sun went down
it was at its very height. Neither man nor animal could face this shower
of stones and gravel, and the sand and dust penetrated everything. The
only thing that was to be done was to throw oneself down upon his face,
draw his blankets around him, and ride it out, sleeping. The storm
continued through the night, and before dawn approached it had ceased,
and upon crawling out of my sand bank, I saw in all directions what
appeared to be graves, but they were only mounds of sand that had been
formed by the storm over the bodies of the soldiers. Imagine, if you
can, near four hundred of these mounds becoming animate and dissolving
in the desert, as reveille sounded.

At about noon the command moved on, and after marching twenty-five
miles arrived at Alamo Mucho at about two o'clock in the morning. Here
was found a well that would have furnished water for an army
corps--sweet, cold water. It was a pleasure to look at this, to hold it
in a tin cup, look at it, take a mouthful, holding it there a time
before swallowing it; it seemed a sin to drink it. This water was not
taken on the point of the bayonet, as water had been taken for the past
four days, and we had marched sixty-six miles from Los Dos Palmos since
we had our fill of water. After the men had satisfied their thirst they
spread their blankets wherever they pleased, and there was no person in
that command, except the guard, that was not soon in the arms of
Morpheus.

Before daylight another sand storm commenced, and when reveille was beat
off, not a dozen men were in line, and they were only brought out of
their sand hills by beating the long roll. The storm subsided in the
early afternoon, when the command moved on, making Gardiner's Wells,
twelve miles, before sundown, where was found a fine well with plenty of
water, but none of the command wanted any, the only objection being, and
that a slight one, that there was standing above the level of the water
in the well, a pair of boots--and a dead man in them. Seven Wells was
soon reached, and, as the name implies, there were plenty of wells, but
there was no water. Thence to Cook's Well, twelve miles, with plenty of
good water, thence fourteen miles to the Colorado river, at Algodones.
The next day, before noon, the command arrived at Fort Yuma and went
into camp. Here we met Don Pascual, a head chief of the Yumas, Don Diego
Jaeger, and the "Great Western," three of the most celebrated characters
in the