262 REWARD OF TREASON. 



south and east; a steep bank, twenty-five or thirty feet high, shut us from 

 the contiguous plain. 



While here, we kept strict and constant guard, in view of anticipated 

 movements of the enemy, as, from certain information previously obtained, 

 we knew him to be quartered in full force at the nearest seitlements. 



Our daily and hourly expectation was to meet a detachment of the Mex- 

 ican army, then out for the purpose of reconnoitering ; and, weak as we 

 were in point of numbers, we felt quite equal to a hundred such soldiers, 

 and were anxious for a trial of arms. 



Our stay was prolonged for three or four weeks, and the abundance of 

 choice buflulo meat that continued to grace our larder, with the rank growth 

 of fresh grass for the sustenance of our animals, imparted an air of cheer- 

 fulness and thrift both to man and beast. 



Nothing occurred worthy of note during the interval, save the following 

 incident. One day, late in the afternoon, our sentinels announced the ap- 

 pearance of a small party of Mexicans at the crossing, and immediate pre- 

 parations were made for an attack. Before these could be completed, how- 

 ever, our expected enemy was reported as having raised camp and being 

 likely to escape by a precipitate retreat towards the Arkansas. Six men, 

 mounted upon fleet horses, were immediately detached in pursuit, — of whom 

 I was one. 



The chase continued for several miles, and terminated in our overhaul- 

 ing three persons, — but, instead of Mexicans, two of them were Americans, 

 and the other an Englishman, on their way to the United States with two 

 pack mules heavily laden with gold and silver. 



On receiving from them information of the disposition and probable 

 whereabouts of the Mexican forces, they were permitted to depart unmo- 

 lested, — a circumstance not likely to have happened had we been the gang 

 of " lawless desperadoes,''^ so hideously depicted in several of the public 

 prints of the day, as I have since learned. 



An item of the intelligence received through them, gave us mingled sen- 

 sations of pain and pleasure. 



An European Spaniard, — who had made one of the Texan army in its 

 unfortunate expedition against Santa Fe, in the fall of 1842, and had been 

 retained a prisoner of war for a number of months subsequent, having ef- 

 fected his escape to the Indian country, — on hearing of the recent move- 

 ments of the Texans under Col. Wariield, had come and reported himself 

 ready again to enlist. 



On the strength of this assurance he was partially admitted to confidence, 

 — a thing rarely to be reposed in any one of Spanish extraction. The re- 

 sult was, that, after gleaning all the information circum.stances would ad- 

 mit of, he proceeded, post haste to Sanla Fe, and laid the whole aflair before 

 Gen. Armijo, the Mexican Governor, in hopes of a handsome reward. 



The old Governor, however, had received more exact intelligence, with 

 the names and number of volunteers composing the party under Col. W., 

 (furnished him through the medium of certain Americans, base enough in 

 principle and sordid enough in motive, to act as his spies, for a paltry bribe 

 in the shape of stipulated remissions of tariflf" duties on imported goods, etc.,) 

 and treated the traitor to bis cause quite cavalierlv, — not hesitating to tell 



