Travel Reference
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mounted on such small animals that I thought they must break their backs, but somehow the
poor little brutes seemed to hold out in an amazing manner.
During a night march a soldier stepped off the trail in the dark and shot down a precipice
with a shriek. We all thought that this was the last of him, but presently we heard him calling
tousfromnotfarbelow.Icarried anacetylene lamp,whichwasofgreatvaluewhenmytorch
failed. Once Ihad it burning we foundthat the man had fallen ona large rock that stuck out of
the mountainside like a shelf. By means of my lasso we hauled the poor fellow back to safety.
Fortunately he was only slightly bruised and shaken, and was able to continue with us when
one of his companions offered him his precious burro.
It was a weary procession that arrived in a little town some eighteen miles from Oaxaca.
My escort was completely played out, but not a man had given in. Even the soundest were
footsore and tired, and others were as lame as their unfortunate burros, the owners of which
hadfollowed usonfootinordertoreclaim them once they were nolonger required. When we
passed some stalls where not too clean food was sold, I invited the men to help themselves,
and there was no need to ask them twice. We did not worry about cleanliness just then; all
we wanted was something to fill us, and this we had. Whilst gobbling up the food I looked
around, and to my delight saw small bundles of green alfalfa stacked up for sale in a market
stall not far from ours. I went over and bought as many as the poor burros and Mancha could
eat, and soon both men and animals were enjoying themselves.
GIANT CACTUS PLANTS IN MEXICO
