"Quien sabe ( Who knows), Señor Don Lieutenant? But I now have the honor to inform you, and am at your service."
The lieutenant recovered, and stepped outside a few paces.
"Stout!"
"Yes, sir."
"Lower the flag and roll it up. It will not be hoisted again without my orders."
"Sir?" Freegift stammered. And
"Oh, no, sir! Not that! Not haul down the flag! Let us keep it flyin', sir. We can do it."
Those were the cries. The lieutenant lifted his hand.
"Silence. I thank you, men. This is not surrender. I have no thought of surrender. But we are not upon the Red River. We are upon the Rio del Norte, in Mexican territory, and in courtesy to that government I am lowering the flag of my own free-will. By building this stockade we have unwittingly trespassed."[1]*
- ↑ All the Rio Grande River which flows southward through south central Colorado into New Mexico was Spanish territory. The Lieutenant Pike party had crossed the Sangre de Cristo Range and had struck the Rio Grande near present Alamosa in the southern half of Colorado's great San Luis Park or Valley. The largest of the White Mountains, on the east, was Sierra Blanca ("White Mountain" today), altitude 14,390 feet, ranking third among the peaks of the Rockies.
