WONDERS OF A NEW LAND 215 



tunately for him and for me too, I had a firm 

 hold of the bridle and I thus kept him from 

 going down on all fours and myself from go- 

 ing over his head. 



This accident put a finish to the race. Bil- 

 lie showed no bad effects from it, but for my- 

 self I found something was wrong with my 

 left side, which gave me considerable pain, 

 and it kept getting more painful with each 

 recurring day. It was finally discovered that 

 the large muscle controlling the three lower 

 ribs on my left side had been badly wrenched, 

 and I was advised to let it alone, and time 

 would bring about relief. This I did, but 

 two months elapsed before the pain and sore- 

 ness finally disappeared. 



I did not, and do not now, begrudge hav- 

 ing had this accident, although it might have 

 been very much worse. This, however, I 

 may say: I wouldn't have missed this long and 

 unique race of a "wild" mule against two good 

 horses, even had I known beforehand that the 

 accident would happen. 



A good camping place with lots of grass for 

 the horses and plenty of wood for the fire was 

 found early in the afternoon. The Chief now 

 led the way across the river bottom to a moun- 

 tain on the right-hand side, back of which 



