to business, for all the men wanted pins too, and I distributed the
entire contents of the papers which I happened to have in my pocket,
before they were satisfied, much to the amusement of F., who only
laughs at what he is pleased to call my absurd interest in these poor
creatures; but you know, M., I always _did_ "take" to Indians, though
it must be said that those who bear that name here have little resemblance
to the glorious forest heroes that live in the Leatherstocking tales,
and in spite of my desire to find in them something poetical and
interesting, a stern regard for truth compels me to acknowledge that
the dusky beauty above described is the only even moderately _pretty_
squaw that I have ever seen.

At noon we stopped at the Buckeye Rancho for about an hour, and then
pushed merrily on for the Pleasant Valley Rancho, which we expected to
reach about sundown. Will you, _can_ you, believe that we got lost
again? Should you travel over this road, you would not be at all
surprised at the repetition of this misfortune. Two miles this side of
Pleasant Valley, which is very large, there is a wide, bare plain of
red stones which one is compelled to cross in order to reach it, and I
should not think that even in the daytime any one but an Indian could
keep the trail in this place. It was here that, just at dark, we
probably missed the path, and entered, about the center of the valley,
at the opposite side of an extensive grove from that on which the
rancho is situated. When I first began to suspect that we might
possibly have to camp out another night, I Caudleized at a great rate,
but when it became a fixed fact that such was our fate, I was instantly
as mute and patient as the Widow Prettyman when she succeeded to the
throne of the venerated woman referred to above. Indeed, feeling
perfectly well, and not being much fatigued, I should rather have
enjoyed it, had not F., poor fellow, been so grieved at the idea of my
going supperless to a moss-stuffed couch. It was a long time before I
could coax him to give up searching for the rancho, and, in truth, I
should think that we rode round that part of the valley in which we
found ourselves, for more than two hours, trying to find it.

About eleven o'clock we went back into the woods and camped for the
night. Our bed was quite comfortable, and my saddle made an excellent
pillow. Being so much higher in the mountains, we were a little chilly,
and I was disturbed two or t