These merchants were, consequently,
seized upon, their goods confiscated, and themselves shut up in the
prisons of Chihuahua, where, during several years, they underwent a
rigorous treatment.
It was, I believe, in the spring of 1821, that Chambers, with the other
prisoners, returned to the United States, and shortly afterwards a
treaty with the States rendered the trade lawful. Their accounts induced
one Captain Glenn, of Cincinnati, to join them in a commercial
expedition, and another caravan, twenty men strong, started again for
Santa Fe. They sought a shorter road, to fall in with the Arkansas
river, but their enterprise failed; for, instead of ascending the stream
of the Canadian fork, it appears that they only coasted the great river
to its intersection by the Missouri road.
There is not a drop of water in this horrible region, which extends even
to the Cimaron river, and in this desert they had to suffer all the
pangs of thirst. They were reduced to the necessity of killing their
dogs and bleeding their mules to moisten their parched lips. None of
them perished; but, quite dispirited, they changed their direction and
turned back to the nearest point of the river Arkansas, where they were
at least certain to find abundance of water. By this time their beasts
of burden were so tired and broken down that they had become of no use.
Pages:
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149