10 SADDLE AND CAMP 



deep, though I was told that two rainless days 

 would turn it again into a dry, dusty, sand wash. 

 This was the first shower for many weeks, and 

 the whole country was parched and burned be- 

 fore its advent. The rainy period is expected to 

 begin in the first week in July, and in normal 

 seasons one may then look for almost daily 

 showers until its close. 



Warm as the days may be, the evenings are 

 always cool in central and northern Arizona. 

 The shower left the atmosphere clear and 

 balmy, the clean-washed trees and foliage in 

 the door yards, nurtured by irrigation, per- 

 fumed the evening air, the mocking birds sang 

 tempestuously, and far out over the western 

 stretch of sand the sun sank in a bed of misty 

 yellow. 



Surrounding Holbrook is a tract embracing 

 several thousands of square miles of uninhabi- 

 ted and for the most part arid territory. This 

 desert was formerly the feeding ground of 

 large herds of antelope, and a few years ago 

 the traveler riding over it in nearly any direc- 

 tion was very certain to encounter considerable 

 numbers of them. Nowadays one is particu- 

 larly fortunate to see two or three, or perhaps 

 half a dozen, stragglers in the course of several 

 days' ride. Hunters destroyed them when they 



