THE PRESIDIO OF JANOS. d15 | 
ble to shoe the fore feet of all the team mules, leaving 
the pack and riding mules, with few exceptions, to go 
as they were. It would have been well to shoe them 
all; but the difficulties in the way of getting any 
thing done compelled me to dispense with such work 
as was not absolutely necessary. 
There was a blacksmith’s shop in the village, a 
bellows, and an anvil, but very indifferent tools. Then 
there was no charcoal, and no shoes or nails. The first 
step, therefore, was to send three or four men with 
pack-mules to the mountains for wood, and several 
others to guard them, and prevent a surprise by the 
Apaches. This obtained, we had to burn it into char- 
coal; and then three of our most ingenious men were 
dispatched to the blacksmith’s shop, to assist in forg- 
ing the shoes and nails, and in shoeing the animals. 
I took my turn last night, for the second time, in 
that most disagreeable of all our duties, standing guard. 
The arrangements which we made before starting from 
the Pimo villages, where our escort left us, were, that 
two of the men should stand guard for two hours, 
commencing at 8 o’clock, and that this guard should be 
relieved every two hours until the camp was called in 
the morning, and the mules turned out to feed. But 
I was unwilling to trust to all the men, fearing that due 
diligence would not be observed. The officers there- 
fore agreed, without exception, to take their turn; 
one to stand every night till 12 o’clock, and another 
from that hour till the morning. ‘This was an arduous 
duty; but our safety absolutely required it. To rise 
before day and travel until three or four o’clock in the 
afternoon, and then stand guard half the night, was a 
