ing else; this tremendous
stream running to our right could be no other than the head-waters of
that ferocious flood which no surveyor has located. It is immensely
larger and longer than any map shows.

We crossed the branch without much trouble, and found some beautiful
bluejoint-grass on the opposite bank, into which we joyfully turned
our horses. When they had filled their stomachs, we packed up and
pushed on about two miles, overtaking the Manchester boys on the
side-hill in a tract of dead, burned-out timber, a cheerless spot.

In speaking about the surly answer I had received from the man on the
banks of the river, I said: "I wonder why those men are camped there?
They must have been there for several days."

Partner replied: "They are all out of grub and are waiting for some
one to come by to whack-up with 'em. One of the fellows came out and
talked with me and said he had nothing left but beans, and tried to
buy some flour of me."

This opened up an entirely new line of thought. I understood now that
what I had taken for sullenness was the dejection of despair. The way
was growing gloomy and dark to them. They, too, were racing with the
wolf.

We had one short moment of relief next day as we entered a lovely
little meadow and camped for noon. The sun shone warm, the grass was
thick and sweet. It was like late April in the central West--cool,
fragrant, silent. Aisles of peaks stretched behind us and before us.
We were still high in the mountains, and the country was less wooded
and more open. But we left this beautiful spot and entered again on a
morass. It was a day of torture to man and beast. The land continued
silent. There were no toads, no butterflies, no insects of any kind,
except a few mosquitoes, no crickets, no singing thing. I have never
seen a land so empty of life. We had left even the whistling marmots
entirely behind us.

We travelled now four outfits together, with some twenty-five horses.
Part of the time I led with Ladrone, part of the time "The Man from
Chihuahua" took the lead, with his fine strong bays. If a horse got
down we all swarmed around and lifted him out, and when any question
of the trail came up we held "conferences of the powers."

We continued for the most part up a wide mossy and grassy river
bottom covered with water. We waded for miles in water to our ankles,
crossing hundreds of deep little rivulets. Occasionally a horse went
down into a hole and had to be "snailed