ll the din, with the fresh air of the prairie blowing in;
and in no time at all we were so sound asleep that it seemed but
a minute before morning. Phil's slumbers lasted so long that we
had to breakfast without him, for Mrs. Dayton would not let us
wake him up. You can't think how kind she is, and Mr. Dayton
too; and this way of travelling is so easy and delightful that
it scarcely seems to tire one at all. Phil has borne the journey
wonderfully well so far."

At Omaha, on the evening of the second day, Clover's future "matron" and
adviser, Mrs. Watson, was to join them. She had been telegraphed to from
Chicago, and had replied, so that they knew she was expecting them.
Clover's thoughts were so occupied with curiosity as to what she would
turn out to be, that she scarcely realized that she was crossing the
Mississippi for the first time, and she gave scant attention to the low
bluffs which bound the river, and on which the Indians used to hold their
councils in those dim days when there was still an "undiscovered West" set
down in geographies and atlases.

As soon as they reached the Omaha side of the river, she and Katy jumped
down from the car, and immediately found themselves face to face with an
anxious-looking little old lady, with white hair frizzled and banged over
a puckered forehead, and a pair of watery blue eyes peering from beneath,
evidently in search of somebody. Her hands were quite full of bags and
parcels, and a little heap of similar articles lay on the platform near
her, of which she seemed afraid to lose sight for a moment.

"Oh, is it Miss Carr?" was her first salutation. "I'm Mrs. Watson. I
thought it might be you, from the fact that you got out of that car, and
it seems rather different--I am quite relieved to see you. I didn't know
but something--My daughter she said to me as I was coming away, 'Now,
Mother, don't lose yourself, whatever you do. It seems quite wild to think
of you in Canyon this and Canyon that, and the Garden of the Gods! Do get
some one to keep an eye on you, or we shall never hear of you again.
You'll--' It's quite a comfort that you have got here. I supposed you
would, but the uncertainty--Oh, dear! that man is carrying off my trunks.
Please run after him and tell him to bring them back!"

"It's all right; he's the porter," explained Mr. Dayton. "Did you get your
checks for Denver or St. Helen's?"

"Oh, I haven't any checks yet. I didn't know