The squaw ran away and in a short time returned with her skirt filled with exquisitely beaded pairs in all sizes.
“Too beautiful to wear in the wilderness,” sighed Julie, as she handled a pair with the toes a solid mass of bead-work.
When the “Whites” left that tiny home they left great wealth behind, for they had each added two pairs of moccasins, thick-skinned and simply made, to their outfits, and had purchased the elaborate ones to send home to those scouts who had not come west.
CHAPTER THREE
ON THE OLD SANTA FÉ TRAIL
True to instinct, the Indian horse-trader came into Trinidad early the next morning, driving, coaxing, and kicking a string of sleek Mexican ponies. Then he sent word to the scout-party at the hotel that he was ready to bargain with the gentlemen.
“Tally, you’ve got to stand by us in this lottery, because we want to carry off the Grand Prize, you know,” laughed Mr. Vernon, when he heard the verbal message.
“He no get dead beat f’om my Boss—not if Tally know he’em,” vowed the guide, fervently. Mr. Vernon and Mr. Gilroy laughed heartily at the Indian’s ambiguous remark, and Tally, not sure of that word “lottery,” or “Grand Prize,” laughed, too.
But the trader was not as tricky as his profession painted him. In fact, Tally managed to secure most excellent terms for his Boss. Mr. Gilroy contracted with the man for the nine ponies and three burros while in New Mexico or Arizona at the rate of $20-$30 each per month. This was more than the rental of the burros was worth, but the owner agreed to pay freight all the way from Gallup, which is in the western part of New Mexico, or from Flagstaff or Williams in Arizona, to reclaim his property. Should Mr. Gilroy decide to rent the animals for a fraction of a month thereafter he would only pay for the actual time he had the beasts in use.
“Well!” declared Mr. Vernon, when everything had been satisfactorily settled, and they were free to start from Trinidad whenever they pleased, “that is the first honest horse-dealer I ever met, or heard of.”