The terrible experience of our runaway guide seemed to confirm their wildest apprehensions, and the alarm spread like wildfire, growing in terror, like an avalanche, the farther it went.

We found the ranches deserted on every hand, women and children hiding and screaming whenever they caught a glimpse of us.

At every turn our progress was impeded.

Wherever I came I was abhorred as the man who subsisted on babies and green corn, and the prospect of my ever gaining the confidence of the Indians was exceedingly discouraging for the next four or five months.
Though it was impossible to secure a new guide, I still made a start next day, following a fairly good track which leads south toward Guachochic.

Yet further obstacles presented themselves.