the weather is not wet; for if so, the shoe soon wears out.
Mexican and Indian horses and mules will make long journeys without
being shod, as their hoofs are tough and elastic, and wear away very
gradually; they will, however, in time become very smooth, making it
difficult for them to travel upon grass.

A train of wagons should always be kept closed upon a march; and if, as
often happens, a particular wagon gets out of order and is obliged to
halt, it should be turned out of the road, to let the others pass while
the injury is being repaired. As soon as the broken wagon is in order,
it should fall into the line wherever it happens to be. In the event of
a wagon breaking down so as to require important repairs, men should be
immediately dispatched with the necessary tools and materials, which
should be placed in the train where they can readily be got at, and a
guard should be left to escort the wagon to camp after having been
repaired. If, however, the damage be so serious as to require any great
length of time to repair it, the load should be transferred to other
wagons, so that the team which is left behind will be able to travel
rapidly and overtake the train.

If the broken wagon is a poor one, and there be abundance of better
ones, the accident being such as to involve much delay for its repair,
it may be wise to abandon it, taking from it such parts as may possibly
be wanted in repairing other wagons.

ADVANCE AND REAR GUARDS.

A few men, well mounted, should constitute the advance and rear guards
for each train of wagons passing through the Indian country. Their duty
will be to keep a vigilant look-out in all directions, and to
reconnoitre places where Indians would be likely to lie in ambush.
Should hostile Indians be discovered, the fact should be at once
reported to the commander, who (if he anticipates an attack) will
rapidly form his wagons into a circle or "_corral_," with the animals
toward the centre, and the men on the inside, with their arms in
readiness to repel an attack from without. If these arrangements be
properly attended to, few parties of Indians will venture to make an
attack, as they are well aware that some of their warriors might pay
with their lives the forfeit of such indiscretion.

I know an instance where one resolute man, pursued for several days by
a large party of Comanches on the Santa Fe trace, defended himself by
dismounting and pointing his rifle at the foremost whenev