word. He had tightened the diamond hitch on the pack pony and his own
saddle girth preparatory for a long lope over the sage-brush flat that
extended from the Indian village across the small mesa at the foot of
the first hills, which form the steps of the high divide. Chiquita,
dressed in her buckskin shirt, skirt, leggings and moccasins heavily
trimmed with beads, quickly sprang into her saddle and pulled the
blanket up around her shoulders Indian fashion. Her hair hung in heavy
braids at either side of her cheeks, while the sealskin cap with showy
red silk lining crowned her head. Into the peak of the cap she had
thrust an immense eagle feather. The chorus of yelping dogs again took
part in the ceremony attending their departure. As they ascended the
first bench several blacktail deer ran directly across their
path--beautiful animals that cleared the sage brush in graceful, easy
bounds, looking first to the right and then to the left, as much as to
say, "Come on, I'm ready."

It was noon when the last long snow-covered ridge lay behind them. For
two hours it had been a battle with snowdrift after snowdrift. The trail
cut by the Colorow Indian ponies had been filled by the wind with
drifting snow until not a sign was left. Parapets of snow ten feet high
were encountered, which had to be cut and the trail again located by
Chiquita. First one pony would take the lead and, reared on his hind
feet, paw the snow down beneath him, while the next in line trampled it
a second time, until a cut was formed at a low point in that endless
chain of banks stretching for miles in either direction. Towering forty
feet in the air were mountains of the same dazzling white, which had to
be circled, sometimes leaving the trail to the right or left for a mile.
At times these detours were made only to be retraced because of the
impassable blockades rising in sheer precipices, and once the trail
opened by these detours was found to be refilled within an hour, so
fierce was that icy blast, blowing its wanton breath in seeming malice
against the weary beasts and their equally weary riders.

Jack had tramped snow for the ponies on many occasions when they refused
to move. Chiquita had lent her encouragement time and again as Jack
seemed ready to abandon the trip, but at last behind them towered the
top of the big divide, on whose crest ran a snow bank higher than any
before encountered. Giving a few moments' rest to the panting ponies,
Jack t