Chap. XIII. LEATON'S FOKT. 409 
their Mexican countrymen, as by it they assist in the 
extermination of the Apaches. I have already spoken of 
attacks upon these by the united forces of the Nortenos 
and Comanches. This friendly intercourse is maintained 
with some of these tribes by written correspondence, which 
the Comanche chiefs carry on by means of their Mexican 
prisoners. The system of special treaties between indi- 
vidual villages and ranchos and the Indians is universal 
in Mexico, and neither patriotism nor morality can say 
much against this fulfilment of the law of self-defence. 
We took our loaded waggons over the Rio Grande on 
a ferry ; the empty ones were drawn through the stream 
by oxen. We encamped on the other side, — in Texas. 
Our camp was not far from a large building surrounded 
by a mud wall, called by the North Americans Leaton's 
Fort, and by the Mexicans only El For tin. A North 
American, not then living, had fixed himself on this spot 
in defiance of the Indians, in order to oppose their depre- 
dations. This man was too remarkable a person to be 
passed over in silence ; — a character for any tale which 
may be written of the wild frontier life of this region. I 
should call him a noble Desperado. We had business to 
transact here with another North American, who only 
wanted heroism to be a similar character. He called him- 
self " Doctor," but I question whether he was acquainted 
with any other medicine than gunpowder. In my presence 
he placed a pistol at the breast of an unfortunate Mexican, 
merely because he would not agree to the price offered him 
for a mule. Leaton and the Doctor were foes, and enmity 
in this country is enmity for life and death. It happened 
once that Leaton, riding past a thicket, heard the click of 
a gun which missed fire. Drawing his revolver from his 
belt, he instantly turned his horse to the spot, and found 
