My guests remained three days with me, after which I dismissed them with numerous trifling presents, consisting of articles of clothing, coloured handkerchiefs, tobacco, a couple of blankets, small hand-glasses, &c. I accompanied them on their first day's journey, slept with them that night, and then took leave with promises of a speedy meeting. Afterwards they visited me regularly several times a year, and as they had predicted, all the tribes of their nation came in turn to make peace with me, and their example was followed by others, such as the Mescaleros, Kioways, Shawnees, &c. [Illustration] [Illustration] CHAPTER XVIII. THE NEW COLONISTS. A few months had passed since my Alabama friends left me, and I had heard nothing more of them, when one morning the watchman told me, with great joy, that a long train of men, draught cattle, and carts was coming down the river. I soon recognised through my glass young Lasar and his cousin Henry, surrounded by a large number of negroes. The train moved very slowly onwards, and did not stop before the fort for some hours, when I greeted the new-comers most heartily. John had sixty odd strong negroes with him, twelve of whom were intended for me; and brought stores and tools with him on five large waggons, each drawn by six oxen. He had made the journey by steamer, _viâ_ New Orleans, and partly on the Rio Grande. When they landed he bought the draught cattle, and had reached me without any accident. I kept them a few days with me to let them rest, and then proceeded with them across to Mustang River, where they camped on the ground selected by Mr. Lasar. They chose for their maize-field a spot in the advance woods, where the soil was rich and loose, and the trouble of blazing the trees and ploughing round them was saved. The negroes advanced in their job with almost incredible rapidity, and in a short time a field of some hundred acres was cleared, ploughed, and fenced. Up to that time, the negroes lay at nights under tents or in their carts, but now they built blockhouses and put up fences, in which the mules and horses rested at night. John rode over to me regularly to spend the night with me, and on Sunday we hunted in the neighbourhood. He was a good shot, laid aside the shot-gun for the rifle and pistols, and soon learned to use these weapons excellently.