e rest
of his attire consisted of a frock and leggings of buckskin, rubbed with
the yellow clay found among the mountains. At the heel of one of his
moccasins was buckled a huge iron spur, with a rowel five or six inches
in diameter. His horse, who stood quietly looking over his head, had a
rude Mexican saddle, covered with a shaggy bearskin, and furnished with
a pair of wooden stirrups of most preposterous size. The next man was a
sprightly, active little fellow, about five feet and a quarter high, but
very strong and compact. His face was swarthy as a Mexican's and covered
with a close, curly black beard. An old greasy calico handkerchief was
tied round his head, and his close buckskin dress was blackened and
polished by grease and hard service. The last who came up was a large
strong man, dressed in the coarse homespun of the frontiers, who dragged
his long limbs over the ground as if he were too lazy for the effort. He
had a sleepy gray eye, a retreating chin, an open mouth and a
protruding upper lip, which gave him an air of exquisite indolence
and helplessness. He was armed with an old United States yager, which
redoubtable weapon, though he could never hit his mark with it, he was
accustomed to cherish as the very sovereign of firearms.

The first two men belonged to a party who had just come from California
with a large band of horses, which they had disposed of at Bent's
Fort. Munroe, the taller of the two, was from Iowa. He was an excellent
fellow, open, warm-hearted and intelligent. Jim Gurney, the short man,
was a Boston sailor, who had come in a trading vessel to California, and
taken the fancy to return across the continent. The journey had already
made him an expert "mountain man," and he presented the extraordinary
phenomenon of a sailor who understood how to manage a horse. The third
of our visitors named Ellis, was a Missourian, who had come out with a
party of Oregon emigrants, but having got as far as Bridge's Fort, he
had fallen home-sick, or as Jim averred, love-sick--and Ellis was just
the man to be balked in a love adventure. He thought proper to join the
California men and return homeward in their company.

They now requested that they might unite with our party, and make the
journey to the settlements in company with us. We readily assented, for
we liked the appearance of the first two men, and were very glad to
gain so efficient a re-enforcement. We told them to meet us on the next
evening at