Page:Don Coronado through Kansas.djvu/146

135 INDIANS AT A DISTANCE. 135' signifies depressions in the land of from one inch to twenty-four inches where the animals pawed ap the soil, then laid down in it to wallow. After a rain, tiiiese holes would hold water. It was Paradise for a bqffialo to get the mud plastered all over its body so aa to dean itself as well as to keep off the flies in Hje summer. These wallowing places are on an 'WenigB one to every square rod and are ten or tweflve feet in circumference. Again along the streams the creature was very prone to make these holes on a large scale, and boys now use them to swim in. It is the third day after leaving the Arkansas river that our thirty-six heroes with their rabainers are nearing the place selected by the aivaaae guard for the camping ground for the night. The sun is about an hour high, when aU at once the trained, keen Indian eyes of Ysopete observe a party of his coun- trymen at a distance of about a mile. Immediately Alonso's notice is directed to the sight, and now the brain of the heutenant is whirling like a dynamo. He must get word to the general who can be seen ap- proaching a short distance back; then the next thought is to guard against surprise. A horseman is dispatched to notify the main party to come up at once, then Alonso begins to examine the lay of the land to select a position better fitted for defence than that which they had already prepared for the reception of the main party. Our young soldier knew the advantage of a favorable location in ease of attadc, so Babieca was urged at top speed to examine the gronnd, and MMm a point wm kMsatCii «• a riee