IN THE OLD WEST 265 



ent moment is sharing his lodge on Hard-scrabble 

 creek of the upper Arkansa, having been duly 

 and legally married by Fray Augustin before 

 their departure. 



But now the snow on the ridge of the Sierra 

 Madre, and the nightly frosts ; the angular flights 

 of geese and ducks constantly passing overhead; 

 the sober tints of the foliage, and the dead leaves 

 that strew the ground ; the withering grass on the 

 plain, and the cold gusts, sometimes laden with 

 snow and sleet, that sweep from the distant snow- 

 clad mountains ; — all these signs warn us to 

 linger no longer in the tempting valley of San 

 Fernando, but at once to pack our mules to cross 

 the dreary and desert plains and inhospitable 

 sierras ; and to seek with our booty one of the 

 sheltered bayous of the Rocky Mountains. 



On the third day after their arrival, behold our 

 mountaineers again upon the march, driving be- 

 fore them — with the assistance of half-a-dozen 

 Indians impressed for the first few days of the 

 journey until the cavallada get accustomed to 

 travel without confusion — a band of four hun- 

 dred head of mules and horses, themselves mounted 

 on the strongest and fleetest they could select from 

 at least a thousand. 



Fray Augustin and the hidalgo, from the house- 

 top, watched them depart — the former glad to 

 get rid of such unscrupulous guests at any cost, 

 the latter rather loath to part with his boon com- 



