was in Saint Louis. I had now left out of my three
thousand pounds not quite an hundred; and this would soon melt away
should I remain idle. What was I to do?

"There happened to be a young Scotchman at the hotel where I had put up.
He was, like myself, a stranger in Saint Louis; and being from the `old
country,' we soon became acquainted, and, very naturally under the
circumstances, shared each other's confidence. I told him of my
blunders in Virginia and Cairo, and I believe that he really felt
sympathy for me. In return, he detailed to me part of his past history,
and also his plans for the future. He had been for several years
employed in a copper mine, away near the centre of the Great American
Desert, in the mountains called Los Mimbres, that lie west of the Del
Norte river.

"They are a wonderful people these same Scotch. They are but a small
nation, yet their influence is felt everywhere upon the globe. Go where
you will, you will find them in positions of trust and importance--
always prospering, yet, in the midst of prosperity, still remembering,
with strong feelings of attachment, the land of their birth. They
manage the marts of London--the commerce of India--the fur trade of
America--and the mines of Mexico. Over all the American wilderness you
will meet them, side by side with the backwoods-pioneer himself, and
even pushing him from his own ground. From the Gulf of Mexico to the
Arctic Sea, they have impressed with their Gaelic names rock, river, and
mountain; and many an Indian tribe owns a Scotchman for its chief. I
say, again, they are a wonderful people.

"Well; my Saint Louis Scotchman had come from his mine upon a visit of
business to the United States, and was now on his return by Saint Louis
and Santa Fe. His wife was along with him--a fine-looking, young
Mexican woman, with only one child. He was waiting for a small caravan
of Spanish people, who were about to start for New Mexico. With these
he intended to travel, so as to be in safety from the Indians along the
route.

"As soon as he understood my situation, he advised me to accompany him--
offering me a lucrative situation in the mine, of which he was the sole
manager.

"Disgusted as I then was with the treatment I had received in the United
States, I embraced his proposal with alacrity; and, under his
superintendence, I set about making preparations for the long journey
that lay before us. The money I had left, enabled me