nine o'clock
I placed Corporal Duffy in charge of the party , and told him after one day had passed to return by way of the hot springs . Instead of returning by the route we came , the sergeant , Frank , and I were to take a shorter and rougher one pointed out to us by Padre Gutierrez . This trail was almost as straight as an arrow , but led through a section of the country over which we had not scouted . At half-past nine o'clock the three of us started , Vic bounding and barking at my horse 's head . Six miles from Jemez our road , which , after leaving the cultivated valley of the Pueblos had narrowed to a path , entered the forest and ran along the side of a small brook , which it continued to follow for several miles , and then rose gradually to the side of a range of hills . We were walking our animals along the side of this acclivity , at a considerable distance above the brook on our left , their hoofs making no noise in the soft , black earth , when I was startled by the braying of an ass somewhere in the ravine . Sergeant Cunningham and Corporal Frank threw themselves quickly from their saddles and held the horses by the bits to prevent them from responding to the greeting , and I quickly sought a place from which I could make an observation .