em
so valiantly through the mountains. She was backfiring her protests
but presently settled down to her accustomed smoothness. Davy hustled
into his clothes. Mrs. Gillis knocked on the door. "There is a pan and
water right here on the bench," she said. "I told them fellers not to
monkey with the old car, but Mr. Welborn is anxious to git started, he
thought he'd tune her up before breakfast."

Gillis came from the barn with a brimming bucket of milk. "Howja rest,
Davy?" he asked.

"Fine! I hit the feathers and never moved until I heard this
bombardment that I thought was an uprising of the Utes."

"Breakfast is ready," called Mrs. Gillis. "How do you want your eggs,
Davy?"

"I want them the way you fix 'em," the little man replied promptly.
"After that supper last night, I wouldn't have the nerve to tell you
anything about cooking."

Mrs. Gillis beamed her appreciation. "I hope you will tell that to Jim
and Landy. To hear them complain, you would think I was serving their
grub raw or burnt. Didn't the circus people feed ye?"

"A circus always hires good cooks. It buys the best meats in the local
markets, and that's about as far as they can go. The vegetables are
out of cans, except the potatoes and cabbage, and the fruits are
either dried or canned. Preserves and jellies are factory made, so it
gets pretty monotonous. I had a good breakfast on the diner yesterday
morning. We had a fine lunch out this side of Cheyenne, but the supper
last night was far beyond anything I have ever enjoyed. I jotted down
some of the menu and as soon as I unpack I am going to write to a
couple of those old circus razorbacks and tell 'em what they have
missed." Davy was talking and eating; the men were eating.

"Now, Laddie, we are ready for the final dash," said Welborn, as he
rose from the table. "The farther we go, the tougher it gets. And we
are on the last leg."

"Landy and I had better go along," said Gillis. "Ye might get stuck,
and we will be needed to help unload."

"You men come back here for dinner," called Mrs. Gillis from the
doorway. "You will be too busy to stop and cook."

The old machine described a big curve in getting out of the enclosure,
but was again headed west. Gillis rode in the front seat with Welborn.
Landy and Davy found room on the trailer. "I want to see everything,"
said Davy as he climbed to a perilous perch on one of the trunks.

The mountains towered in the west, south, and southwest. The terr