Much quicker than can be told the men had fat pieces of meat in their hands which they devoured without cooking.

The men acted like crazy creatures at a barbacue--each one cut for himself with very little respect for anyone.
The boldest got in first and the more retiring came in later, but all had enough and gradually resumed more human actions and appearance.
They had hardly finished their bloody feast when they saw a small squad of men on horseback advancing toward them, and as they came near it was quite plain that they were all armed in some way.

All had lassoes at their saddles, some had old-fashioned blunderbusses, and nearly every one had a _macheta_ or long bladed Spanish knife.

As the horsemen drew near they formed into something like military order and advanced slowly and carefully.

It was pretty evident they thought they were about to encounter a band of thieving Indians, but as they came closer they recognized the strangers as Americans and passed the compliments with them in a rather friendly manner.
Some of the Jayhawkers had been in the Mexican War and understood a few words of Spanish, and by a liberal use of signs were able to communicate with the armed party and tell them who they were, where they were going, and the unfortunate condition in which they found themselves.