Page:Don Coronado through Kansas.djvu/42

A 3,000 MHiE JAUNT. 31 spirit of the four adventurers, after a whispered con- sultation had been held by the officers for a few min- utes, the gist of which was to decide on a Une of questions proper to ask regarding the people they saw and the country they passed through, but most important to endeavor to learn of the wealth of the people and of the gold which was then the standard as at the present date. Mendoza: "Don Vaca, (who arose and saluted the Governor), we are profoundly impressed by the recitations of the wonderful experiences which you gentlemen inform us of. Generations unborn wLU read of your exploits and comprehend the metal of our countrymen. But there are some questions which we would like to have you answer, e. g.. How many leagues did you travel? De Vaca: "Noble Sir, it is impossible to esti- mate the distance covered from the place where we commenced to keep a due west course, for except in crossing the range of mountains, we aimed to come guided by the compass exactly west. Of course that was not possible while in the mountain chain, as the only paths lead us through labyrinths, which some times leads to all points of the compass, but I should say we covered, traveling due west, 300 leagues (about 1000 miles); but to attempt to estimate the dis- tance walked from the place of our captivity to where we commenced to come west would be futile, for we wandered from place to place. A conservative estimate would be from 450 to 500 leagues (about 1,500 miles), so we must have covered eight leagues (call it 800, or about 3,000 miles.)"