96 FIGHT AT A FANDANGO. 



will. Mr. Barrill seldom shunned sociability, and as I 

 happened to know the mountaineers to be honest, true- 

 hearted men, I recommended them to his favor. 



The fandango came off in the great hall of the Alcalde, 

 on the same evening. Mr. Barrill and I were promptly 

 on the spot. My friend enjoyed the scene amazingly, 

 and danced and frolicked with the girls, in a style which 

 none of the hunters, so noted for their "sprees," could 

 equal. On one occasion, a mountaineer, seeing a jealous 

 Mexican interfere with his zealous courtship, knocked him 

 down. Knives were out in an instant, and a bloody 

 affray might have occurred if Mr. Barrill had not inter- 

 fered. He spoke mildly and persuasively, but also with an 

 air of authority, which had its effect. Order was restored 

 and the dancing resumed, and continued till the peep of 

 day, when Mr. Barrill and I returned to the old moun- 

 taineer's house, more fatigued than ever we were after a 

 day's hunt. 



We stopped one day at Taos to rest, and then resumed 

 our journey, intending to follow the course of the Rio 

 Grande to the Gulf of Mexico, more for novelty than for 

 any other purpose. Yet we found that this route was 

 about as dull and monotonous as any tha.t we had ever 

 travelled. We passed through a number of small towns, 

 the inhabitants of which were remarkable for nothing but 

 squalor and treacherous cowardice. Most of the Indians 



