26o ELDORADO 



so great a number announced their willingness to go, 

 that it was necessary to select nine men to undertake 

 the mission. These heroes knew that their sole de- 

 pendence lay in their fighting qualities, for their mules 

 were so worn down by fatigue, that flight was out of 

 the question. From some unaccountable reason the 

 swarming Indians allowed them to pass through their 

 lines, without firing a single shot at them, and with 

 all haste they set out for the Arkansas river, where 

 they still hoped to find Riley encamped. 



This gallant officer beheld them, at some distance, 

 and rightly surmising that there was trouble ahead, 

 he at once began striking his tents, and by the time 

 thev had arrived, he was already upon Mexican soil, 

 and marching swiftly to the relief of his beleaguered 

 countrymen. It was a breach of national etiquette — 

 this crossing the boundary of a friendly power with 

 an armed force — but blood was thicker than water, 

 and the ties of true bravery and humanity more po- 

 tent than the red tape rules of form and ceremony. 



So rapid and silent was Riley's approach to the 

 train, that he even penetrated between the pickets of 

 the traders and their camp before he was discovered. 

 Then there arose such joyous cheers from camp and 

 soldiers that the savages, concluding that they, in turn, 

 would have to assume the defensive, quietly de- 

 camped, and the caravan was accompanied through 

 the sand hills bv the troops, and was once more safe. 



The arrival of Rilev was a God-send to the trap- 

 pers, who must otherwise have eventually been obliged 

 to desert their train, and seek for water, or perish of 

 thirst. One of the hired men in the train now ap- 



