Page:Don Coronado through Kansas.djvu/114

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103
103

A WOMAN ON THE BRAIN. 103 conspicuous; but he ever had it in mind to rise to the occasion should the time ever present itself when it became requisite to do so. Alonso had the most trying experiences at Tiguex, at which point the Spanish army wintered during 1540 and 1541. In truth more grumbhng was heard among the soldiery and their servants than at any other time. Is it not a natural axiom which wall hold good the world over, that frigid weather without the proper clothing, and particularly without some nook into which one may crawl out of the piercing and nipping wind or stinging cold, will cause strong, vigorous, resolute men to get into their minds that Ufe is not worth living? And whenever a human being gives up and loses his courage upon becoming chUly and'numbed by reason of cold, he can easily lose his life, or contract some complaint which wOl cause trouble in the future. It must have been an exceptionally cold winter that season; for all the writers tell of the hardships experienced there. ■ The man who has been out in the wilds when the thermometer registered twenty or thirty degrees below zero, and particularly if the wind was blowing, knows what vim and energy it requires to keep from freezing the extremities. The toes, fingers, nose and ears are very susceptible. This may be read by persons who have not had the experience of encountering the extreme cold, and perhaps have never heard of the peculiar effect cold wUl have upoa the back of the head at the bump just above the necl/. It is the tenderest spot of all, and should a man expose that part, he will soon discover a peculiar sensation,