so abounding in game--"

"Say rather, the Spaniards, John."

"What! You surely do not think--Yet that main stream runs southward. All
the accounts tell how the Rio Grande del Norte flows from the north down
through the Province of Nuevo Mexico. Montgomery! can it be--"

He checked me with a gesture. But the twinkle in his eyes belied the
soberness of his answer: "We have crossed the mountains in search of the
Red River. Who among us can swear that yonder stream is not the Red?"

"Yet I, for one, am ready to wager it is the Rio Grande!" I cried. "The
Rio Grande! Only think what that means to us--to me! I have only to
descend its banks to the Spanish settlements--"

"To land in a Spanish gaol!" he rejoined. "No, John; it is for the Red
River we have been seeking, and the Red River it shall be, at the least
until we have built a stockade and brought up all the members of our
party."

"You would defy the Spaniards!" I exclaimed.

"We will at least put ourselves into a position of defence before
seeking to communicate with them."

"But a stockade on Spanish territory?"

"A small party should be conceded the right to provide against the
attacks of savages. Besides, we have wandered far into a region unknown
to us. If this is the Red River, our side of the stream lies within the
boundaries of Louisiana Territory."

I nodded my understanding of his position. "You are right. We have a
very fair argument, and can present it to Don Spaniard quite
favorably--from behind the walls of a stockade."

"Or without any walls, sir!" put in Sergeant Meek. "Even with this
dwindled squad, sir, give us a bunch of trees or scrub, and we'd stand
off a troop of Spanish dragoons, or my name's not Meek."

"Small doubt of that, you old fire-eater!" rejoined the Lieutenant.
"It's harder to keep you in hand than it will be to whip any enemy we
are like to find in this region."

The men all chuckled appreciatively at the joke.

"But just a little brush to liven us up, sir!" pleaded Meek.

"That may come, all too soon! Yet it is not our game. We did not come
here to fight the Spaniards, any more than we ascended the Mississippi
to fight Sioux and Chippewas and British fur-traders. No. Bear in mind
that this is a peaceful expedition. So far am I from desiring a hostile
encounter with the Spaniards, it is by no means certain that I could
bring myself to refuse an invitation to visit their settlements, should
they tender us their hospita