journey before them, and winter was coming 

 on ; they would have to ' streak ' it night and day, and 

 sleep when their journey was over, which would not be 

 until Pike's Peak was left behind them. It was now 

 October, and the way they'd have to hump it back to 

 the mountains would take the gristle off a painter's 

 tail." 



Young Ned Wooton was not to the fore when the 

 roll was called. He was courting the Sonora wench 

 Juanita, and to some purpose, for we may at once 



