noon
It was as tough as india-rubber , and the more a piece of it was masticated , the larger it became in the mouth . A man never knows what he can eat , until driven to desperation by a week 's starving , and the jolly parson , who had pledged himself never to eat even calf 's meat , fiercely attacked the leathery remains of his faithful ambler . The next morning we directed our steps in a south course , and crossing the gully , we entered in what appeared to be a passage , or a bear 's path through the prickly pears ; but after travelling some six or eight miles , we found our further progress cut off by a deep and precipitous chasm , lined with impassable briars . To return was our only alternative , and , at noon we again found ourselves near to the point from whence we had started in the morning . A consultation was now held as to our future course . The lawyers and Roche proposed to go farther south , and make another attempt , but recollecting , that on the morning of the preceding day we had passed a large , though shallow , sandy stream , Gabriel and I thought it more advisable to return to it . This stream was evidently one of the tributaries of the Red River , and was running in an easterly direction , and we were persuaded that it must flow through the chasm , and enter into the forest .