‘SOLITARY AND ALONE.’ 59 
as far as the eye can reach ; for even the deep- 
cut chasms of the intersecting rivers are rarely 
visible except one be upon their very brink. 
Upon expressing my fears that our wagons 
would not be able to pass the Angostura in 
safety, my comrades informed me that there 
was an excellent route, of which no previous 
mention had been made, passing near the 
Cerro de Tucumcari, a round mound plainly 
visible to the southward. After several vain 
efforts to induce some of the party to carry a 
note back to my brother, and to pilot the cara- 
van through the Tucumcari route, one of 
them, known as Tio Baca, finally proposed to 
undertake the errand for a bounty of ten dol- 
lars, besides high wages till they should reach 
the frontier. His conditions being accepted, 
he set out after breakfast, not, however, with- 
out previously recommending himself to the 
Virgin Guadalupe, and all the saints in the 
calendar, and desiring us to remember him 
in our prayers. Notwithstanding his fears, 
however, he arrived in perfect safety, and 
had the satisfaction of learning afterward that 
my brother found the new route everythi 
he could have desired. 
I continued my journey westward with my 
two remaining companions; but, owing to 
their being provided with a relay of horses, 
they very soon left me to make the balance of 
the travel alone—though yet in a region 
haunted by hostile savages. On the follow- 
ing day, about the hour of twelve, as I was 
pursuing a horse-path along the course of the 
