HO! FOR GRAY'S PEAK! 229 



the most instructive and interesting " animal pictures " 

 I have ever seen, including those done by Landseer, 

 Rosa Bonheur, and Ernest Thompson Seton, was that 

 little iron-gray, long-eared donkey lying on his back oh 

 the street and clawing the air with his hoofs. And 

 he clawed fast, too fairly sawed the air. For once 

 in his life Turpentine, the snail paced, was in a hurry ; 

 for once he moved with more celerity than grace. It 

 threw us into spasms of laughter to see him exert him- 

 self so vigorously to reverse his position to get his 

 feet down and his back up. A cat could not have 

 done it with more celerity. You never would have 

 believed him capable of putting so much vim and vigor 

 into his easy-going personality. After chopping the 

 air with his hoofs for a second or two, he succeeded 

 in righting himself, and was on his feet in less time 

 than it takes to tell it. There he stood, as meek as 

 Mary^s lamb, trying to look as if he had never turned 

 an undignified somersault in all his tranquil life. 



We started on our journey again, and presently, to 

 our intense relief, reached the border of the town, 

 thanked the lads who had expedited our march along 

 the street, and proceeded on our way up the valley. 

 We soon settled down to taking our burros philosophi- 

 cally, and erelong they were going calmly on the even 

 tenor of their way, and afterwards we had little trouble 

 with them, and actually became quite attached to the 



