parapet for the defenders against the arrows and even the guns of their
assailants. Very few of these Southwest Indians, however, possess
firearms, and as they also lack scaling ladders, it does not detract
from the effectiveness of the defence that none of the houses is above a
story in height. This last was also true of the rows of like buildings
laid off in streets within the square.

At the time, however, I had little opportunity to observe either this
Moorish architecture, which the Spaniards brought with them from Old
Spain, or the curious appearance of the tame Indians, who made up the
majority of the town's inhabitants. The corporal at once led me into the
presence of the commandant, who, finding that I claimed to be of French
blood, expressed himself in French as vastly astonished at the presence
of an American in this remote region, particularly in view of the
season.

Before we had finished our interview, I was no less astonished to learn
that I was not the first American to arrive in the country. This does
not refer to the French creole Le Lande, who had settled between here
and Santa Fe and had done so well with his stolen goods that he was
already known as a _rico_. Something over a year before our coming, one
of our daring Western fur-hunters named Pursley, an American by blood as
well as allegiance, had traversed the prairies from the Missouri, and
falling in with a great party of Kyoways and Comanches near our Grand
Peak, had come down with them to the Spanish settlements.

I received this account while dining with the commandant, he being so
hospitable as to invite me to his table, notwithstanding my tattered
and wretched appearance. But first, having learned my ostensible reason
for coming to New Mexico, he had sent off a soldier, post-haste, with
despatches to Governor Allencaster at Santa Fe.

After weeks and months of dieting on the flesh of wild game, much of the
time without salt, and even longer without so much as corn to vary the
monotony, it was only with the greatest effort that I could restrain
myself from gluttonizing on my host's fiery _chili con carne_, his hot
corn-cakes and beans, his delicious chocolate and _dulces_. All the time
he was repeating polite apologies for the meagreness of his fare. To me
it was no less than a banquet, and I feasted until prudence forced me to
deny myself another mouthful.

That night, for the first time in seven months, I slept upon a mattress,
which