CHAPTER VIII 



ACROSS THE DESERT 



THE sun beat down upon us with scorch- 

 ing effect; the hot sand reflected back its 

 rays to dazzle the eyes; visible heat 

 waves shimmered and quivered over the dead 

 sea of sand and sage — a vast, billowing sea of 

 ever-changing opalescent tints, greens, purples, 

 and blues. To the west rose the rugged sum- 

 mits of the San Francisco peaks, to the north- 

 east the sky line was cut by Chimney Butte, 

 Castle Butte, the Moqui Buttes, and Pottery 

 Hill; between them and us was a low line of 

 gray clay and sand cliffs which mark the basin 

 where flows the Little Colorado. 



Anticipating that the desert would offer poor 

 forage to the animals, we were packing two 

 hundred pounds of grain on Button. Bill car- 

 ried our camp equipment and provisions. John 



90 



