at particular spot; for wild as were my thoughts,
I had enough of reason left to know that we could not encamp without
water. The sight of the arroyo had decided my wavering resolution, and
upon its banks, almost mechanically, I had drawn bridle and dismounted.

I once more descended to the bed of the stream, and, raising the water
in the palms of my hands, repeatedly applied it to my lips and temples.
The cool liquid refreshed me, and seemed to soothe both my nerves and my
spirit.

After a time, both felt calmer, and I sat down upon the bank, and
watched for a while the clear rivulet rippling past over its bed of
yellow sand and glistening pebbles of quartz. The water was perfectly
diaphanous; and, though the sun was no longer shining, I could see tiny
silver fish, of the genus _hyodon_, sporting themselves in the lowest
depths of the pool. How I envied them their innocent gambols, their
life of crystal purity and freedom! Here, in this remote prairie
stream, dwelt not the alligator, nor the ravenous garfish; here came no
dolphin or shark to chase them, no tyrant of the waters to put them in
fear. To be envied, indeed, such an _insouciant_, happy existence!

I watched them for a long while, till I thought that my eyes were
growing heavy, and, after all, I might seep. The murmur of the arroyo
helped to increase this inclination to repose, and, perhaps, I might
have slept; but at that moment chancing to look around, my eyes rested
upon an object that again drove sleep far away, and I was soon as
wakeful as ever.

Close to where I had seated myself grew a large plant of the Mexican
aloe (_agave Americana_). It was the wild maguey, of course, but of a
species with broad fleshy leaves of dark-green colour, somewhat
resembling the maguey of cultivation. I noticed that one of the great
blades of the plant was bruised down, and the spine, which had
terminated it, torn off.

All this would not have drawn my attention: I was already aware that the
Indians had made a halt where we were encamped, and their sign was
plenteous around--in the tracks of their animals, and the broken
branches of trees. One of their horses or mules might have munched at
the maguey in passing; and, viewing the bruised blade from a distance, I
should have hazarded just such a conjecture. But my eyes were close to
the plant, and, to my astonishment, I observed that there _was writing
upon the leaf_!

I turned over upon my knees, and seizin