270 GUN, KOD, AND SADDLE. 



I daily rode, handsome as a picture, and as game, 

 fleet, and enduring as any animal I had ever thrown 

 a leg over, thorough-bred I believe, and as sagacious 

 as a dog. Between her and my bat mule there ex- 

 isted a most extraordinary affection. I had but to 

 go ahead, and the latter was certain to follow, so if 

 I did not fall into an ambuscade I knew full well I 

 could distance any Comanche braves till I regained 

 camp, where, behind the wagons backed by the stal- 

 wart Missourian teamsters, who well knew the use 

 of their rifles, I would be safe. Unfortunately the 

 principal of the expedition was a most unpleasant 

 and unpopular person, so that between his bullying 

 and his unpleasant manner, a mutiny was raised 

 among his retainers, and the consequence was that 

 the majority started en masse on their own hook, 

 to seek another employer, or find their way back 

 to their native State. 



My education and antecedents had been such as to 

 give me a horror of mutiny ; moreover, up to this 

 date, I had nothing to complain of, so I determined 

 to stick to the wagons, and use every effort in my 

 power to save the owner from the only alternative 

 that appeared left, the deserting of all his property 

 in the wilderness. Ere long, however, I was com- 



