Round about Bisbee. 155 



one's wits, it may, too, overstrain the nerves and 

 lead to many a blunder, particularly if the spirit 

 of adventure is well upon one. I was in such a 

 plight, and strange indeed if something should 

 not befall me before I joined my party ! As I was 

 trudging along alone, every pebble rattling beneath 

 my tread, I fancied some strange creature in my 

 path. Not a crooked stick but suggested a ser- 

 pent; and so, guarding against imagined dan- 

 gers, I finally met with a real one : I sat upon a 

 cactus. As a cure for unbridled imagination, I 

 commend it. 



To better nurse my countless trivial wounds, I 

 chose a rock for a resting-place, and considered 

 the innumerable fragments of flinty stone that 

 covered the entire hill-side. If color has aught 

 to do with it, I was leaving behind me most 

 tempting specimens of minerals. At almost every 

 step I had been rolling down the hill crystals of 

 many a hue, and dull-colored stone made beauti- 

 ful by the green, blue, and crimson incrustations 

 that covered them. Many a bit that I picked up 

 and flung away was varied as the rainbow. But, 

 beautiful as were all these, they paled to utter 



