Mexicans.

"Get up," said Tete Rouge. "Come now, go along, will you."

The mule walked deliberately forward out of the gate. Her recent conduct
had inspired him with so much awe that he never dared to touch her with
his whip. We trotted forward toward the place of meeting, but before he
had gone far we saw that Tete Rouge's mule, who perfectly understood her
rider, had stopped and was quietly grazing, in spite of his
protestations, at some distance behind. So getting behind him, we drove
him and the contumacious mule before us, until we could see through the
twilight the gleaming of a distant fire.

We began our journey for the frontier settlements on the 27th of August,
and certainly a more ragamuffin cavalcade never was seen on the upper
Arkansas. Of the large and fine horses with which we had left the
frontier in the spring, not one remained; we had supplied their place
with the rough breed of the prairie, as hardy as mules and almost as
ugly; we had also with us a number of the latter detestable animals. In
spite of their strength and hardihood, several of the band were already
worn down by hard service and hard fare, and as none of them were shod,
they were fast becoming foot-sore. Every horse and mule had a cord of
twisted bull-hide coiled around his neck, which by no means added to the
beauty of his appearance. Our saddles and all our equipments were by
this time lamentably worn and battered, and our weapons had become dull
and rusty. The dress of the riders fully corresponded with the
dilapidated furniture of our horses, and of the whole party none made a
more disreputable appearance than my friend and I. Shaw had for an upper
garment an old red flannel shirt, flying open in front and belted around
him like a frock; while I, in absence of other clothing, was attired in
a time-worn suit of leather.

Thus happy and careless as so many beggars, we crept slowly from day to
day along the monotonous banks of the Arkansas. Tete Rouge gave constant
trouble, for he could never catch his mule, saddle her, or indeed do
anything else without assistance. Every day he had some new ailment,
real or imaginary, to complain of. At one moment he would be woebegone
and disconsolate, and the next he would be visited with a violent flow
of spirits, to which he could only give vent by incessant laughing,
whistling, and telling stories. When other resources failed, we used to
amuse ourselves by tormenting him; a fair compensation f