CHAPTER V.THE SLUE.
At last, after a voyage of thirteen days, we came to anchor a mile or so off Port Isabel, at the mouth of the Colorado River.

A narrow but deep slue runs up into the desert land, on the east side of the river's mouth, and provides a harbor of refuge for the flat-bottomed stern-wheelers which meet the ocean steamers at this point.

Hurricanes are prevalent at this season in the Gulf of California, but we had been fortunate in not meeting with any on the voyage.

The wind now freshened, however, and beat the waves into angry foam, and there we lay for three days on the "Newbern," off Port Isabel, before the sea was calm enough for the transfer of troops and baggage to the lighters.
This was excessively disagreeable.

The wind was like a breath from a furnace; it seemed as though the days would never end, and the wind never stop blowing.