ELDORADO 309 



party. At last came into a valley, of a plain spread out, 

 and thought I could see a light in the distance — but 

 made up my mind not to be deceived again and hur- 

 ried on. The lights grew plainer; then the ruins of 

 an old church came n viiew. The roof was fallen in, 

 I feared my senses were deceiving me. At last I saw 

 the form of a man moving, and his shadow on the 

 ground. As I approached him I found the party in 

 camp — and what a camp ! I was piloted across a 

 stream and taken into an old adobe. There lay my 

 companions stretched out upon the dirty floor, wrapped 

 in their blankets, in two rows, with a passage way be- 

 tween. Some were sleeping sovmdly, others were 

 awake. Hovering over a fireplace in the room were 

 three or four, boiling or roasting corn, which had been 

 obtained of Mexicans who had preceded us on the trail 

 and whose abandoned horse we had eaten. They were 

 from Moleje, on the Gulf, bound to El Rosario. They 

 at first refused to part with their corn as they had onl\' 

 a peck and that was to last seven men and one woman, 

 but when they heard our story of starvation, they gave 

 one-half their corn. Each man had dealt out to him 

 his allotted share, but not being there at the time, my 

 share was not considered. But I lost nothing, for 

 when T came in, quite a number gave me a contribu- 

 tion, so that, in fact, I had a better share than the 

 others. The guns and ringing of bells of which T 

 thought T dreamed, were realities. Tlie old bell of the 

 Mission was set ringing and guns were fired by the 

 bovs to bring in the stragglers and so express their 

 joy. 



"This was the valley and mission of San Fernando. 

 It is capable of being a beautiful spot : has been highly 



