ough the mountain gorges and over the plains beyond, covering
from seventeen to twenty-five miles a day. Ammunition had diminished as
well as food, and the men were forbidden to waste any on game, for news
had been received that the Mexicans were gathering to dispute their path
and all their powder and shot might be needed.

The vicinity of the Mexican settlements was reached on August 14, and
their desert-weary eyes beheld with joy the first cornfields and gardens
surrounding the farm-houses in the valleys, while groves of cedar and pine
diversified the scene. With new animation the troops marched on, elated
with the tidings which now reached them from the north, that Colonel
Kearney had been raised to the rank of brigadier-general, and a second
item of news to the effect that two thousand Mexicans held the canon six
miles beyond Las Vegas, prepared to dispute its passage.

This was what they had come for, and it was a welcome diversion to learn
that the weariness of marching was likely to be diversified by a season of
fighting. They had made the longest march ever achieved by an American
army, nearly all of it through a barren and inhospitable country, and it
was with genuine elation that they pressed forward to the canon, hopeful
of having a brush with the enemy. They met with a genuine disappointment
when they found the pass empty of foes. The Mexicans had failed to await
their coming.

Kearney had already begun his prescribed work of annexing New Mexico to
the United States, the Alcalde and the prominent citizens of Las Vegas
having taken an oath of allegiance to the laws and government of the
United States. As they marched on, a similar oath was administered at San
Miguel and Pecos, and willingly taken. Here the soldiers fairly revelled
in the fresh vegetables, milk, eggs, fruits, and chickens which the
inhabitants were glad to exchange for the money of their new guests.
Orders had been given that all food and forage obtained from the peaceable
inhabitants should be paid for, and Kearney saw that this was done.

At Pecos they had their first experience of the antiquities of the land.
Here was the traditional birthplace of the great Montezuma, the ancient
temple still standing whose sacred fire had been kindled by that famous
monarch, and kept burning for long years after his death, in the hope that
he would come again to deliver his people from bondage. At length, as
tradition held, the fire was extinguished by