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170 NARRATIVE OF A 



therewith, which they might have done by applying at 

 the ferryman's hut, they sat down, with a pack of cards, 

 to win each other's money. They had lit a fire, not to 

 warm them, but to afford them light, (for now the sun 

 had set, and darkness was coming on apace,) and had 

 spread a blanket, round which they sat, or crouched, 

 watching with intense interest the turning of a card. 

 The lurid glare of the fire, as it fell on them, brought out 

 in full relief their strongly marked and manly features. 

 They looked like so many banditti making a division of 

 booty. 



Behind them stood the officer, wistfully looking on, and 

 regretting, perhaps, his inability to join the party without 

 derogating from his rank. Meanwhile, these men, who, 

 after a fatiguing march, might be supposed to entertain 

 no other wish than that of some food and rest, were so 

 absorbed by their passion for play as to neglect the wants 

 of nature. Some of them lay down that night without a 

 supper, and others, perhaps, rose the next morning to 

 resume their march without a breakfast. 



Leaving the banks of the Rio Grande, we penetrated 

 into a wilderness of woods and mountains, where nature 

 was exhibited in her wildest and most primitive forms, 

 and where the silence and solitude of the scenes were 

 seldom disturbed by the presence of man. As we pro- 

 ceeded, we came to a hollow, surrounded by rocks and 

 thickets. This place is called aguas calientes, on ac- 

 count of hot springs that gush out from the earth or 

 from crevices in the rocks. The ground in the imme- 

 diate vicinity of these springs was moist, and covered 

 with steam, and so warm, that the mules, when they 

 came to the spot, started and turned away. The warm 

 water, as it streamed from the springs, collected, here 

 and there, in little pools or basins, formed delightful 

 natural baths of different temperatures, according to their 

 distance from the springs. In one place the water was 



