Seguin's theory of the
inland seas.

Shortly after sunrise, the trail we were following led us to an Indian
crossing. Here we forded the stream with the intention of leaving it
and heading eastward.

We halted our horses in the water, permitting them to drink freely.
Some of the hunters, moving ahead of the rest, had climbed the high
banks. We were attracted by their unusual exclamations. On looking
upward, we perceived several of them standing on the top of a hill, and
pointing to the north in an earnest and excited manner. Could it be
Indians?

"What is it?" shouted Seguin, as we pushed forward.

"A gold mountain! a gold mountain!" was the reply.

We spurred our horses hurriedly up the hill. On reaching its top, a
strange sight met our gaze. Away to the north, and as far as the eye
could see, an object glistened in the sun. It was a mountain, and along
its sides, from base to summit, the rocks glittered with the bright
semblance of gold! A thousand jets danced in the sunbeams, dazzling the
eye as it looked upon them. Was it a mountain of gold?

The men were in a frenzy of delight. This was the mountain so often
discussed over the bivouac fires. Who of them had not heard of it,
whether credulous or not? It was no fable, then. There it was before
them, in all its burning splendour.

I turned to look at Seguin. His brow was bent. There was the
expression of anxiety on his countenance. He understood the illusion;
so did the Maricopa; so did Reichter. I knew it too. At a glance I had
recognised the sparkling scales of the selenite.

Seguin saw that there was a difficulty before us. This dazzling
hallucination lay far out of our course; but it was evident that neither
commands nor persuasion would be heeded now. The men were resolved upon
reaching it. Some of them had already turned their horses' heads and
were moving in that direction.

Seguin ordered them back. A stormy altercation ensued; in short, a
mutiny.

In vain Seguin urged the necessity of our hastening forward to the town.
In vain he represented the danger we were in of being overtaken by
Dacoma's party, who by this time were upon our trail. In vain the Coco
chief, the doctor, and myself, assured our uneducated companions that
what they saw was but the glancing surface of a worthless rock. The men
were obstinate. The sight, operating upon long-cherished hopes, had
intoxicated them. They had lost all reason. They were mad.