"
Evidently our youngest corporal had not had his sleep out, and was out
of humor.
"Will you please explain, sir?" asked Frank.
"With pleasure," I answered. "It is more comfortable to march in the
early morning, when it is cool. Marches rarely exceed fifteen or
twenty miles a day, except where the distance between watering-places
is more than that. Sometimes we are obliged to march forty miles a
day."
"Seems to me the officers are very tender of the men," observed the
sleepy Henry. "Fifteen and twenty miles a day, and five or six hours
on the road, can't tire them much."
"Why not try a march on foot, Henry?" suggested his brother. "It might
prove a useful experience."
"Let me suggest something better," said I. "Tie your pony to the back
of that wagon, and crawl in on top of the bedding and have your nap
out."
Henry disdained to reply, but with a long and shivering yawn relapsed
into silence.
In a little more than six hours we reached the Rio Puerco, and forded
its roily, brackish current to a camping-place on the other side.
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