166 TEXAS AND ARIZONA 



pears at the Summit House, every one knows 

 what is to happen. So-and-so is going to run 

 down the mountain. The daily newspaper chroni- 

 cles his arrival and announces the hour of the 

 annual event. Then, at the minute agreed upon, 

 all hands gather before the door, a man ap- 

 pointed for the purpose holds the watch and 

 gives the signal, and down the steep road starts 

 the farmer, his invariable "tall hat" on his 

 head, and his coat-tails flying. At the Half- Way 

 House, and again at the base, his time is taken. 

 If it is shorter than last year's, so much the 

 more glory. If it is longer, well, he has run ; 

 and presumably, like Cincinnatus before him, he 

 goes back to his plough contented. 



The road-runner, I suspect (the running 

 cuckoo!), is subject to the same irresistible 

 ambulatory impulses, and by a curious coinci- 

 dence he, too, wears what we may term a " tall 

 hat." I should like to see him racing down the 

 Mount Washington road, putting on the brakes 

 now and then, at the sharper turns, by a sudden 

 cocking of his tail ! 



The temperature here for temperature must 

 always be mentioned in writing of one's travels 

 has thus far been pretty comfortable for a 

 walker, though not without something of the con- 

 tradictoriness which seems to belong to weather 



