They were armed with Remington rifles, carried their cartridges in bandoliers, and seemed to be of excellent fighting material.

All their accoutrements were in good order.
Now we had to cross the broad stream, here running with a swift current over the sand, in channels of varying depths that are frequently changing.

For the width of nearly half a mile at the crossing place the water was never shallower than to my knee, nor deeper than to my waist.
We all crossed safely, but, to my tribulation, the soldier who was carrying my two boxes tripped in the deepest channel and let both boxes slip from the carrying pole into the water.

All the notes and papers upon which this valuable record is founded were much damaged.

But it might have been worse.