se.

At last the command moved out. It was to me a novel sight. The wagons
and schooners were each drawn by teams of six heavy mules, while a team
of six lighter mules was put to each ambulance and carriage. These
were quite different from the draught animals I had always seen in the
Eastern States; these Government mules being sleek, well-fed and trained
to trot as fast as the average carriage-horse. The harnesses were quite
smart, being trimmed off with white ivory rings. Each mule was "Lize"
or "Fanny" or "Kate", and the soldiers who handled the lines were
accustomed to the work; for work, and arduous work, it proved to be, as
we advanced into the then unknown Territory of Arizona.

The main body of the troops marched in advance; then came the ambulances
and carriages, followed by the baggage-wagons and a small rear-guard.
When the troops were halted once an hour for rest, the officers, who
marched with the soldiers, would come to the ambulances and chat awhile,
until the bugle call for "Assembly" sounded, when they would join their
commands again, the men would fall in, the call "Forward" was sounded,
and the small-sized army train moved on.

The first day's march was over a dreary country; a hot wind blew, and
everything was filled with dust. I had long ago discarded my hat, as an
unnecessary and troublesome article; consequently my head wa snow a mass
of fine white dust, which stuck fast, of course. I was covered from head
to foot with it, and it would not shake off, so, although our steamboat
troubles were over, our land troubles had begun.

We reached, after a few hours' travel, the desolate place where we were
to camp.

In the mean time, it had been arranged for Major Worth, who had no
family, to share our mess, and we had secured the services of a soldier
belonging to his company whose ability as a camp cook was known to both
officers.

I cannot say that life in the army, as far as I had gone, presented any
very great attractions. This, our first camp, was on the river, a little
above Hardyville. Good water was there, and that was all; I had not yet
learned to appreciate that. There was not a tree nor a shrub to give
shade. The only thing I could see, except sky and sand, was a ruined
adobe enclosure, with no roof. I sat in the ambulance until our tent was
pitched, and then Jack came to me, followed by a six-foot soldier, and
said: "Mattie, this is Bowen, our striker; now I want you to tell him
what he