Sketches of the campaign in northern Mexico : in eighteen hundred forty-six and seven / by an officer of the First Regiment of Ohio volunteers.

138 WOLVES AND ROBBERS.
morrow, on which some of them were to make their last
march on earth.
Though the hostile armies were then almost within sound
of each other's drums, the Mexicans continued to practice
their policy of "'6a masterly inactivity," and had evidently
concluded, rather than get into any disagreeable scrapes, to
let us have our own way. An invading army in the United
States, I take it, would have fared somewhat less comfortably. The boasted light cavalry of Ainpudia, must have been
composed of apathetic and most unenterprising fellows, or
methinks they would have preferred a dash into our lines,
some pleasant night, to the dull amusements afforded by the
fondas of Monterey. Though there were many favorable
positions for ambuscades along our route, yet nothing more
formidable than the natural difficulties of roads and climate
harassed our march; nothing more alarming than the howl
of greedy wolves disturbed the repose of our camps. These
animals, by the way, are very numerous throughout the
country, and were induced, by the savor of our mess-pans,
to give us frequent serenades. They are very bold, too, and
great pests to the shepherds and herdsmen. I have occasionally seen them at dusk, prowling within the suburbs of
large towns, a temerity encouraged by the absence of a rural
population in Northern Mexico; for there, the whole country
without the walls of the villages, is surrendered to the beast
and bandit. The season was exceedingly propitious for both
these animals. The robber accepted a pardon from his government, and took, in addition to his plunder, the pay of a
guerrilla; and the wolf not only obtained an unusual share