It was a misnomer to call the Santa Fe road…

chunk 899 · paragraph 1089

concerning him and his party; whether those men ragged ap- parel consisting of overalls, breech cloths, leather coats, and without covering for the head, were a tribe living in houses. Pike was promoted to brigadier-general and lost his life in 1813, at the taking of Toronto. It was a misnomer to call the Santa Fe road a trail. On either side, for miles, a vast expanse of level greensward relieved the solitude that surrounded you — unless, indeed, there was visible a band of Indians, a herd of buffaloes, a prairie dog village, a bunch of antelope, a gray wolf, badger, or long-faced coyotes, with furtive glance, on a swinging trot, putting a deal of real estate between them and supposed danger. A trip over the plains abounded in interest. The rarity of the atmosphere lent en- chantment to the scene, the mirage so frequently seen was not the least interesting sight. For hundreds of miles nature denied the wayfarer fuel, but the buffalo in the plentitude of its na- ture, supplied the omission, and no one for the want of fuel was compelled to go supperless to bed. Thirty-three years ago the incidents of the journey were being related by “a tenderfoot,” ( 66 )