desire
to visit this family possession, and possibly spend a winter in its
warm climate. This decision was more easily reached from the fact
that there was an abundance of game on the land, and being a devoted
sportsman, his own consent was secured in advance. No other reason
except that of health would ever have gained the consent of his
mother to a six months' absence. But within a week after reaching the
decision, the young man had left New York and was on his way to Texas.
His route, both by water and rail, brought him only within eighty
miles of his destination, and the rest of the distance he was obliged
to travel by stage.

San Antonio at this time was a frontier village, with a mixed
population, the Mexican being the most prominent inhabitant. There was
much to be seen which was new and attractive to the young Easterner,
and he tarried in it several days, enjoying its novel and picturesque
life. The arrival and departure of the various stage lines for the
accommodation of travelers like himself was of more than passing
interest. They rattled in from Austin and Laredo. They were sometimes
late from El Paso, six hundred miles to the westward. Probably a brush
with the Indians, or the more to be dreaded Mexican bandits (for
these stages carried treasure--gold and silver, the currency of the
country), was the cause of the delay. Frequently they carried guards,
whose presence was generally sufficient to command the respect of the
average robber.

Then there were the freight trains, the motive power of which was
mules and oxen. It was necessary to carry forward supplies and bring
back the crude products of the country. The Chihuahua wagon was drawn
sometimes by twelve, sometimes by twenty mules, four abreast in
the swing, the leaders and wheelers being single teams. For mutual
protection trains were made up of from ten to twenty wagons. Drivers
frequently meeting a chance acquaintance going in an opposite
direction would ask, "What is your cargo?" and the answer would be
frankly given, "Specie." Many a Chihuahua wagon carried three or four
tons of gold and silver, generally the latter. Here was a new book
for this college lad, one he had never studied, though it was
more interesting to him than some he had read. There was something
thrilling in all this new life. He liked it. The romance was real; it
was not an imitation. People answered his few questions and asked none
in return.

In this frontier village at a l