" Then he sang out to me: "Massa Bill, is you got
any hahdtack?"
"Nary a bit of hardtack, but the wagons will be along presently, and
you can get all you want."
"Dat's de best news Ah's heahd fo' sixteen long days, Massa Bill."
"Where's your command? Where's General Penrose?" I demanded.
"Dunno," said the darky. "We got lost, an' we's been starvin' ever
since."
By this time two other negroes had emerged from their hiding-place.
They had deserted Penrose's command, which was out of rations and in a
starving condition. They were trying to make their way back to old Fort
Lyon. General Carr concluded, from what they could tell him, that
Penrose was somewhere on Polladora Creek. But nothing definite was to
be gleaned from the starving darkies, for they knew very little
themselves.
General Carr was deeply distressed to learn that Penrose and his men
were in such bad shape. He ordered Major Brown to start out the next
morning with two companies of cavalry and fifty pack mules, loaded with
provisions, and to make all possible speed to reach and relieve the
suffering soldiers. I went with this detachment. On the third day out
we found the half-famished soldiers encamped on the Polladora. The camp
presented a pitiful sight. For over two weeks the men had only quarter
rations and were now nearly starved to death. Over two hundred mules
were lying dead, having succumbed to fatigue and starvation.
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