learnt.

We were in an open space in front of the burning ranche. We could see
all that was going on.

The Indians were clearing it of the fallen and charred timbers to get at
the bodies of their friends. I watched their proceeding's with less
interest, as I now knew that Seguin was not there.

It was a horrid spectacle when the rubbish was cleared away, laying bare
the floor of the ruin. More than a dozen bodies lay upon it,
half-baked, half-roasted! Their dresses were burned off; but by the
parts that remained still intact from the fire, we could easily
recognise to what party each had belonged. The greater number of them
were Navajoes. There were also the bodies of hunters smoking inside
their cindery shirts. I thought of Garey; but, as far as I could judge,
he was not among them.

There were no scalps for the Indians to take. The fire had been before
them, and had not left a hair upon the heads of their dead foemen.

Seemingly mortified at this, they lifted the bodies of the hunters, and
tossed them once more into the flames that were still blazing up from
the piled rafters. They gathered the knives, pistols, and tomahawks
that lay among the ashes; and carrying what remained of their own people
out of the ruin, placed them in front. They then stood around them in a
circle, and with loud voices chanted a chorus of vengeance.

During all this proceeding we lay where we had been thrown, guarded by a
dozen savages. We were filled with fearful apprehensions. We saw the
fire still blazing, and we saw that the bodies of our late comrades had
been thrown upon it. We dreaded a similar fate for our own.

But we soon found that we were reserved for some other purpose. Six
mules were brought up, and upon these we were mounted in a novel
fashion. We were first set astride on the bare backs, with our faces
turned tailwards. Our feet were then drawn under the necks of the
animals, where our ankles were closely corded together. We were next
compelled to bend down our bodies until we lay along the backs of the
mules, our chins resting on their rumps. In this position our arms were
drawn down until our hands met underneath, where they were tied tightly
by the wrists.

The attitude was painful; and to add to this, our mules, not used to be
thus packed, kicked and plunged over the ground, to the great mirth of
our captors.

This cruel sport was kept up even after the mules themselves had got
tired of it, by