e, his wealth, and his wide prairies. I have said: young
brother, farewell."

The tears stood in our eyes as gallantly the band wheeled round. We
watched them till they had all disappeared in the horizon. And these
noble fellows were Indians; had they been Texians they would have
murdered us to obtain our horses and rifles.

Two days after we crossed the Rio Grande, and entered the dreary path of
the mountains in the hostile and inhospitable country of the Navahoes
and the Crows. [See note 2.]

[Note two. The Crows are gallant horsemen; but, although they have
assumed the manners and customs of the Shoshones, they are of the
Dahcotah breed. There is a great difference between the Shoshone tribes
and the Crows. The latter want that spirit of chivalry so remarkable
among the Comanches, the Arrapahoes, and the Shoshones--that nobility of
feeling which scorns to take an enemy at a disadvantage. I should say
that the Shoshone tribes are the lions and the Crows the tigers of these
deserts.]

We had been travelling eight days on a most awful stony road, when at
last we reached the head waters of the Colorado of the West, but we were
very weak, not having touched any food during the last five days, except
two small rattlesnakes, and a few berries we had picked up on the way.
On the morning we had chased a large grizzly bear, but to no purpose;
our poor horses and ourselves were too exhausted to follow the animal
for any time, and with its disappearance vanished away all hopes of a
dinner.

It was evening before we reached the river, and, by that time, we were
so much maddened with hunger, that we seriously thought of killing one
of our horses. Luckily, at that instant we espied a smoke rising from a
camp of Indians in a small valley. That they were foes we had no doubt;
but hunger can make heroes, and we determined to take a meal at their
expense. The fellows had been lucky, for around their tents they had
hung upon poles large pieces of meat to dry. They had no horses, and
only a few dogs scattered about the camp. We skirted the plain in
silence, and at dark we had arrived at three hundred yards from them,
concealed by the projecting rocks which formed a kind of belt around the
camp.

Now was our time. Giving the Shoshone war-whoop and making as much
noise as we could, we spurred on our horses, and in a few moments each
of us had secured a piece of meat from the poles. The Crows (for the
camp contained f