New Mexico, I feared they might attempt
to crucify me and I did not relish the thought. Therefore I accepted
King Solomon's life as the next best one to emulate. While I was
greatly handicapped by not possessing the riches of the great old king,
I fancied that I had a plenty of his wisdom, and although I could not
cut as wide a swath as he had done, I did well enough under the
circumstances. I was, of course, limited to a vastly smaller scale in
the pursuit and enjoyment of the many good things to be had in New
Mexico. Ever joyous, free from care, I drifted in my voyage of life
with the stream of hope over the shining waters of a happy and
delightful youth.

CHAPTER V.

ON THE RIO GRANDE. AN ABSTRACT OF THE AUTHOR'S GENEALOGY OF MATERNAL
LINEAGE

In the month of September I came to the end of my journey, as I arrived
on the Rio Abajo. Now I began the second chapter of my life's voyage.
No longer a precocious child, I was growing to young manhood and was
not lacking in those qualities which are essential in the successful
performance of life's continual struggle. I was heartily welcomed by my
uncle, my mother's brother. My aunt, poor lady, had, of course, given
me up as lost and greeted me with joyful admiration. But she did not
venture close to me, for in me she saw a strong, lusty young man,
bright eyed, alert-looking and carrying a deadly army revolver and
wicked hunting knife at his belt. To be sure, I was suntanned and
graybacked beyond comparison with the dust of a thousand miles of wagon
road.

As I had expected, I found my uncle in very prosperous circumstances,
in a commercial sense. And no wonder, for he was a tall, fine-looking
man, under forty and overflowing with energy and personal magnetism.
And my mother's little family tree did the rest--aye, surely, it was
not to be sneezed at, as will be presently seen.

Of course, mother traced her ancestral lineage, as all other people do,
to Adam and Eve in general, but in particular she claimed descent from
those ancient heroes of the Northland, the Vikings. These daring rovers
of the seas were really a right jolly set of men. In their small
galleys they roamed the trackless seas, undaunted alike by the terrors
of the hurricane as by the perils of unknown shores. On whatever coast
they chanced--finding it inhabited, they landed, fought off the men and
captured their women. They sacked villages and plundered towns, and
loading their ships with booty,