Plains," was located upon a dreary flatness, although from it one might
see, far southwest, the actual Rocky Mountains in Colorado Territory,
looking, at this distance of one hundred miles, like low dark clouds. The
up grade in the west promised that we should soon cross over their
northern flanks, of the Black Hills.

Last winter, Cheyenne, I was given to understand, had ten thousand
inhabitants; but the majority had followed the railroad west, so that now
there remained only some fifteen hundred. After dinner we, too, went
west.

We overcame the Black Hills Mountains about two o'clock, having climbed to
the top with considerable puffing of the engine but otherwise almost
imperceptibly to the passengers. When we were halted, upon the crown, at
Sherman Station, to permit us to alight and see for ourselves, I scarcely
might believe that we were more than eight thousand feet in air. There was
nothing to indicate, except some little difficulty of breath; not so much
as I had feared when in Cheyenne, whose six thousand feet gave me a
slightly giddy sensation.

My Lady moved freely, being accustomed to the rarity; and she assured me
that although Benton was seven thousand feet I would soon grow wonted to
the atmosphere. The habitues of this country made light of the spot; the
strangers on tour picked flowers and gathered rocks as mementoes of the
"Crest of the Continent"--which was not a crest but rather a level
plateau, wind-swept and chilly while sunny. Then from this Sherman Summit
of the Black Hills of Wyoming the train swept down by its own momentum
from gravity, for the farther side.

The fellow Jim had not emerged, as yet, much to my relief. The scenery was
increasing in grandeur and interest, and the play of my charming companion
would have transformed the most prosaic of journeys into a trip through
Paradise.

I hardly noted the town named Laramie City, at the western base of the
Black Hills; and was indeed annoyed by the vendors hawking what they
termed "mountain gems" through the train. Laramie, according to My Lady,
also once had been, as she styled it, "a live town," but had deceased in
favor of Benton. From Laramie we whirled northwest, through a broad valley
enlivened by countless antelope scouring over the grasses; thence we
issued into a wilder, rougher country, skirting more mountains very gloomy
in aspect.

However, of the panorama outside I took but casual glances; the phenomenon
of blue and gold